The Federal Way Mirror was on hand to live Tweet this morning’s King County Executive candidates forum. Below is a transcript of the Mirror’s Twitter coverage, in chronological order.

The Mirror is getting set to twitter during the King County Executives forum. It’s set to start at 7:30 so stay tuned!

Larry Phillips, Fred Jarrett, Alan Lobdell, Susan Hutchinson, Dow Constantine, Ross Hunter and Michael Nelson will be answering questions

Once the event begins all candidates will be refereed to by their initials. They have just announced one minute to start

Goodspaceguy (aka Michael Nelson) did not show for the forum

all the candidates have now been introduced

each candidate will have two mins to open

DC: chair of king county council, he gave up speaking into the mike after feedback issues. introduced leg for performance based management

DC: introduced whistle blower leg which passed and capital oversight and hiring freeze in county, cut budget by $875,000

RH: candidate should make some change, king co is kinda broken right now, need someone to bring together the cities

RH: helped drive change in education funding and edu task force

RH: Lead sponsor on the rainy day fund,

SH: 4th trip to FW since entering the race, this area needs to have a place at the table, real sense the county has been Seattlistic

SH: King Co needs fixing, I bring a new direction, a business solution

FJ: 30 years public service, last decade in legislature, 35 years in management at Boeing

FJ: part of change at Boeing. Now county needs to work on cost cutting in ferries and health care premiums

AL: live in the south end, engineer and consultant for cities on budgets and management

AL: King Co, won’t say it’s broken but it has issues, needs a professional administrator, that’s what I do

LP: grew up in King Co. worked as chief of staff to a king co executive, then worked in state legislature, chaired king co council

question to FJ: You claim to be the outsider to bring change, please explain why KC needs an outsider and 3 things you would do

FJ: we measure spending, in co they spend it all, I know how to change it, work for performance

DC: I’ve already gone against the grain, in senate pushed for leg.

RH: 15-20 years, need to merge king co and metro, rebuild relationship with suburban cities

SH: I am not in gov not a politician, looking for a new way of doing things then it comes from truly outside

AL: I know the ins and out of cities, flood control, budget reform, done it for 13 years

what is your position on allowing a city to annex a area without county approval

without people approval rather

AL: opposed, hurts city, they can’t bring in the revenue without the tax base

LP: made great headway in the last few years, been done through a vote of the people, think its the right of the people

FJ: I voted for the bill but didn’t find out til after session what it really meant, think it was a mistake, think we will go back and fix

SH: I do think that leg is probably going to be overturned, not common sense

RH: I don’t believe it will ever be used for large annexation areas, more likely in Renton with a single high school

DC: decision should be the people’s

Question to LP: when is the last time you made a tough decision and said no to a special interest group

LP: just this week, transit, reverse course with regard to ferry system, put it into metro instead

AL: never worked with special interest, guess you could call city council that, when you have to say no, you say no

FJ: one good example is work that Hunter, Priest and I worked on for Special Education taskforce

SH: real problem in the co and it’s unions, Ron Sims should have stood firm

RH: finance chairman in the house, got a parade of people who want a tax break, I have a poster for them, a james bond, Dr. No

DC: proposed a long time ago that those making more than average, pay back some of the money the people pay for my medical insurance

Question to SH: what action will you take to put KC financial situation in order

SH: very pleased about the hiring freeze, from there cut waste, cut out duplication, find ways to save rather then spend, going to hurt

RH: short term things, hiring freezes, clear about increases in salary, more important is long term not shift costs on to the cities

DC: have several short term tools, including hiring freeze that I sponsored, need strong performance measures

LP: put out a plan that will help metro,

AL: every dept must cut the fluff out, this is something I do and I am ruthless, may be layoffs

FJ: seven step plan on website, no new programs, good analysis, accountability

Question: as county executive what would eliminate or stop doing?

RH: foot ferries, look at what is focus for county, focus on being a regional provider, not a local provider

DC: shifting money, save transit that works now, end failed animal shelter, delivering inhumane service, turn to private providers

SH: primary care is safety, we have to focus on paramount duty, protect those who can not protect themselves, the weakest among us

FJ: office of strategic planning, lean executive staff

AL: no snap decisions, will know all the facts before making this decision, only way you can actually make good decisions

LP: ending the tax subsidy from ferries to boats, with general fund must face up to mandates set by state

Question to LP: did you sign ref 71 and if it passes what would mean for the county?

LP: did not sign it and do not support it

AL: no and I do not support it

FJ: no I worked for the bill to provide rights to domestic partners

SH: want to bring people together and not divide

RH: no I will not

DC: asked my supporters to help with the verification of the signatures, hopeful it will not pass

what can be done to more equally distribute low income housing?

SH: one of premier issues of our county, work with mayors of south co cities to solve it together

FJ: pilot projects

AL: cities already have rules to set aside property for low income, think king co needs to make that co wide

LP: need to reopen state management act for whole state

DC: stability comes from a mixed community

RH: jobs need to be in the same city as housing

Was the light rail system a good idea?

AL: quoted in 2001 that rail should have been constructed back then, light rail is a good idea we are choking on the money but we need it

LP: yes light rail is a good idea, digging our way out of the hole, going to expand the system to FW, it’s our future

FJ: yes good idea

SH: we are behind and over cost

RH: we made a choice, it’s light rail, we need to combine metro and sound transit, consolidate

DC: have to push to get savings to get to the middle of FW, now one of co greatest urban centers

do you support a county wide utility tax

RH: no, i do support a utility tax in unincorporated areas, same as neighboring areas, right now residents are paying extra

DC: support one for unincorporated residents

SH: tax policy is very confusing very regressive and a utility tax is very regressive

FJ: no tax inside or outside, counties do not provide the same level as service as the cities

AL: new taxes are on the bottom of my list, as a businessman, I look at all the taxes I pay, I don’t want another one

LP: no i do not support utility tax

with all the economy isn’t it time to reduce taxes?

AL: i would love to reduce taxes but county has not allowed that to happen, goal for no more taxes, but can’t honestly say reduce

LP: now is not the time to raise taxes, cannot reduce if we are going to keep up safety

FJ: county has a spending problem, management problems are critical to be solved before cutting taxes, make it work then for less money

SH: grow jobs, going to go to Oly to lobby the threshold on BNO taxes

RH: running for king co executive, not lobbyist. Don’t have the revenue to make a change in taxes

DC: BNO tax is a job killer, need state leg to act

What distinguishes you from the other candidates

SH: an outsider, cut waste, people demand we live within our means. Judgement and Courage

RH: bring serious management experience, ability to understand complicated systems, outside perspective, drive serious change

DC: served in house, senate and county council in this decade, brought change, not the status quo but won’t turn it on its head

FJ: 30 years in government and 35 in private, know how to change organizations

AL: I come from the inside of cities and counties, managed major construction project, know details of cities and counties

LP: effectiveness, highest bond rating (AAA)

now for the summaries from the candidates

LP: live in a special part, challenged right now, we have met great challenges before opportunity is king, plans on website

AL: lot of issues, transportation, healthcare, it’s a job for six or seven but one person has to take the flak, I am pretty good at that

AL: still believe kc is the best place, four years from now want to know I made it better. NBA team back in the area, working to help them

FJ: very complex community, key to success is how do we work together. 30 years experience working with these groups, learned how to do that

SH: saw after 2004 elections the county was in trouble and it was at the top, stepped in this year and examined the issues

SH: have to be connected to everyone in the county and respectful of the cities and what they are trying to accomplish

RH: short term fixes, those are important but so is the long term. KC executive is the only elected regional leader, focus on reg. services

RH: reorganize and bring the focus to regional. Plan on website

DC: one person is the race who has been elected to represent south king county residents

DC: need someone who has the spine to stand up and fight, rally the team around, willing to suffer the slings and arrows to get the change

And that’s all folks!