Despite pushback from environmental activists, the Seattle City Council took a step toward approving Mayor Ed Murray's pick to run City Light today.
Last year, Murray appointed Larry Weis to run the city utility and Weis has been working his way through a city council confirmation process since. With a 3-2 vote in the council's energy committee today, Weis's confirmation now goes to the full council on March 21, where he's likely to be approved. Once he's hired, Weis will become the city's highest paid executive at $340,000 a year.
That confirmation will happen over the objections of environmental groups like 350 Seattle and the Sierra Club and Council Members Kshama Sawant and Mike O'Brien.
In recent weeks, environmentalists have raised concerns about Weis's record at his last job at Austin Energy in Texas, where he supported a natural gas project and expressed some skepticism about increases in solar energy. Sawant and O'Brien echoed those concerns when they voted against Weis's confirmation today.
While O'Brien says natural gas is unlikely to ever power City Light, he worried Weis wouldn't be a bold enough leader on fighting climate change. Ahead of today's vote, he drew a distinction between bureaucrats who find a middle ground between pro- and anti-environmental positions and "someone who gets up every morning and thinks, 'What am I going to do to fight climate change today?'"
"I'm not convinced that that's who you are," O'Brien told Weis. O'Brien said it was his first vote against a nomination in his six years on council.
In criticizing Weis's environmental record and lack of enthusiasm for municipal broadband, Sawant said his is "not the record of someone who has shown any desire to fight for innovation." She is also opposed to the $340,000 salary Weis has been offered. (Sawant has repeatedly introduced legislation to lower city executives' salaries, but failed to gain any traction.)
Three other council members sounded unenthused about Weis, but voted for him anyway.
Lorena GonzĂĄlez reiterated concerns she's heard about Weis's interactions with Austin's Latino community. Rob Johnson said he took "very seriously the comments that have come from some of our colleagues in the environmental community, both in support and in opposition." Still, GonzĂĄlez, Johnson, and Debora Juarez voted for Weis's confirmation. They praised his plans to create a new position within City Light focused on climate change.
"If you hear anything today," Juarez told Weis before the vote, "I'm hoping you will surprise us with your boldness."
