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PubliQ&A: Jan Drago
In anticipation of our endorsements in the Seattle mayoral races (as well as city council, King County Executive and Council, Seattle Port Commission, and Seattle school board races) which we will publish this Monday, we're running a special series of Q&As this weekend with the four major candidates for Seattle mayor.
Questions are excerpted from our endorsement interviews with the candidates.
Up second: City council member Jan Drago, who served on the council for 16 years before deciding to run against Mayor Greg Nickels.
PubliCola : You're running against Greg Nickels as someone who will change the mayor's office, both in terms of policy and style. But you've been in government for 16 years and voted with the mayor on most issues. How, specifically, do you differ from the mayor?
Jan Drago : The single most basic difference is life experience and work experience. I have spent time in the private sector as well as the public sector. I ran small businesses. While I was starting businesses, Greg was doing politics.
On the issues, the most significant is the elimination of the specialized gang sqaud. That was in 2002, when gang violence was resurging. ...
The bottom line is, if you want to reduce gang violence you don't dismantle the specialized gang squad. They're the ones that have the relationship with the gang members. I would restore the gang squad and keep the [mayor's] youth violence prevention initiative.
I was the only elected official that voted against the bag tax, because I believe a mayor should should start an education campaign and offer the carrot before you beat them over the head with the stick. [The bag fee] hurts the lowest-income people. If you want to make a difference for the environment, just ban plastic bags. I'm willing to propose a ban on plastic bags if the education campaign doesn't work.
PubliCola : What about Bridging the Gap, [the 2006 measure, supported by the mayor, that funded roads, bridges, and other transportation improvements]? Didn't you agree with the mayor on that?
Drago : Oh, hell no. We rewrote it. The mayor proposed a 20-year, unending tax, and when they told me that, I said, "The citizens will never pass it and the council won't either." They were not willing to negotiate on it, so I put a group together and I said, "How can we restructure this?" And it went down to a nine-year levy at $350 million and it passed. ... I take credit for rightsizing it so that it passed.
PubliCola : You've spent a lot of time recently criticizing [Seattle Department of Transportation director] Grace Crunican and grilling her at meetings of your transportation committee. But you never seemed to have a problem with her before this campaign got underway. How do you respond to charges that your criticisms of Grace are political?
Drago : The reason I'll argue that it's not political is that I had no idea until late spring of the management problems at SDOT. I can tell you that i read all 3,487 pages of the report [by consultant MFR Law Group detailing management problems at the department], and it's clear that there are management problems.
[However, mayoral candidate Mike] McGinn did the right thing [by refusing to say whether he would fire Crunican at a recent forum sponsored by Seattle CityClub]. I should not have put up that sign [saying "waffle," the only choice between "yes" and "no." Only the mayor hires and fires, and it's not appropriate to be discussing this in the middle of a political campaign.
Questions are excerpted from our endorsement interviews with the candidates.
Up second: City council member Jan Drago, who served on the council for 16 years before deciding to run against Mayor Greg Nickels.
PubliCola : You're running against Greg Nickels as someone who will change the mayor's office, both in terms of policy and style. But you've been in government for 16 years and voted with the mayor on most issues. How, specifically, do you differ from the mayor?
Jan Drago : The single most basic difference is life experience and work experience. I have spent time in the private sector as well as the public sector. I ran small businesses. While I was starting businesses, Greg was doing politics.
On the issues, the most significant is the elimination of the specialized gang sqaud. That was in 2002, when gang violence was resurging. ...
The bottom line is, if you want to reduce gang violence you don't dismantle the specialized gang squad. They're the ones that have the relationship with the gang members. I would restore the gang squad and keep the [mayor's] youth violence prevention initiative.
I was the only elected official that voted against the bag tax, because I believe a mayor should should start an education campaign and offer the carrot before you beat them over the head with the stick. [The bag fee] hurts the lowest-income people. If you want to make a difference for the environment, just ban plastic bags. I'm willing to propose a ban on plastic bags if the education campaign doesn't work.
PubliCola : What about Bridging the Gap, [the 2006 measure, supported by the mayor, that funded roads, bridges, and other transportation improvements]? Didn't you agree with the mayor on that?
Drago : Oh, hell no. We rewrote it. The mayor proposed a 20-year, unending tax, and when they told me that, I said, "The citizens will never pass it and the council won't either." They were not willing to negotiate on it, so I put a group together and I said, "How can we restructure this?" And it went down to a nine-year levy at $350 million and it passed. ... I take credit for rightsizing it so that it passed.
PubliCola : You've spent a lot of time recently criticizing [Seattle Department of Transportation director] Grace Crunican and grilling her at meetings of your transportation committee. But you never seemed to have a problem with her before this campaign got underway. How do you respond to charges that your criticisms of Grace are political?
Drago : The reason I'll argue that it's not political is that I had no idea until late spring of the management problems at SDOT. I can tell you that i read all 3,487 pages of the report [by consultant MFR Law Group detailing management problems at the department], and it's clear that there are management problems.
[However, mayoral candidate Mike] McGinn did the right thing [by refusing to say whether he would fire Crunican at a recent forum sponsored by Seattle CityClub]. I should not have put up that sign [saying "waffle," the only choice between "yes" and "no." Only the mayor hires and fires, and it's not appropriate to be discussing this in the middle of a political campaign.
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