Robert Abbott to join the water and sewer district commission
June 17, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
Kathy Lambert has found her commissioner: Robert Abbott.
The King County Councilwoman was interviewing applicants for a vacancy in the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District. Lambert, as the council member representing Sammamish and other parts of east King County, had the responsibility of picking a candidate after the four current commissioners couldn’t agree on an applicant.
To complicate the issue, the vacant position is up for re-election in November and Lambert said she was worried that whoever she appointed would receive an undue edge in the election; the top two applicants, Stanley Stone and Bob Abbott, had filed to run for the position.
So her solution was to select an interim commissioner until the election. Then Stone, for medical reasons, withdrew his name from the race.
With only one person running for the position, the ethics of appointing a candidate in the interim changed, Lambert said.
“It would be good to have continuity,” she said. “He knows these issues and he will be there as the interim.”
Lambert submitted Abbott’s selection to the King County Council June 15. Barring some protest from the rest of the County Council, the King County executive will likely sign off on Abbott’s nomination shortly after June 22, Lambert said. The final step would be for the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District to officially swear Abbott onto the commission.
Abbott, who has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and genetics, lives on Southeast Ninth Place in Sammamish. He almost joined the Commission in March, when commissioners Tom Harman and Bob Brady voted to appoint him.
At that point Commissioners Mary Shustov and Lloyd Warren opposed because they preferred Stone.
In past interviews, Shustov, Brady and Warren have said both Abbott and Stone would be capable commissioners.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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