The Seattle Star

MUDDLE LOOMS IN CASE OF A RECALL

King county will be left with two remaining commissioners on the board to appoint successors.

But, if they resigned together, the efforts of the faction that is now seeking to recall the three county commissioners would be precisely the same as they were recalled.

Commissioners Claude C. Karns, Ray Tom Dobbs and Iva Smith who are under indictment for grand larceny in connection with the Forty deal,

The county will be in the same predicament if the commissioners accede to the demand which has been publicly voiced and resign in a body.

This became known Monday as the result of an inquiry instigated by The Star.

No one at the prosecuting attorney's office knew the answer when The Star first asked what would happen if the commissioners should all quit at once, or if they should be recalled, but Deputy Prosecutor Arthur Schramm, Jr., looked the matter up.

"If the commissioners were all recalled—or if they resigned in a body—there would be no way in the world to replace them until next January, when the new commissioners will take office," Schramm announced after he had completed his investigation.

"The law provides that, in the event of the recall or resignation of any county official, he shall be replaced by the board of county commissioners—and there is absolutely no other provision in the law.

"The supreme court has held that the county commissioners themselves are county officials—so this law would naturally be applicable to them.

"Obviously, if there weren't any county commissioners, there never could be any—until new ones took office in the natural course of events.

"It's an unheard-of situation—but, of course, the men who framed the law couldn't very well anticipate the present state of affairs."

Schramm added that, in the event the commissioners decided to resign, they would probably do so one at a time, so that there would always be enough left to appoint a successor.

Lack of a board of county commissioners for a number of months would so embarrass the county that it is probable that Governor Hart would be forced to call a special session of the legislature to pass a law providing for the immediate appointment of a new board.