The combined King and Pierce county councils last Saturday appointed 31st District Rep.-elect Phil Fortunato to fill the state Senate seat Pam Roach vacated upon her recent election to the Pierce County Council.

But not without disagreement among the 15 persons on the dais – King County Councilman Reagan Dunn took part by telephone – about whether they had come together in the council chambers at Fife City Hall merely to formalize the No. 1 pick of Roach and 31st District Republican precinct committee officers (PCOs), Fortunato, or vote for the second or third choices.

To stand as the second and third, the PCOs had selected Cheryl Marshall, Roach’s legislative aid to the Pierce County Council since 2006, and Dave Patrick, a retired engineer from Bonney Lake. Committee officers chose them over state Rep. Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, after Roach and others urged them to keep Stokesbary off the list because they considered him too liberal for the position.

While Marshall and Patrick said time and again they wanted Fortunato to get the job, both added they would be willing to serve if chosen. Marshall, however, said she was doubtful she could meet the demands of the position because she has to care for her severely-disabled son, Lucas, or hire others to do so until the special election in November.

Patrick came out swinging against imposing new taxes to pay for transportation projects and upgrades.

King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci asked Fortunato if he would be open to replacing the “arbitrary 1 percent property tax cap” with a limit tied to population and inflation, a cap she said had “devastated” the ability of many counties to ensure the health and safety of their residents.

Fortunato, noting that the 31st is not a large taxing district, said that he nevertheless understood the impact the levy cap has had on mental health, homelessness and law enforcement. He said “giving the counties the tools you need to progress, whether it be the 1 percent lid or some other tool, is something I would certainly look at and consider.”

When King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert asked Fortunato if he would change the funding formula for maintaining roads in unincorporated areas, he said he would make public transportation his “No. 1 focus” in the largely rural 31st.

“We have urban cities, and then we have a stretch of unincorporated county roads in between, and … we have miles of county roads, so it really affects us to be able to address that issue and somehow work through that. Because what’s happening is the cities are taking away that extra money from the property tax, and we have a road that connects one city to another city that is, in effect, underfunded,” Fortunato said.

King County C0uncilmember Rod Dombrowski asked whether Fortunato believed human beings are a factor in climate change, and what he would do to address the problem.

“I’m sort of one of those guys that looks at the facts, for example, is CO2 the problem and how can we address those issues on a local basis,” said Fortunato, an environmental consultant. “More important, it needs to be a combined, regional effort. If it’s not, I don’t know how much of an effect an individual state or an individual county would have. So, we need to be doing more of an outreach to adjoining states and the adjoining region or on a national basis to have any effect whatsoever.”

After the councils met behind closed doors to discuss the candidates, the incredulity of Roach gave the first indication that all had not gone as smoothly as she had expected behind those doors.

“Why in the world wouldn’t the PCOs put somebody as No. 1 who had just won an election, who almost won one last time when there were literally, hundreds of thousands of dollars … against him?” Roach asked. “He is the most viable candidate who represents the viewpoint of most of the people in the district.

“… Just because we have two other viable candidates – which I believe they are – we knew the charge was to have three viable candidates,” Roach said. “Why would we abandon No. 1? … He’s the one that’s the strongest, and that’s the one we want.”

Pierce County Councilman Rick Talbert took aim at the selection process.

“I feel the process was rigged, so the councils were really only selecting from the top choice. I don’t think that’s how the process should be handled,” Talbert said.

“I think for me the order is not what’s important,” said Lambert, who supported Fortunato based on years of working with him. “What’s important to me is who would fill the position best.”

King County Council Chairman Joe McDermott said it wasn’t his place to judge how the committee officers decided on their candidates. He supported Marshall in a straw vote because he said he believed she knew more about the 31st District and had expressed more willingness to support King County council priorities.

The final tally – it employed a formula proportional to the number of members on each council, with the seat going to the candidate who received 63.9 percent or more of the vote – favored Fortunato by a narrow margin over Marshall.

Fortunato, 63, a Republican from Auburn, was sworn in afterward and will serve as state senator for the 31st Legislative District for 11 months. If he chooses, he may stand for election in November.

Fortunato has been a contractor for more than 30 years, starting his first business at age 18, and is a recognized expert in Clean Water Act compliance. He and his wife, Suzanne, live in Auburn and have five children.

Later, the council chose Republican Morgan Irwin, a Seattle police officer and an Enumclaw City Council member, to fill Fortunato’s vacant position in the House.

The 31st District comprises parts of King and Pierce counties and includes the communities of Auburn, Edgewood, Sumner, Lake Tapps, Bonney Lake, Enumclaw, Buckley, South Prairie, Wilkeson and Carbonado.