Councilman Burgess says he will not run for Seattle mayor

Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess announced today he will not run against Mayor Greg Nickels. Burgess had been considering a run and set up an exploratory committee.

Burgess defeated incumbent councilman David Della by a large margin in 2007, setting a fundraising record for a Seattle City Council race after a bruising campaign.

Burgess said he didn't feel ready to launch another time-consuming and expensive campaign and feared it would take away from his work on the council. He would be "less effective as a councilmember" he said, if he were trying to run a campaign.

Before serving on the City Council, Burgess was a partner in an ad agency that specialized in nonprofits. He also served on the city's Ethics and Election Commission, and he was a police officer in the 1970s.

He initially said he was considering a run for mayor because he was concerned Seattle is perceived regionally as a bully, and he worried that city government had grown out of touch with residents.

But as he examined the issues, he said, he determined that he and Nickels share similar views.

"At the end of the day, ... we align on a lot of issues, so the campaign would become one of personality and style," he said. "That's kind of an exercise in vanity, I guess. I'm not interested in doing that."

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com