The Seattle Times: Politics Northwest

Mike McGinn's victory party draws hundreds of curious revelers

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:50:03 PST

Mayor-elect Mike McGinn's victory party near the Othello light rail station tonight was packed with at least 500 people, with more coming in the doors and someone delivering more food at 8 p.m. when I left.

The crowd was older than the group that often hung out at McGinn campaign events. The campaign volunteers were there, too, but the place was also packed with community leaders, representatives of groups that endorsed McGinn, and the curious, who turned out to see the new mayor.

They ate from a catered buffet line and drank free wine, beer and pop.

McGinn, grinning and accompanied by his family, gave a short speech after a rallying cry from the Garfield High School marching band.

"Something happened here in this election," he said. "Somehow, this guy who rides around on a bicycle, he's kind of an environmentalist and neighborhood guy, how could he win?"

He said people keep asking him for his secret. But there is no secret, he said: "You talk to people."

And he encouraged the people at the party to talk to each other.

"There's a way we can make it easier for you all to talk to each other," he said, and then ended with something like a toast: "We have supplied food. We have supplied music. We have supplied drink. So enjoy."

Seattle City Council announces new committee assignments

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:53:03 PST

The Seattle City Council -- anticipating two new members and losing two veterans -- has settled on committee assignments for 2010-2011.

They start Jan. 4.

Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, currently in charge of the Parks and Seattle Center Committee, will take over the Transportation Committee from departing councilmember Jan Drago.

Councilmember Nick Licata will chair Human Services and Culture along with a new committee covering Housing.

Council President Richard Conlin, who is expected to keep his council presidency for another year, will chair the Sustainability and Regional Development Committee and the committee he has now, Open Government, Emergency Management, Sustainability and Intergovernmental Relations. He is adding economic development and libraries to that committee's work.

Incoming Councilmember Sally Bagshaw will take over the Parks and Seattle Center Committee from Rasmussen.

Incoming Councilmember Mike O'Brien will chair a new committee covering Seattle Public Utilities and Neighborhoods.

Sally Clark has become something of an expert about complex land-use issues in the past year chairing the Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee. She'll keep those issues but the committee has a new name: the Committee of the Built Environment.

Councilmember Tim Burgess will chair the Public Safety and Education Committee -- a continuation of his current assignment, except that the committee is shedding its responsibility for human services.

Councilmember Bruce Harrell will continue to chair the Energy and Technology Committee. He'll also take on civil rights in the committee.

Councilmember Jean Godden is keeping the Finance and Budget Committee.

Mike McGinn has a transition Web site

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:05:04 PST

Now that Mayor-elect Mike McGinn has been in his transition office for a week, he is reaching out for ideas. He has a new Web site, for one thing. He's planning three town halls. (Locations and times to-be-announced).

At a meeting this morning of about 30 community leaders, McGinn talked about trying to keep his campaign's spirit of inclusion in his new administration. Meeting attendees -- including Bill LaBorde of the Transportation Choices Coalition, Justin Simmons of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, and Sharon Maeda from UFCW Local #21, and others -- were optimistic and seemed glad that they were being included in McGinn's transition.

Some expressed hope that McGinn would bring a change in culture to City Hall.

Center for Career Alternatives Executive Director Al Sugiyama said Greg Nickels and his administration were good listeners at first, but "over the years, they stopped listening."

Attendees urged McGinn to keep going out into neighborhoods after he takes office and to build a good relationship with the City Council.

And LaBorde spoke to the challenge that awaits McGinn in Olympia. McGinn spent his campaign bashing the tunnel planned as a replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

"Sadly, there's a bunch of key legislators who just got themselves worked up in a lather about you and are convinced that you're Trotsky reborn," he said.

For swearing-in, Constantine returns to historic church

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:30:04 PST

Dow Constantine will be sworn in as King County executive next Tuesday at the same place he held his campaign kickoff event in June: the former First United Methodist Church sanctuary in downtown Seattle.

Now known as Daniels Recital Hall, the 99-year-old building has special meaning for Constantine. After nearly everyone else had given up on saving the Beaux Arts sanctuary at Fifth Avenue and Marion Street, he convinced them it wasn't too late.

Beating out an offer from a developer who planned to demolish the building, Constantine got the church congregation, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, County Executive Ron Sims and Nitze-Stagen President Kevin Daniels to unite around a redevelopment plan that saved the sanctuary.

Constantine will be sworn in at the sanctuary-turned-recital hall 4 p.m. Tuesday, hours after the county Canvass Board certifies his landslide victory over Susan Hutchison. A reception will follow.

In addition to the symbolic value of the place, it's also large enough to accommodate any supporters who want to celebrate his inauguration. There aren't any halls that large in the nearby county courthouse or other office buildings.

"We want to make sure everyone is included," said campaign consultant and transition adviser Christian Sinderman.

Here they are: McGinn's "ambassadors"

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:33:04 PST

If you're interested in who has been in on Mayor-elect Mike McGinn's transition meetings so far, he has published a list on his Web site.

Since McGinn is not having a traditional transition team, he's calling this group "ambassadors" to the community. A few interesting ones: Rob Holland, a newly elected Port Commissioner who protested appearing in a McGinn campaign video; Wyking Garrett, who ran in the mayoral primary and was arrested for disrupting the opening of the Northwest African American Museum; and Chris Martin, who owns Cleanscapes and holds the contract for much of the city's garbage-collection contract.

Seattle council members don't want to talk about their own furloughs

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:10:04 PST

At a noon press conference today, each of the Seattle City Council's nine members made a short statement about their work on the 2010 budget, which they are scheduled to approve Monday.

Councilmember Jean Godden specifically thanked more than 6,000 city employees who are taking 10 unpaid days off next year.

But when I asked whether council members are doing the same, Godden wouldn't answer. She said she could only speak for herself. She did write a check for the equivalent of two weeks of her pay, she said.

She suggested I ask each council member individually whether they were going to voluntarily take a furlough. They were all standing right there, but instead of answering my question, they stayed awkwardly silent.

When other reporters started weighing in, Councilmember Jan Drago jumped up on the platform and ended the press conference.

"I think it's time to wrap this up, don't you, Jean?" she said, adding that she and Councilmember Richard McIver, who both are leaving the council at the end of this year, will not take furloughs next year.

(Dominic Holden posted about this on Slog today.)

I did do a little more reporting, although I haven't reached every council member. Tim Burgess and Sally Clark also are reimbursing the city for two weeks of pay. Richard Conlin, Nick Licata, Bruce Harrell and Tom Rasmussen are not.

"I don't think it's a good idea for electeds," Licata told me after the press conference. "I think it's playing too much politics."

Mayor-elect McGinn plans a victory party for everybody

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:32:08 PST

Seattle Mayor-elect Mike McGinn just announced he is holding a victory party on Friday in South Seattle. It's open to the public. (On the Facebook invitation, Councilmember Tom Rasmussen says he's going and Councilmember Jan Drago says she's a "maybe."

McGinn is trying to stay accessible even as he is accompanied by security officers and preparing to take over the city in seven weeks. He hasn't announced a formal "transition team" and says he won't. Instead, he's meeting with community leaders and people who supported his campaign. He's even asking -- via this YouTube video -- for everyone to send him input by answering three questions: How do we build the strongest possible team? How do we build public trust? What should we do first?

It's an effort, he says on the video, to run his transition "in the same spirit and style that we ran our campaign."