Greg Nickels’ campaign continued its attacks against Joe Mallahan today (see the first round here) with a press release showing that Mallahan, who according to previous reports had missed six elections in recent years, had actually failed to vote ten times since 2000.

Here is a snippet from the press release:

Mallahan voting records provided to the media by King County Elections leave off three important elections from the overall list: the primary elections of 2001, 2002, and 2003. In response to an inquiry from the Nickels campaign today, Records and Elections confirmed that Mallahan had also not voted in all three of those primaries, in addition to seven other elections since 2004.

“Maybe Joe don’t vote because Joe don’t know,” said Nickels campaign spokesperson Sandeep Kaushik. “Joe Mallahan has paid so little attention to important civic issues that he could not be bothered to vote in half of our recent elections? Perhaps he should try familiarizing himself with the issues — and participating in our Democratic process more regularly — before deciding he is qualified to be mayor.”

Kaushik clearly isn’t afraid to swing the hatchet. He recently referred to Mallahan in an interview with the PostGlobe as “this Mallahan guy.”

Adding more to the intrigue, the Times reported this morning that a mixture of Nickels-backing business and labor interests, led by Vulcan and SEIU, would be spending $50,000 on robo-calls that are critical of Mallhan’s business background.

But tonight the Mallahan campaign struck back with a video calling Nickels “desperate” and accusing him of lying and distorting Mallahan’s record, while simultaneously accusing Nickels of cronyism and ineffectiveness.

What lies? The Mallahan campaign refers to a figure in the Nickels video that claims he spent $50 per senior, while the Mallahan camp cites a $3.51 per senior number. They are kind of both right. Mallahan’s claim that the Nickels administration spent $3.51 per senior was about senior centers, which is true, but the Nickels ad implies (and essentially distorts) that the claim was made about total senior spending.

“We knew once we started rising in the polls that they were going to start attacking out of desperation,” Mallahan spokesperson Charla Neuman told The Stranger in a phone interview. “I can’t say we’re surprised.”

Asked about whether it was a valid issue to go after Mallahan’s voting record Neuman said, “I think it’s a petty point. 98 percent of Seattle’s voters have less than perfect voting records. So Joe hasn’t been a career politician. I think voters actually want a capable manager who is more like them than Greg Nickels is.”

Perhaps. But they might also want someone who cares enough to vote in city council races.

So the real question comes down to this: is the mayor trying to push anti-Nickels sentiment (which is very high) toward Mallahan because he thinks he is an easier general election foe than Mike McGinn? Or is he running scared?

15 replies on “Nickels-Mallahan Feud Escalates”

  3. Pretty sure the concensus is that Mallahan will be the other ballot choice. McGinn isn’t as popular as you all would like to believe, except in the Cap Hill corridor. Mallahan has a better chance against Nickelhead in a two way race. There is a much bigger distinction between the two compared to McGinn.

  5. Running scared. Nickels talks about “knowing Seattle” and “knowing the Seattle process” while trying to sound like a wizened father figure, but in reality he sounds like a condescending fat dad. I think that Mallahan has good chance, but do I want him as mayor? I am swaying more towards McGinn, at least he has his talking points down and does not bumble around questions.

  6. Perhaps. But they might also want someone who cares enough to vote in city council races.

    How many reasons are there for not voting in a given election other than not caring? Hm, let me see… just looking at the top sheet of my list, I see forty reasons why someone might fail to vote in a given election. Now, that’s just the top sheet of my list of reasons, and the list is FOUR MILLION FUCKING PAGES LONG.

    Seriously you guys. Sometimes other shit just gets in the way.

  7. @6) Of using a pen to make six or seven small circles? You have a hard time brushing your teeth and/or putting shoes on also?

  8. Isn’t voting absenteeism the same shit they tried to pull on President Jes— I mean Obama that you all seemed to love during the campaign?

  9. Mallahan’s video is weak – I mean he doesn’t even dispute the claims that he doesn’t know anything…yea Nickel’s made some mistakes and so has Mallahan by working for such a terrible company for so long.

    I get that some people don’t vote because ‘other things get in the way’ – but people who care enough do…and Joe didn’t. That says something to me. How can he seriously stand there and criticize anything the city does when he hasn’t even done his part by voting?

    What is McGinn’s record, does anyone know?

  10. “critical of mallahan’s business background” really? like actually being held accountable for your actions by shareholders? like needing to actually perform within the constrains of a budget? god forbid someone bring those traits into city government.

  12. I agree with Judah @6. All these losers who have all this free time to vote in elections need to get a life.

    This is why I think this news is going to help Joe Mallahan tremendously with one constituency: Seattleites who don’t vote.

    Unfortunately, our corrupt system is rigged in such a way that those people’s voices are not heard. And we call this a democracy? Democracy, my ass.

  14. Maybe next time Greg will show up in person at endorsement meetings instead of sending hired staffers to do it.

    Regardless, he should be scared. By this point most people decided to vote for someone other than him, so even if he makes it out of the Primary, he’s unlike to win the General.

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