The resignation of Democrat, State Rep. Marcie Maxwell of the 41st District has set in motion a process that remains obscure to most observers of state government.

The political party of the outgoing Legislator gets to nominate candidates for the interim replacement. The appointee must be a resident in the same district. Three candidates will be ‘nominated’ for Maxwell’s seat, by a vote of the precinct committee officers (PCO) of the 41st District Democrats at an August 21 meeting.

The King County Council will then meet and subsequently choose one of the three as the appointee or, in the event of Council deadlock, the Governor will do so.

After ten individuals expressed interest in Maxwell’s seat, five candidates completed questionnaires for the one year term. The seat will then be up for election in the fall of 2014. There are 200 precincts in the 41st district, more than half do not have PCOs. Candidates can lobby for fellow Democrats to become PCOs, in order to promote their candidacy.

Don Gerend is well-known in Sammamish as one of the original Sammamish City Council members — he still serves on the council. Gerend said he came to the State of Washington in 1962 from the flat lands of Wisconsin and never looked back.

“I’ve seen the state from the top of Mt. Rainier to scuba diving in the San Juans,” he said. “When Sammamish incorporated I decided it was time to give back. This is an opportunity to take it to the next level.”

Gerend has a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Washington.

“As a former rocket scientist at Boeing, college teacher (physics, astronomy, environmental science and business calculus), commercial real estate syndicator and investment manager, and private phone company owner and operator, in addition to the years in city government, I feel well qualified to address the wide range of societal, scientific and number-crunching challenges facing the State Legislature,” Gerend states in his candidate questionnaire.

He supports the right of public sector workers to bargain and strike with the exception of police and fire where binding interest arbitration should continue to be the final resolution to the bargaining process, he said.

Gerend does not support the two-thirds majority for tax increases at the legislative level. He is also unsupportive of school vouchers. With regard to charter schools, he would support them with proper state guidance, but he advocates options for learning such as Running Start, AP classes and STEM high schools.

Gerend’s priority for the 41st district is transportation, balancing the state budget without raiding city and county revenue sources and making higher education  and work force training affordable and accessible.

Gerend is proud of the fact that in his 14 years on the Sammamish City Council, the city of 48,000 residents has an AAA bond rating, over $60 million cash in the bank, no bonded indebtedness, great infrastructure and has three times been judged by CNN/Money Magazine as among the 15 best cities to live in under a population of 50,000. This year Forbes listed Sammamish as the “Friendliest City in the US” under a population of 150,000.

Greg Hoover is an attorney with his practice, Hoover Law Group, in Seattle and Portland.

He has lived in Sammamish since 1999. He said he believes he can help people by serving as the legislator for the 41st district. Hoover received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law in 1996. Subsequently he received his Qualified Lawyer’s Transfer Test from Oxford Brooks University in London in 2008.

He is licensed to practice law in both Washington and Oregon. His expertise includes immigration law, civil litigation and personal injury, criminal defense, arbitration and mediation, and pro hac vice.

Hoover does not support the two-thirds majority for tax increases at the legislative level. He also does not support area standards of wages and benefits. Hoover is not in favor of charter schools or school vouchers.

He said the top three issues facing the 41st district are education for all children, improving the economy by encouraging job growth, and tolling I-90. He wants to improve traffic congestion and expedite light rail to the east side.

“In, 2010 when I ran for state representative, I door belled over 10,000 homes. I would do this again. In 2010 I, along with my team, raised approximately $40,000 and ran a properly budgeted race. I would be willing to do this again,” Hoover said.

If Gerend were to be selected, the Sammamish City Council would have to appoint a replacement for his position.

The three other candidates are David Ellis and Tana Senn from Mercer Island, and George Pieper of Bellevue.

Mary Grady contributed to this story