From the Oct 2 – Oct 8, 2003 issue

News

Five to Four

Team Nickels

by Josh Feit

A couple of days before Mayor Greg Nickels unveiled his 2004 budget, I met with city council finance chair Jan Drago. I wanted to see how Drago, the council's longtime budget czar, expected this year's budget give-and-take with Nickels to pan out. Drago was surprisingly cheery about the start of the annual budget marathon--which typically, by giving a forum to tensions between the mayor and current council, has descended into outright war during the last two budget seasons. This year, though, Drago seemed to view the budget process as a golden opportunity to renew relations with the mayor's office. "There have been a lot of meetings," Drago said prior to Nickels' budget speech, "and I think we're on the same page."

Enter Team Nickels--like a bull in a china shop--with its Monday, September 29, theatrical challenge to council. And good for Team Nickels. The council grousing that followed Nickels' display--Drago and council prez Peter Steinbrueck expressed alarm in the next day's papers--unwittingly highlighted the real problem: Lacking an agenda of its own, the council's got nothing better to say. The fact is, the china shop's the problem. Not the bull.

Team Nickels organized its troops behind its agenda and showed up in full force at council chambers. Nickels fans clapped on cue at predetermined moments, while key Nickels guests--like the owner of the Orange Julius/Dairy Queen at Northgate--were readied to pop up when Nickels, à la Clinton, introduced them.

The big show--the clapping cues and the special guests--may have been a bit inelegant, but it was also a political coup: challenging the council to get behind Team Nickels' development agenda in South Lake Union and Northgate. After a curious laugh ("Heh, heh, heh," Nickels weirdly chuckled after "congratulating" the council for following his orders last June by lifting the lease lid), he framed the debate: "You have legislation before you that needs action. Nothing happens at Northgate until you approve the plan we sent down last spring. There is nothing to stop the council from acting in October--not December, not November. October."

Nickels then introduced a Northgate merchant named Alana Foroni, intoning, "Foroni asks: 'Why is Northgate held back, while other malls can flourish?' Alana? [Alana stands.] Unlock Northgate. Unlock the possibilities. Unlock opportunity. No new jobs are created until you act. [Applause on cue.]"

Team Nickels' show was certainly heavy-handed and grating. "That's the consensus around here," Drago's aide told me the following day.

But that's off point. While Team Nickels' style is certainly inelegant and quite frankly, a bit of a clownish Grade Z Clinton knock-off, Nickels' impulse is actually right on target. Team Nickels is simply showing up with an agenda and hyping it. That's how politics works. The fact that the council found itself sputtering and complaining about Nickels' process (again) makes it plain (again) that council has no agenda of its own. Team Nickels does.

josh@thestranger.com