Mayor Nickels didn't ask to have his street plowed, report states

Seattle's ethics chief found no evidence that Mayor Greg Nickels sought preferential treatment from city transportation crews during December snowstorms.

But whether Nickels received special treatment from the department could not be determined, according to a report released Thursday by the head of the city's Ethics and Elections Commission.

Wayne Barnett, executive director of the commission, said he received accounts by crew members that a top manager for the city's transportation department ordered "special treatment" for the Mayor and other high-ranking officials.

But he said the officials' denials, a lack of concrete proof and the "poisonous atmosphere"in the street-maintenance division toward that manager prevented Barnett from charging anyone with violating city-ethics rules.

Barnett's report stated that Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis acknowledged calling the head of the transportation department, Grace Crunican, to tell her that parts of Admiral Way Southwest in West Seattle, where he lives, had not been plowed.

But Barnett concluded that Ceis was not asking for special treatment, and even if he had been, such a request "served a city purpose, given the number of people who live west of California Avenue and rely on Admiral Way in their travels by car and bus."

In a statement released by his spokesman Thursday, Nickels said, "I have never tolerated any hint of special treatment in any regard."

The statement said Nickels was disturbed and frustrated by implications that he asked for such treatment in December, when icy streets paralyzed the city for nearly two weeks. But he also acknowledged the need for improvement: "As we move forward, one thing is certain: We are determined to improve our response to snow."

Nickels asked Barnett's office in March to investigate whether "preferential" treatment was given to West Seattle during December's storms.

West Seattle is home to Nickels, Ceis and Crunican. Barnett said he spoke to the three officials and all denied using their positions to have certain streets cleared.

The mayor requested the inquiry following a Seattle Times investigation into the city's bungled response to clearing city streets during the snowstorms. The Times interviewed plow drivers and street crews and reviewed thousands of department records in its investigation which described a disjointed and dysfunctional city response to clearing streets.

Plow drivers told The Times that Paul Jackson Jr., then director of the street-maintenance division, ordered downtown streets cleared so the mayor could get to work. Jackson denied the accusation.

Records showed that city-transportation crews spent an inordinate amount of time clearing sidewalks, landings and bus stops in West Seattle just before Christmas.

The Times has never reported that the mayor or his staff asked for "special treatment."

Ethics investigators interviewed one driver who told them that Jackson stated that it was in "our best interests" and would "make us all look better" if the streets in West Seattle were cleared. According to the report, Jackson denied ordering crews to plow the streets where the mayor, deputy mayor and Crunican live.

At his request, Jackson was reassigned to the traffic-management division earlier this year after the City Council ordered its own investigation into the department's performance.

Susan Kelleher: 206-464-2508 or skelleher@seattletimes.com