On Nov. 24 a West Seattle hometown boy becomes King County’s new Executive, with a cabinet of 22, plus 13,000 full time employees under him, and nearly two million King County residents to serve.

Of course we are talking about King County Councilmember Dow Constantine.

“I have less than three weeks, and there’s no time for relaxing or missteps,” said Constantine in an exclusive interview with the West Seattle Herald. “We’re going to hit the ground running.”

Hey, how about that lead?

“I had nine months of long, hard campaigning and 15 minutes of suspense,” he said, referring to the lopsided election night results when he lead opponent Susan Hutchison by 14- percent. “This was way beyond our estimate and I am very grateful to King County.

“Even with all the campaign advertising, the dynamic changed in both the primary and general election once people studied their voter’s pamphlet and learned who endorsed me and what my policies actually were,” he said, dismissing Hutchison’s high polling numbers which he believed were due to her name recognition and not her qualifications.

“Once they opened up their ballots and saw my name they said, ‘This is a candidate I can really trust.’ People here take their vote very seriously.”

Constantine said he is especially touched by his strong support in West Seattle.

“It’s really great to live in the community you were raised, the community which raised you,” he said. “I am looking forward to the opportunity to serve District 8.

Serving two million residents is an enormous responsibility,” he added. “They depend on you to provide criminal justice, safe drinking water, buses that work, a lot of nuts and bolts stuff. It is the job of the King County government to secure the foundation for the quality of life our residents expect. I have to remake our county government to get more value for each tax dollar spent. The top priority for me is to remake the way our county does business because of the much more challenging economic times.”

His cabinet will be downsized (to 22) from the previous 33, and he has called for other reductions.

“I was the West Seattle High School Alumni President for five years and I’ll be thinking of my classmates who are now struggling in this economy,” he said.

Constantine said he was extremely saddened by the murder of Timothy Brenton, a fellow West Seattle High School graduate. Constantine was class of ’80, and Brenton ’88.

“I didn’t know Tim but the fact that he was raised here hits home,” said Constantine. “Alumni share a common bond which makes this even more tragic.”