In a lifeless beige room, Mayor Ed Murray is on a tear bragging about his first year in office. “One of the things that I wanted to do when I became mayor of Seattle,” he says, “was to show that progressives, people who are liberals, people who are Democrats, can work together and show the rest of the country and the rest of the state how progressives can get things done.” It’s at this point—as a projector paints a far wall with photos of 83-year-old city council member Jean Godden—that Murray tells the small crowd why his own success was possible. “Because of Jean’s style—her toughness, her willingness to take risks, her willingness to compromise, her willingness to collaborate,” Murray says, “I think last year we showed that this is a progressive city that can show how progressives work together and get things done.”
It’s at this point—as a projector paints a far wall with photos of 83-year-old city council member Jean Godden—that Murray tells the small crowd why his own success was possible.
“Because of Jean’s style—her toughness, her willingness to take risks, her willingness to compromise, her willingness to collaborate,” Murray says, “I think last year we showed that this is a progressive city that can show how progressives work together and get things done.”
He credits Godden for last year’s voter-approved parks district measure, universal pre-K, expanded bus service, and the big one: Seattle’s new minimum-wage increase.
“We decided we were going to be the first city in America to address income inequality and raise the minimum wage,” Murray tells the people in the room, all of them gathered for the kickoff to Godden’s campaign for a fourth term. “And we did that because of Jean’s leadership.”
Wait. What?
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