News Aug 14, 2013

Mayor of a Different City

Ed Murray Says He's "Not Running to Be a Progressive Mayor." Why Not?

by Paul Constant

Comments

1
Ah, this again.
TomJohnsonJr on August 14, 2013 at 9:37 AM · Report this
2
Mr. Constant's remarks prove that freedom of the Press isn't always a good thing. While he is entitled to his opinions, there's no doubt about who he'll be voting for in November. Seattle voters aren't stupid, most will read between the lines when it comes to articles like Paul Constant's.
on August 14, 2013 at 10:03 AM · Report this
3
Is any of the big money for Ed Murray's mayoral campaign coming from pro-coalers?
That's my guess.
auntie grizelda on August 14, 2013 at 10:06 AM · Report this
4
Nice writeup. Folks should remember as we get to November that Murray's been angling for this framework -- it wasn't simply foisted upon him. And that's troubling.
grkle on August 14, 2013 at 11:25 AM · Report this
5
"NPR tote-bag liberals who put Clinton/Gore bumper stickers on their cars and then quietly vote down every property tax that crosses their ballots."

Pretty sure you made that up.
on August 14, 2013 at 11:33 AM · Report this
6
When Mike McGinn said in 2009 he would "bring people together" was that a political dog whistle? Shouldn't he have further qualified that statement to make sure people understood it excluded all moderate Democrats and Republicans? I think we should retroactively parse the statement.
on August 14, 2013 at 2:27 PM · Report this
7
Well written!
casanil on August 14, 2013 at 6:48 PM · Report this
8
"We're tired of having to wait for the dumbest kid in the class to catch up to us so that we can move on to the next lesson," is just as ignorant and naive as the public who were "NPR tote-bag liberals who put Clinton/Gore bumper stickers on their cars and then quietly vote down every property tax that crosses their ballots".

That attitude will knock this city off it's Ivory Tower. Otherwise, cheers!
jim buresch on August 15, 2013 at 4:29 AM · Report this
9
McGinn has been a terrible maoyor, unable to work within the city itself because of his bloated ego and refusal to compromise. Compromise isn't a dirty word, its how things actually fucking happen. Murray knows that and its how he helped get gay marriage passed, and its how he'll help move the city forward.
on August 15, 2013 at 8:08 AM · Report this
10
@9: Democratic State Senate Leader Ed Murray has done a lot for Washington State. Here's hoping that if elected Mayor of Seattle, he can continue to get a lot of critical issues taken care of. It sounds like, from what I've read in Dominic Holden's articles (including a write up in The Seattle Times), fixing the city's infrastructure and corruption in the SPD alone are two issues in dire need of a serious overhaul!

Someone had commented earlier that most mayoral candidates are opposed to the GPT / SSA Marine coal exporting proposals for Longview and Cherry Point (not exclusively incumbent Mayor Mike McGinn). Although I can't participate in the election for Seattle's mayor, myself (I live outside Seattle), hopefully we can stop the coal train insanity in its tracks once and for all as the burning of fossil fuels has globally proven exponentially more damaging than beneficial.
Whoever takes the helm for Commander-in-Chief for the City of Seattle has a big job ahead.
auntie grizelda on August 15, 2013 at 11:14 AM · Report this
11
So basically you want to see Murray start running for Mayor of Seattle and not Mayor of Washington State. The central question should be what will and can he do/lead as Mayor? His campaign to date seems to be suggesting that the most important job of the Mayor is to build a working relationship with the State government. Isn't the evidence that effective Mayor's figure out how to move their agenda's based on what they can make happen in their city?
That is the discussion I want to see Murray and McGinn engage in. What do they see city government doing? I guess that is why I didn't vote for either of them in the primary... Now I am waiting to see if Ed can focus on what the Mayor actually does, not what the senate majority leader would do.
cub on August 15, 2013 at 12:57 PM · Report this
12

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on August 15, 2013 at 4:27 PM · Report this
14
What does being a progressive mean to you? I've found a number of definitions and many are contradictory. So what does it mean in Seattle?
cbbear on August 15, 2013 at 5:00 PM · Report this
15
hey @$$^&*( times they are always changing. there is a finite, saturated pool of hardcore progressive voters. i would never vote for someone w/ murray's politics, except in a place like seattle. he sounds alot better than the alternative. go murray!?!?!? yea, go murray!
on August 15, 2013 at 9:28 PM · Report this
16
This whole bullshit meme is based on the Stranger taking a phrase out of context in a way that would make Fox "News" proud.

Murray also said he wasn't running to be the gay Mayor of Seattle. Does that mean he isn't gay, too?
Mr. X on August 16, 2013 at 9:10 AM · Report this
17
"We're tired of having to wait for the dumbest kid in the class to catch up to us so that we can move on to the next lesson."

Thanks for the good news. Do you have any plans for convincing the Seattle School Board to help the winners advance and the losers to drop out? Or at least put the kids who will never learn and can't learn into their own school? In other words, to stop mainstreaming stupidity.
billwald on August 16, 2013 at 7:42 PM · Report this
18
Some welcome a diversity of ideas and challenges to the mainstream thoughts (see Sawant supporters) and yet you just called them the dumbest kids in the class who haven't caught up ?

I have a new idea about who is the dumbest kid in the class....
ChefJoe on August 17, 2013 at 11:34 AM · Report this
19
My problem with McGinn is that his priorities aren't doing my - the African-American community - any good. He was behind the curve on reforming the SPD - and even after the DOJ got involved, slow walked the process. We've got pretty green bike lanes in capitol hill/downtown seattle - but in South Seattle, there are still entire neighborhoods without sidewalks. He stood on the corner and expressed his support for the Occupy movement, but his aides confided to some organizers that they couldn't do anything to stop the daily harassment of non-violent protesters without alienating the Downtown Seattle Association... (I could continue with more examples, but what's the point writing a manifesto?)
I can't thing of a single thing that McGinn has done that directly benefits black people in the past four years.
With that being said, no, Murray hasn't effectively communicated the policies that his administration would pursue. Yes, I don't know why he's afraid to say he's a progressive. But what I do know is I would vote for my deceased cat before I would vote for McGinn again.
on August 18, 2013 at 6:11 AM · Report this
20
Change happens on a small scale and builds. I agree with Paul's thinking that Seattle can and should be a beacon of progressive government. If it can happen, it can happen here. That's why we need visionaries, people who aren't afraid to be progressive. I grew up in an awful backwards hellhole, and I love Seattle with all my heart. I always support candidates who are smart and dare to dream. I will be voting for Sawant and McGinn.
on August 19, 2013 at 12:29 AM · Report this
21
I couldn't help notice that Seattle all of a sudden found its socialist legs (with Kshama Sawnat getting more than one-third of the primary vote--the highest in decades)after it basically forced many of the very persons who need socialism the most to leave the Overpriced City in the first place:Persons of Color (especially Blacks);Leftists;members of the Lower Class.Those three groups would constitute an absolute majority of voters for Sawant if she does win this November 5th:you better get those people to vote for her if you want Seattle to finally come close to living up to its erroneous reputation for being a Leftistic metropolis. --- http://www.blackagendareport.com , http://www.broadleft.org , http://www.inequality.org
5th Columnist on August 26, 2013 at 1:30 PM · Report this
22
If Sawant wins this Fifth of November,then it will be because of one thing:enough Socialist-Alternative supporters went door to door and block to block throughout Seattle,and found every person who is (or can be) eligible to vote (October Seven is the deadline,y'all!) who is a member of at least one of the following historically-oppressed demographic groups:Persons of Color;Leftists;members of the Lower Class. --- http://www.winwinnetwork.org , http://www.wliha.org ,http://www.justice.gov
5th Columnist on August 26, 2013 at 1:36 PM · Report this
24
Seattle deserves a mayor who enjoys playing in another mans poop.
on September 1, 2013 at 2:26 PM · Report this