Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan touts leadership skills

Joe Mallahan is not accustomed to everyone knowing about his money.

Now it's all anyone wants to talk about.

The 46-year-old Wallingford father of two kicked off his campaign to become Seattle's mayor by writing a $200,000 check.

Mallahan has done well in the business world, working as a consultant and then, for the past nine years, at T-Mobile, most recently as vice president of strategic operations.

For all his business experience, Mallahan's political résumé is thin.

He missed voting in six of the past 18 elections, and his political involvement began only recently when he got involved as a volunteer in Barack Obama's presidential campaign. He has coached his daughter's middle-school soccer team, and his family is involved in planning the Great Wallingford Wurst Festival.

"I have a very demanding job," he said. "I spent most of my energy on my job and raising my kids and paying my taxes, trying to be a good neighbor."

But, he says, Seattle's city government is "fundamentally broken" because of poor leadership. He argues that his private-sector management skills and regular-guy perspective would fix it.

"My belief is that delivering city services and managing city infrastructure isn't that complicated," he said. "I have a long history of handling sizable projects in the private sector and fixing very complex problems."

A perception that two-term Mayor Greg Nickels is vulnerable has attracted five challengers: Mallahan, former Sonics player James Donaldson, former Sierra Club leader Michael McGinn, activist Dorli Rainey, and corporate headhunter Norman Sigler.

Longtime City Councilmember Jan Drago is considering a run and is expected to announce her decision soon. Her name recognition and experience could change the race dramatically.

The vote-by-mail primary is Aug. 18.

Mallahan grew up in South Everett, the seventh of nine children. He spent his vacations crabbing and clamming, which he said gave him an appreciation for the Puget Sound.

At Catholic University in Washington, D.C., he studied politics and international relations, including a year of study in Japan, before earning an MBA from the University of Chicago and starting his business career.

He drives a used Prius and sent his two daughters to Catholic elementary and middle school. Friends say he is not flashy. One called him "frugal."

"The only time you notice that he has money is when he's being generous with other people," said Gale Backer, who has lived across the street from the Mallahan family for about five years.

Professionally, he is known for telling it like it is — something he thinks the city of Seattle could use more of. He points to Nickels' handling of the December snowstorms.

"I would have gone down to those offices and asked how I could help," he said. The fact that the mayor was under the impression that things were OK while much of the city was immobilized by icy, rutted streets, he said, "is a really big red flag."

"You haven't seen competent and open leadership."

At T-Mobile, co-worker Debbie Lewis said Mallahan is known as someone who says what he thinks — even if it's unpopular. "He is going to tell you the truth," she said. "He is never going to tell you it's great if he doesn't think so."

As an example of his management style, Mallahan points to Hurricane Gustav, which hit the Gulf Coast last year.

He was concerned about T-Mobile customers who had prepaid for their minutes. If stores were closed because of the weather, they would be cut off from friends and relatives. He worked through Labor Day weekend on a fix that gave unlimited minutes to customers whose balance dropped below $5.

"When a crisis occurs, leadership has to get down on the front lines and help solve the problem," he said.

Mallahan is minimally versed in the specifics of city issues, but he says the current administration has been thinking too small. He supports a plan, first proposed by Nickels — and now on the primary ballot — to charge a 20-cent fee for grocery bags, but "it bothers me that this is a rather small initiative."

He also goes along with Nickels in supporting a tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

It improves access to the waterfront, Mallahan said, but says the city should be thinking more broadly about improving transit and pedestrian flow.

Nickels has wanted a tunnel for years, but voters opposed an initial design and state leaders resisted because of the cost.

"If I had been mayor of Seattle, it wouldn't have taken eight years to get resolution on this issue," he said.

Mallahan said the mayor should have worked more closely with the state Department of Transportation to find a solution "rather than coming to my own solution and advocating for that when I wasn't in partnership with other transportation leaders."

None of Nickels' challengers has been able to get anywhere near the mayor's campaign-fundraising balance. Mallahan hoped his check would make the mayor's money advantage a nonissue. He has also raised a lot of money from family and friends, keeping pace with the mayor. The Nickels campaign reports having about $200,000 on hand.

"I think I have a very high hill to climb," he said. "People will ultimately support me because they'll see me as a viable challenger to the mayor."

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