Rod Dembowski is an American politician and attorney serving as a member of the King County Council from District 1, which includes the communities of Bothell, Kenmore, Kirkland, Lake Forest Park, North Seattle, Shoreline, and Woodinville. He was appointed on February 11, 2013, to fill the seat vacated by Bob Ferguson when he became Attorney General of Washington. He was later elected to the position, receiving over 75 percent of the vote. He serves as Chair of the Council for 2019. Previously, he chaired the Committee of the Whole and the Transportation, Economy, and Environment Committee.
After earning his undergraduate degree, Dembowski worked as a policy analyst for then-King County Executive, Gary Locke, as a Marketing & Operations and Credit Analyst for Paccar, and as a White House Intern. After earning his law degree, he worked for the Seattle law firm Foster Pepper, where he focused on real estate, land use, municipal and business matters, as well as advising government and private clients on ethics laws, open public meetings act and public records act requirements. He has been recognized as a "Super Lawyer" by Washington Law & Politics Magazine. Dembowski was elected Chair of the County Council for 2019. He previously served as Chair of the Committee of the Whole, and Chair of the Transportation, Economy and Environment Committee. Other 2019 Committee assignments include the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, the Health, Housing and Human Services Committee, and the Government Accountability and Oversight Committee. Rod has served on the Budget Leadership Team multiple times, helping craft the county’s $11.7 billion budget Dembowski has served on the King County Performance Measurement Oversight Committee, the King County Districting Committee, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee, the City ClubBoard of Directors, the University of Washington Law School Alumni Board of Directors, the Finance Advisory Board for the Asian Pacific Islander Women & Family Safety Center, the Children and Family Justice Center Campaign, and as President of the Georgetown Club of Western Washington. Dembowski has supported legislation to increase funding for untested sexual assault kits, expanding voting access, creating the King County Youth Action Plan, writing the legislation to convert Metro Transit to a zero-emissions fleet, preventing proposed reductions of nearly 400,000 annual service hours to Metro Transit, working to save critical open space and expand parks, passing oil train safety legislation, investing in energy efficiency and other practices to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from operations, requiring a living wage be paid to county employees, and authoring nation-leading legislation that guarantees twelve weeks of paid parental leave for King County employees.
