I'm guessing someone confused him with Joe Dear, who, it seems, actually did pass away: http://www.thestand.org/2014/02/former-w…

With condolences to his family.

So Diers... didn't?

OMG

Can they do anything w/out screwing up? They must feel really snakebit by now.

I'm waiting for part 3: "We apologize for the error, Pugel told us he'd died."

@4 - "Records left by the McGinn administration indicated that he was dead. The records have since been misplaced, probably by McGinn's people."

@4 & 5: thanks! Comedy gold. this may not be such a bad 4 yrs after all...we'll at least have things to laugh about.

Can't stop laughing!

My biggest complaint about McGinn was his ham-fisted way of doing things, but really? Nobody could verify this information? Yikes.

Is this performance art? Is Andy Kaufman our mayor?

Jim and Ed, close, man - like brothers. They will be missed.

Meanwhile, I can report with absolute certainty that Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

Sometimes

Just sometimes

It pays to take your time and make sure someone isn't pulling your leg before posting.

Like on page 1 of the SR-99 Broke Tunnel Report where it says "if we find a magic pile of money" that they can finish the tunnel late.

Before the Zombies get us, that is.

I'm really sad that the likelihood is fading that there will be a Friday press conference at 5:00 pm with the Mayor standing behind the death notice.

Geez, wait a second. Did these people apologize at all? The passive voice correction just says that they were "mistakenly informed," and the other guy sure didn't apologize.

I'm the. You don't. Wait til I. These eyes are dry with flustration.

@1:

Please, tell me you're joking and you don't actually think they could have really been so stupid as to have confused the two gentlemen? If so, I'll have to rank this as beyond cringe-worthy, probably somewhere close to face-palm territory.

But regardless, it does lead directly to the question @4&5 humorously pose: where IS this press release they claim as the source of the misinformation? A simple reading of that should solve the matter of which pooch got screwed and by whom once and for all. Unless of course, it too has mysteriously disappeared, in which case I'd politely suggest the Mayor immediately fire whomever in City Hall is in charge of documents retention, because they suck at their job.

If nothing else iit would be the first dismissal in Murray's administration to actually have a point to it...

Frankly,
All
Is
Lost

Many kingdoms throughout history would simply kill the subject of the condolences to bring reality in line with the press. I admire the His Honor and staff for presumably not considering that option.

Looking at the last few weeks, it does seem that some of the top notch professionals in Murray's office need to be replaced with different top notch professionals. That's simple enough, unless Murray is the problem. This is a minor gaffe when you look at a few other bold moves he's made. It's not like we don't have a massive volume of historical data on the gentleman (positive, negative and other.)

No, no firings. You get what you pay for, and top notch professionals deserve top dollar. These are individuals who have sacrificed opportunities in the private sector to work in public service, so they need to get raises. Let's contact the City Council now and ask them to add another million to the Mayor's budget.

Comte @18: per Seattle Times, they really for realz did confuse Jim Diers with Joe Dear.

Thanks for the belly laugh so early in the a.m. Hilarious! Wishing Diers a long life.

The mayor needs to fire the buffoon he took on as the neighborhoods outreach liaison in his office and hire Diers. That would be a suitable apology for all of us, and correct a mistake that dates back to Greg Nickels.

If Diers was a cop, Murray then send out another press release saying he has a 24-hour bug, and will be back to work tomorrow.