1. King County Executive Dow Constantine will write the county a check for $18,600—the equivalent of ten percent of his salary—to show support for the executive office staffers whose salaries he will cut between 10 and 15 percent to save money during the county's budget crisis. (By law, county elected officials can't cut their own salaries; hence, the check.)

Constantine's total salary for 2010 after that reduction will still represent a significant raise over his previous pay as a King County Council member—around $167,000, or about $46,000 more than he was making on the council.

2. The advisory committee charged with choosing potential replacements for Constantine on the council has come up with four names—two who would seek to run for reelection next November, and two who've agreed to serve as "caretakers" until the election.

They are: State Rep. Zack Hudgins (D-11) and state Sen. Joe McDermott (D-34), both of whom would run for reelection; and state Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-34) and retiring Seattle City Council member Jan Drago as potential caretakers.

Details on the machinations and politics behind replacing Constantine here , here, here, and here .

3. People's Waterfront Coalition founder Cary Moon wrote an op/ed on PubliCola yesterday making an impassioned (and convincing) case for keeping city transportation director Grace Crunican, a Mayor Greg Nickels appointee whom Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn indicated in the past he would fire.

Earlier this week, McGinn wouldn't tell PubliCola if Crunican was on the way out, citing his policy of not discussing personnel matters with the press. However, we reported on Wednesday that Crunican was in the running the county administrator gig in Clackamas County, Oregon—just outside Portland.

4. The lobbyist for the Transportation Choices Coalition, Bill LaBorde will preview the group's legislative agenda today at noon in the downtown YMCA (909 4th Ave.) Because it's a short session focused on filling the $2.6 billion budget hole, one item that likely won't be on the agenda is the group's big priority from last year (which failed): The transit-oriented communities bill, which would have increased density around light-rail stops.

5. Speaking of TCC (and the upcoming legislative session), TCC's Andrew Austin broke the news on the group's blog yesterday that State Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen (D-10) has declared a tax on vehicle miles traveled "off the table" for funding transportation. Haugen's comments came up during a discussion about a study commissioned by the state to come up with replacements for declining gas-tax revenues.

TCC blog paraphrased Sen. Haugen saying "that people who scream about VMT taxes are using it as a fear tactic, the legislature is not going to introduce VMT taxes anytime in the near future and it simply is off the table." Austin added: "It was a pretty interesting dialogue, to say the least."

According to Austin, "The funding sources that are percolating to the top [this session] are indexed gas taxes [indexed to inflation] and a sales tax on gasoline.