King County committee confirms 10 inaugural members of Human and Civil Rights Commission

The Law and Justice Committee on July 29 confirmed 10 inaugural members of the newly created King County Human and Civil Rights Commission, voting 4-0 to advance the appointments to the full council. Sponsors and staff described the commission as a strengthened successor to an earlier civil rights body and said the new panel will advise the county executive, the council and the public on policies to protect human and civil rights. Councilor Dombowski, sponsor of the ordinance that created the commission, invoked an Eleanor Roosevelt observation to explain the lawmaker’s motivation: “Where after all do human rights begin — in small places close to home; unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere,” and said the commission grew out of a multi-year assessment developed with the Korematsu…