My new favorite thing about Mayor Greg Nickels--after his State of the City address--is Nickels' obsession with Seattle City Light Superintendent Gary Zarker. It's just so weird.
A week before Nickels' speech, the mayor submitted Zarker's name to the Seattle City Council for reconfirmation as City Light's superintendent. The mayor accompanied the nomination with a press release singing Zarker's praises. The daily newspapers didn't respond with glowing stories about Zarker, though. (After all, Seattle City Light is facing an estimated $1.6 billion debt.) The newspapers--given Nickels' over-the-top praise--wrote cynically about the pro-Zarker campaign itself.
Nickels should have taken the hint, dropped the Zarker subject (certainly the effusive praise), and let the council tend to Zarker's confirmation hearings, which begin on February 20. But people with obsessions don't take hints.
At Nickels' February 3 State of the City address, Nickels couldn't help but talk about his buddy Gary Zarker, dedicating two paragraphs to Zarker. "The question is how to position City Light for another century of service," Nickels said. "There's no question the right person to lead that effort is Gary Zarker."
Nickels' Zarker obsession wouldn't be noteworthy if Zarker's eight-year tenure didn't contradict everything Nickels claims to stand for. Nickels prides himself on being the "back-to-basics" mayor. "This past year, we got back to basics and focused on core responsibilities," Nickels intoned during the Zarker section of his speech. "In Seattle, Gary kept the lights on." Um--that's pretty basic, all right. And, by the way, on Zarker's watch "keeping the lights on" meant hiking electricity rates by a whopping 58 percent in the last two years.
Nickels' administration likes to blame the City Light fiasco on unruly free market forces. Fair enough. But HELLO: It was Zarker who moved Seattle into the free market in the first place, shifting 20 percent of our energy load into uncharted territory. And once we got there, Zarker failed to land fixed contracts, which left City Light selling power low ($35 to $60 per megawatt hour) and buying power high ($1000 to $3000 per megawatt hour). No questions, Greg?
Nickels' unwavering support of Zarker also flies in the face of Nickels' take on other directors. In December 2001, I asked Nickels about axing Department of Neighborhoods Director Jim Diers. "When a new mayor comes in," Nickels responded, "it's an opportunity to bring in new ideas, new energy, and a new way of doing business. [Diers] had been there for a long time, and I think any organization benefits from a fresh look." Okay, Diers had been around too long. Well, damn--Zarker's been around since 1994, Greg, and unlike the effective agency that Diers ran, Zarker's City Light could really use some fresh ideas.
Ah, but obsessions do that--don't they? They confound one's consistency. They undermine principles.
Nickels clearly isn't thinking straight on this one. Let's hope the council is. Public hearings on Zarker are scheduled for February 27 and March 4. Bring questions.
