Lisa Herbold: The next Nick Licata?
  • Courtesy of Lisa Herbold
  • Lisa Herbold: The next Nick Licata?

With veteran progressive council member Nick Licata out of this year's council games, will one of his staffers step up to fill his shoes? Maybe!

There's been speculation that Lisa Herbold, a longtime Licata aide, is considering a run. And even though she told us last week she wasn't planning to jump in, she says that over the weekend she decided to "consider reconsidering."

"The issues that I care most about are at the forefront now so it's an interesting time for me to consider what opportunities exist to carry on Nick's work," she says in a text message.

Herbold gets some credit for all that work, too, because of the huge role council staffers play in making things happen. As former Stranger City Hall reporter Anna Minard put it, "When it comes to great staff getting shit done, I think [Licata's] office could basically be considered a fourth branch of government."

Herbold says she's considering running in the newly created District 1, which covers West Seattle and was ceded by incumbent Tom Rasmussen last week. (That's as opposed to one of two citywide seats, where she'd have to take on council member Tim Burgess or Sally Clark.)

She ran Licata's campaign in 1997 and says she's focused her career on community organizing. A New York native who's lived in Seattle for more than 20 years, Herbold says she's worked in the past with New York advocacy groups on issues facing low-income neighborhoods, and in Seattle has worked at the Tenants Union of Washington State, the Low Income Housing Institute, the Downtown Emergency Service Center, and a now-closed local office of the social justice group ACORN.

So, what do you say? If you think Herbold should run, vote in this absolutely legally binding Slog poll and she'll have to do it.