Comments

2
Someone should ask Brian Robinson at RHA what he thinks.
3
Socially-liberal, economically-conservative commonsense no bullshit candidate will win.

Moon, Oliver, McGinn = clowns
5
Hrm, wonder if the push-poller will be connected financially to the conservative candidate yet to be revealed.
6
@3: McGinn thanks you for your vote!
7
"Among them: That Murray's accusers have described the layout of the mayor's old apartment and cited physical descriptions of his anatomy, lending the allegations credibility"

And that doesn't sound like something that McGinn's team would have asked (certainly considering that the stories they provided referenced the same "distinguishing" mole.)
8
Oops, Murray's team.
9
@6
You misunderstand
I am voting for Murray
10
Perhaps the business community is unhappy with Murray and started looking for a center-right candidate to challenge him? Or at least they're looking to spook Murray into looking out for their interests?

So taking credit for raising the MW alienates some businesses. Hmm.
11
It's Durkan, not Durkin. Also, what @2 said about the second poll.

Re: the first poll, it seems likely that the Oliver campaign is testing attack messaging. She has the most money to burn (after Murray).
12
Perhaps the penultimate sentence in that piece should be "That's speculation." Which it clearly is.
13
@11: I do wonder if she'd use this degree of messaging though.

@10: Hrm, maybe the "business community" will turn out to be the soft drink manufacturers instead? A remote, True Detective sort of twist, but they do have a mean streak when profits are endangered.

I know the locals have been angry over minimum wage, but it seems a bit beyond the pale for Seattle business-owners, even the centrist sort.
14
I have to ask myself if this were a white woman accusing a conservative republican... I would be quick to dismiss the politicians claims of innocence and ask for his resignation. I am the same here with numerous black men accusing a white gay democrat. Murray needs to step down.
15
The Chamber and RHA have very few days left in which to persuade one of the names on that short-list to earn the everlasting enmity of every LGBT major donor in town.
16
Montlakist, you honestly think that "every LGBT major donor in town" donates only on the basis of what the candidate's sexual identity is? You think that there aren't a whole bunch of those donors who are squirming over every new revelation of this scandal and privately pressuring Murray to step down?
17
Catalina, my dear, it's not a matter of what I think: it's a matter of what simply is. Loyalty to Ed is broad and deep amongst the big gay checkbooks, and no one is wavering because some personal injury lawyers have trolled halfway houses and jails to find a handful of felons-turned-Pentecostals who think their 12th step to redemption is to do the bidding of Connelly & Miloscia.
18
Well, my gay checkbook is neither big nor loyal. And I am at best an N or O gay, and certainly not an A gay (although I used to know some of them. The most tedious people ever). And if even one of these accusations bear fruit, they are going to find themselves out a whole lot of money, and maybe with some sort of crypto Republican in the mayor's office who may not be all that interested in their money or their opinions. But it's their money. They can do what they please with it.
19
That handful of "big gay checkbooks" would be wise to hang onto their money until this thing sorts itself out. They might find themselves in a situation where we have some sort of crypto Republican in the mayor's office who really doesn't care what they think or particularly want their donations.

People are fed up. I work for the city, and I hear it every day - and I don't work in a political department. They're tired of the cost of living, of the taxes, of the homeless people and their garbage, and the way that this administration doesn't seem to be able to accomplish anything. If Murray had any sort of credible opponent, he'd most likely already be done for. Luckily, he's got a bunch of nut jobs and a former unpopular mayor running against him that will probably allow him to squeak through the primary.
20
Oh, dear. Sorry about the redundant post. I had written the original one, and then the computer at The Stranger said that something had gone wrong and to try again. It wasn't showing up on the comments, so I assumed it was lost.
21
'You think that there aren't a whole bunch of those donors who are squirming over every new revelation of this scandal and privately pressuring Murray to step down?'

As Montlakist nicely put it, the only 'revelation' in this 'scandal' is how far anti-gay lawyers are willing to abuse our legal system to put a political hit on Murray. One of those lawyers has already been fined for improper conduct, and Murray's lawyers are requesting a ruling for violation of Rule 11. If that happens in their favor, the entire lawsuit disappears, and Murray would have an opening for a huge counter-suit against a deep-pocketed, anti-gay bigot.

'People are fed up. I work for the city, and I hear it every day - and I don't work in a political department. They're tired of the cost of living, of the taxes, of the homeless people and their garbage, and the way that this administration doesn't seem to be able to accomplish anything.'

I'm not here to defend Murray's record, but dear, do you really think any Mayor will perform so well in office that people will begin telling you their taxes are too low and their government services are just too awesome?

22
tensor dear, a small group of people suspect that this all may be made up. The larger population, maybe not so much. In all the years I've worked for the city, I've never had a customer try to engage me in speculation about the Mayor's sex life until the last month or so.

In any event, King is reporting that Murray will announce this week that he won't seek election. Maybe it's time for those "big gay checkbooks" to put the cap on their pen.
24
Mrs. Vel-DuRay, you are my favorite commenter here at Slog, and that you deigned to respond to me is truly an honor and a privilege. I hope I can be worthy of your incisive wit.

"In any event, King is reporting that Murray will announce this week that he won't seek election."

Thank you oh so very much for that link to KING5. Not since the glory days of Bill, Monica, his cigars, and her blue dress have I read such a delightfully repackaged set of completely unverified rumors presented as actual, real, serious news. "Sources say," why they sure do indeed!

"In all the years I've worked for the city, I've never had a customer try to engage me in speculation about the Mayor's sex life until the last month or so."

Indeed, it is almost as if the suit was filed for that very purpose, don't you agree? What it utterly lacks in verifiable evidence, it certainly more than makes up for in salacious, scandalous, gossipy claims, does it not?

"...donates only on the basis of what the candidate's sexual identity is?"

Now dear, don't you think it is more than just a tad bit churlishly small of you to ignore the many years first Rep. Murray and then Sen. Murray spent in Olympia, obtaining first full legal protections for all GLBTQ citizens of our fair state, then full equality in marriage? (I remember then-freshman Rep. Murray telling us at a District 43 meeting that only the most radical members of the community even talked about marriage for gays.) Can loyalty be justly earned through actions, rather than just lazily assumed through status? I certainly hope so, and I hope you can agree.

To emphasize what I wrote earlier, none of this should be read as a defense of Murray's performance in the office he now holds. I do hope every one of us citizens of Seattle will demand our choices in political candidates not be limited by whichever out-of-town attorney decides to file an evidence-free lawsuit in the middle of our election season.

After all, only by having our fullest choice of candidates may we elect one whose performance in office causes your customers to spontaneously declare their taxes to be low when compared to the spectacular benefits they receive. ;-)
25
tensor dear, thank you for the kind words. I would be the last to discount Ed Murray's contributions to the state of Washington in general, and the LGBT community in particular. You and I can go back and forth about this, and rail at the injustice of it all, but the court of popular opinion is what really counts - especially during an election year - and I'm not sure where that court is. That's all I am saying.

And believe me, I am quite experienced at handling customers. (I come from the hospitality industry, where I started at the tender age of twelve, and I am quite old). I work for for a department that is self-supporting and tax-paying, so comments on taxes do not concern me. Questions about the mayor's genitals, on the other hand, do tend to distract.
26
Mrs. Vel-DuRay, my only concern is we judge an office-holder on the basis of his performance in that office. Ed Murray did great work for our state in our legislature. That does not give him a free pass for his performance as Mayor of Seattle. Neither does it obligate us to judge his performance as Mayor based upon a lawsuit bankrolled by an inveterate opponent of LGBTQ rights. The presumption of innocence is not just a quaint quirk of our legal system; it is a fundamental basis of any system of justice.
27
tensor dear, I don't disagree with you. I'm only saying that I wouldn't assume the public is on his side. That may not be fair or right, but that is beside the point.
28
I'm not from Washington, but could this be another smear campaign, brought about by Trump supporters? I worked in victim rights for 8+ years and rarely doubt victims...but I simply refuse to believe everything I read nowadays, given PizzaGate and all.

Please wait...

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