Comments

1

I’ve never voted for a Republican. Never even considered it. But if a Republican who only wants to do the actual job of being mayor (pave the roads, build the bridges, keep the city safe, maintain the parks) then I will give them very strong consideration.

Gonzalez says broader issues of equity and equality of opportunity are important to her, and I agree that those issues are very important. Even on those issues, however, she and the rest of the city council are feckless failures. Look around. Does anything about this city feel improved since Gonzalez arrived in city hall? Has anything been done for the homeless? Has the city council done anything constructive around mass transit. It’s notable that the construction of light rail has happened without much influence from the city council so maybe their lack of involvement there should be considered fortunate. When they have gotten involved in mass transit we ended up with two lines that don’t connect and aren’t scaled out enough to serve any practical purpose.

The police are at war with a portion of the population, but has anything been done to improve that situation? The standoff between the police and the city’s residents has only worsened, and now downtown is awash in broken glass, shuttered stores, and bullets. How does that situation serve anyone?

That Gonzalez could look at the city and ask for a promotion based on her accomplishments creating our wreckage is akin to Trump running for his second term. Hard pass.

2

@1 Good luck with that. An R candidate won't even make it past the top two primary. At best you are going to have to hope for a moderate Dem vs someone from the activist class. I think the much more likely scenario here is that someone like Nikkita Oliver enters the race and Gonzales actually emerges as the moderate choice even though she is quite clearly an activist politician. While it would be nice to have a leader in the city who can focus on the basics of governance and recovery from the pandemic I don't think such a person can win an election in the current environment and there are many, many good candidates who look at the Seattle Mayor position as a lose-lose scenario and won't even bother applying.

3

"In the 2021 budget, Gonzalez voted to defund SPD by 20%, though a vast majority of that 'defunding' came simply from moving certain departments out of SPD."

Isn't that the exact definition of defunding the police?

4

I suggest Rudy Giuliani.

5

Bring back Mark Sidran!

6

Still shopping.

7

@ 1,

First of all, those are all crises because of Republican policies of redistributing all wealth and income to the degenerate billionaire oligarchs that control this country. It's not news that they've waged a brutal, racist economic war against the people of this country for forty years, and we've lost, badly.

Secondly, homelessness, militarized predatory policing, the gross underinvestment in our infrastructure, and impending mass poverty are all national issues. Every place in America is facing these same problems.

It's beyond insane to expect the mayor of one second tier city to be able to solve these crises single-handedly. National crises need national solutions, so the next candidate for mayor should be judged by their ability to work with leaders at the state and national level to implement solutions.

9

No person capable of making the decisions needed to save Seattle can be elected there. Seattle's city government is a write-off.

10

@8: Can't you ever just disagree and opine instead of annoying us with your constant obsession with "sock puppets"?

12

I look forward to a referendum on the failed leadership and ideological extremism of the City Council. She is the left wing equivalent of the nut jobs that stormed the Capitol. I will never vote for her or any of the city council members ever again.

13

That 70+ percent of the vote was for a different politician than she is now. We will see. I really don't think we should be voting for the same shit that got us where we are today as a city. It's never been even close to this bad. And could anyone please explain her police reform agenda? All I hear is a bunch of talk about nothing. No plan no specifics.

16

The City Council has rarely been the stepping stone to the mayor's office. In fact, a city Council member has not won since Norm Rice in in 1989 - 32 years ago. Maybe she'll break the jinx.
2017 No Council Canidates
2013 Steinbrueck Primary
2009 Drago Primary
2005 No Council Canidates
2001 Charlie Chong Primary
1997 Jane Noland Primary, Cheryl Chow Primary, Charlie Chong General
1993 Norm Rice General Won (Incumbent)
1989 Norm Rice General Won

17

Lorena is getting scorched in comment sections all around town. There is zero evidence of enthusiasm for her run. The only nods she gets are in hypothetical races against Nikkita Oliver, who Lorena just gifted $3 million to keep out of the race, so that may not happen (never put anything past Nikkita Oliver)..

If Nikkita doesn't run, there's always "Ace the Architect" to make Lorena look sane.

18

@17 I've read in a few places to win a political office in Seattle you need to bring together a coalition of business, labor and neighborhoods. I would wonder if activist groups have now overtaken neighborhoods for that third spot but regardless its hard to envision this moderate candidate all the commenters around town are crying for actually pulling together a winning coalition. Any support of business seems toxic at this point to political ambition and while people complain about the activist groups tactics they are organized, passionate and ready to do the hard work to get someone elected. I think Lorena is the best case scenario in 2021 and the alternatives that emerge will all be much worse for those who wish to see the city pivot away from activism toward governance.

Something else to think about. Now that Lorena has thrown her hat in the ring for Mayor her citywide seat is open and will certainly attract a crowd. I could easily see someone more progressive than her (say Shaun Scott) filling that seat so going into 2022 both the executive office and the council lean harder into the path they are going down.

19

It's going to be fascinating to watch how many people dump on Gonzalez for not being progressive enough after she spent the last couple years trying to position herself as the progressive alternative to Durkan. Which she obviously realized has torched her ability to successfully run for WA AG. It'll be ironic if her moves make her toxic statewide but also doesn't win her enough support to win in Seattle. Also I'm sure Mosqueda is pissed because it's obvious she wants to be mayor and she and Gonzalez occupy the same territory.

In the end it doesn't matter because whoever gets elected mayor will find that the job sucks and everybody winds up complaining about you anyway. Just stay on the council and throw bombs without actually being responsible for anything.

20

Sawant should run so we can get a true progressive in the driver’s seat after slogging through the tedious Durkan malaise. Sawant will impose a tax on the wealthy, provide homeless housing and fully defund the police—no more half measures.

23

Given that CM Gonzalez is not the incumbent Mayor, this is a rare chance for voters to double down on expensive, obvious failure. She sure knows how to pack a whole lot of not-learning into a small space:

'She expressed support for "eliminating our exclusionary zoning laws" in order to "increase the amount of affordable housing and housing choices to stop the human suffering." She also said she'd explore another income tax on wealthy households, like the one she voted for in 2017. That tax passed, but the Washington State Supreme Court blocked it from being enacted.'

So, she hasn't learned "our" homeless are fairly recent arrivals, with severe drug-addiction and mental-health issues, who cannot afford housing at any price; she hasn't learned that increasing housing density without increasing grade-separated mass transit is a sure formula for permanent traffic catastrophe; she hasn't learned that older, home-owning citizens will always, always, always organize and vote to protect the value of their major asset, and she hasn't learned about our state's Constitution -- that last being quite impressive, really, for a lawyer.

If the primary election features her and Oliver, The Stranger's internecine cage-match over who is more brazenly unqualified should be a scrumptious treat to watch.

24

19:

Mosqueda and Gonzalez clearly made a backroom deal, Lorena for Mayor and Teresa for City Council Prez. Teresa even hired "Ace the Architect" (who's running for Mayor) onto her Council staff so that Lorena has someone to point to and claim she's the "reasonable" alternative.


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