Fun, Now We Have Two Candidates With No Campaign Platform!
Mike McGinn lost today. Oh no, not the mayor's race, the tunnel race. The City Council voted unanimously to commit the city to the plan with the State, County and Port to billions digging deep under First Avenue and to send cars sailing through downtown underground. The vote gave McGinn a chance to give himself some much-needed political cover and he pounced.
Maybe this election really will come down to who can pound the most shots.
His official statement on the vote: "If I'm elected Mayor, although I disagree with this decision, it will be my job to uphold and execute this agreement. It is not the Mayor's job to withhold the cooperation of city government in executing this agreement."
At first this inspires a sigh of relief from anyone who thinks McGinn shows a generally better command of the city, its agencies, and responsibilities than his competitor Joe Mallahan, but couldn't get past his stubbornness on the tunnel. But since he's been campaigning almost non-stop on that tunnel he seems to have lost his whole raison d'etre.
Otherwise he's shown a willingness to back down on his proposals for taking over the schools and a cops plan and been vague on things like how exactly he'll support nightlife from the Mayor's Office. So now we have two candidates, neither of whom seems to have a solid platform to address the needs of a major American city running a deep budget deficit. Sometimes it feels like the real loser in this mayoral race are the citizens of Seattle.
3 comment(s)
ralph says:
Laura, how cynical you are. Don't you think it possible for Mike McGinn have completely sincere, well thought out policies that totally contradict each other? He is a very complex and intelligent man, after all... and did I mention he has a bike that I have heard on the best of authority that he has taken for a ride once or twice?
Posted On: Monday, Oct. 19 2009 @ 8:20PM
DPW says:
Okay, Laura, I'll guess with you. Just what 'are' the needs of this major American city?
You define these needs so we all know.
Posted On: Tuesday, Oct. 20 2009 @ 8:04AM
david stoesz says:
I'm definitely not an expert, but McGinn has issued pretty detailed position papers on any number of topics. Saying he has "no platform" seems like a bit of an exaggeration. What exactly would rise to the level of a platform?
Posted On: Tuesday, Oct. 20 2009 @ 10:27AM