Seattle Mayor: a bad career move
In some cities, the City Hall melodrama is the great show, with outsized characters and juicy stories. Here, it's a dull, dead-end job.
In some cities, usually big cities, politics is a spectator sport. City Hall is often a prime beat, and columnists and bloggers pick over every insider tidbit, boondoggle, affair, and public poll. In Boston, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, citizens keep scorecards of who’s up, who’s down and who’s going to jail.
It’s different in Seattle. If politics here were a spectator sport, it would be like watching the 1980s Mariners in the Kingdome: a lot of mediocrity in a hollow shell that’s supposed to be “world class.”
Big-city bosses make great story characters, and political wards and machines are fodder for entertaining narratives. It’s civic soap opera, and you want your daily fix. But here, we tend to look down on politics. It’s too showy, too ego driven, too money obsessed. Larger-than-life personalities are suspect, pols who stand out seem pushy. Our inner Scando-Asian Calvinism sees political posturing as a sin of pride. Politics is supposed to be about bland, colorless public service, not showboating. Too, we value consensus and process, which can produce a potluck where vegans and the lactose intolerant can find something to eat, but it won’t be a gourmet civic feast. The best we can do is complain about slow-motion gridlock or argue about whether to tax grocery bags or legalize miniature goats.
One result is that our scandals are rare and usually penny ante. Did the mayor jump to the head of the line in getting his West Seattle street snowplowed? In some cities, the real scandal would be if a mayor was so weak he couldn’t get dug out first.
But the downside of our dullness is mediocrity. Nothing demonstrates that better than our mayoral elections. Let’s face it, mayoral politics does not attract rising stars. When was the last time a Seattle mayor successfully won a bid for higher office? It was 1941, when Republican Arthur Langlie was elected governor. You have to be at least 70 years old to remember that election, and almost that old to remember when Seattle had Republicans.
Being mayor of Seattle is a dead-end, not a launch pad. The ambitious go elsewhere (such as to the position of King County executive, which has produced two governors in John Spellman and Gary Locke, and a deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Ron Sims). A few mayors have tried for higher office, including Norm Rice, Charles Royer, and Wes Uhlman, but politically, there’s just no juice. Seattle has long been reluctant about giving the office much respect.
It’s been that way since the 1860s, when mayors were elected to one-year terms, later stretched to two years, still much later (1948) to four. We elected one early mayor who only served three weeks before he quit (Frank Black in 1896), and his successor (W.D. Wood) served just over a year before he abandoned his post so he could join the gold rush in the Yukon. Those who kept the job have been good, bad (two were recalled), but mostly forgettable. The message is that prominent, civically engaged Seattleites usually have better things to do than lord it over City Hall.
This year, we enter the mayoral race with an incumbent, Greg Nickels, who, if re-elected, would be our first three-termer since Royer’s re-election in 1985. Nickels is politically strong and well funded, but about as popular as those ’80s Mariners, who couldn’t win even half their games during the Royer years. An opinion poll in April had Nickels’ approval rating at 34 percent and his disapproval rating at 58 percent. That’s not lackluster, that’s awful. Yet only in Seattle would the headline over those numbers ask, “…is he beatable?”
Instead of chomping at the bit, prospective opponents were cautious to take him on —like former council member Peter Steinbrueck, who decided that a one-year fellowship at Harvard beat running for mayor. He leaves for Cambridge before the election.
Good career move.
This essay first appeared in the July issue of 'Seattle' magazine.
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Comments:
Posted Fri, Aug 7, 8:04 a.m. inappropriate
a dull city a dull mayor deserves!
Posted Fri, Aug 7, 9:54 a.m. inappropriate
Looked at from a distance it is oh so true. The rest of us strive to avoid "the Seattle way" (process forever the big issues like the Viaduct) and fight hard about the smaller ones (the "bag tax")
Posted Fri, Aug 7, 10:37 a.m. inappropriate
You got it backwards Knute!
The Mayor's Office should be an end in itself. It is the highest, most important executive position in our land. No other politition is as close to his/her constituants and held as accountable as the Mayor of a city.
It should attract leaders and visionaries as opposed to wannabes and legislators who believe they are qualified since they read about issues/concerns in the newspaper. Executive talent is a specialized field that one should see as the top of ones career.
The problem is that they don't want to go into a less visible career after being so public and challenged so they keep running and being their to olong. Becoming a governor, congressmember etc. are less intense, less visible and less demanding jobs that allows one to become lazy and less challenged.
I would rather have a top notch Mayor for 4 years, than a mediocre one for 12. And guess what, it's about to happen again.
This city deserves more and better. Perhaps it's time to abolish the mayor's position and just elect the Council members who elect the Mayor from within. At least we'd get less process and more public disclosure.
I am sad for our lack of leadership and what is about to happen to expand on it.
Wake up Seattle. Perhaps we should create a Charter Commission and have them consider changes to our city charter that would reduce or eliminate the problem of keeping boring, dumb, leaderless and petty Mayoral candidates from being eligible for the office.
I'm serious!
Art
Posted Fri, Aug 7, 11:45 a.m. inappropriate
Strange - I'm seventy, born in 1939, and although I certainly remember Governor Langlie, I just can't quite remember him taking office in 1941. I didn't really start reading Seattle's three dailies until 1943.
Posted Fri, Aug 7, 12:27 p.m. inappropriate
Knute, I was expecting you to list mayors of other cities that went big time (expecting to
be surprised). Well, John Lindsay never went anywhere much and Guilliani just made
some sort of federal appointment (?), let's see, who was mayor of New Orleans? did
Julian Bond make Mayor of Atlanta? I don't think so. We'll see whether Gavin Newsome
can make Governor /CA sometime in the next few years (I am betting not).
Sometimes I agree with Art.
Posted Fri, Aug 7, 12:30 p.m. inappropriate
I have no evidence, but I've always heard that it's difficult for any big (or in our case, medium) city mayors to make the jump to governor. The urban/rural divide in most state generally precludes that from happening. The county includes both urban and rural elements which helps a politician make the jump.
Posted Fri, Aug 7, 12:34 p.m. inappropriate
Oh, I forgot Marion Berry. He gained a position in with federal agency.
Posted Fri, Aug 7, 2:04 p.m. inappropriate
I agree with Stephanie's assessment. But Mayor of Seattle could be a springboard for the "right" candidate. The only way a Seattle Mayor could attract statewide interest is if Seattle were to somehow elect a Republican. Some big cities in recent years like New York and Los Angeles ran into crisis situations and the electorate rejected the status quo completely. A successful "republican" (small "r" because the office is non-partisan) mayor could overcome the Seattle-Liberal label enough to have a chance at higher office. Mark Sidran seemed like someone while perhaps not a Republican was moderate/conservative enough to be seriously considered by the "rural" faction and have wider appeal outside of Seattle.
Posted Sun, Aug 9, 2:53 p.m. inappropriate
Knute, I think you hit the nail on the head. The office should carry more weight (and does not) because it lives in the in-born society of McDermottstan. As a manager in a state-wide organization, I had the unfortunate opportunity to witness the current Mayor and his office many times. The arrogance, dis-courtesy, and unwillingness to solve mutual issues is an every-day occurrence. The Mayor's agenda was unanimously favored (by the Mayor's office) at the expense of destroying county, state and federal relationships and opportunities.
How about a new city name: The Wholly Provincial (but liberal) Enclave of Dennyville (named changed to protect innocent Native Americans).
Posted Tue, Aug 11, 7:47 a.m. inappropriate
It's striking how much damage mediocrity can do to a once-vibrant city. Whether the office is a lead-in to higher positions should not be our concern. We need someone dedicated to the job who will learn from past mayors' mistakes. We wish Steinbrueck well, but think of his legacy to Seattle if he had mentored and imbued a mayoral candidate with his vision and instincts.
Posted Sat, Aug 15, 11:07 a.m. inappropriate
Been reading your fantastic book "Pugetopolis" and recommended it highly!
Being "Mayor of Seattle" is part of what I call the "Frasier View" of Seattle/Puget Sound.
The point of this area with its crappy old houses, and crappy weather is not to be some high mucky-muck or live the high life, the pleasure used to come in being able to live life with a minimal job and being able to be left alone t to your own thoughts...to read, get up late...and loaf.
Being "mayor of seattle" or "ceo of microsoft" and so on, seem like ridiculous excesses.
Better to be resident of apartment GG304.
Posted Sun, Aug 16, 7:39 p.m. inappropriate
Kieth: As to whether being mayor is ever much of a stepping stone for politicians, be assured that many mayors have moved up the political ladder, including at least three presidents. But also coming to mind are former mayors like Dianne Feinstein (SF), Dick Lugar (Indianapolis), Hubert Humphrey (Minneapolis), Dennis Kucinich (Cleveland) Sarah Palin (Wasilla) Mark Begich (Anchorage), Neil Goldschmidt (Portland)...