City Hall
Council, Mayor Disagree Over City's Legislative Agenda
Both the city council and Mayor Mike McGinn's office declared themselves perplexed this morning at the process behind the adoption of the city's legislative agenda---the list of priorities the city will push when the state legislature meets in January.
Ordinarily, the mayor sends his legislative agenda to the council, and the council amends that agenda over the course of several weeks. What was different this time is that the agenda the council introduced this morning did not come directly from the mayor's office; rather, it was introduced by the council itself. McGinn's office has accused the council of hijacking the agenda; this morning, mayoral spokesman Aaron Pickus said Conlin and the council had "decided to introduce their own agenda" in lieu of the mayor's. McGinn sent his agenda to the council this morning, about a week later than he typically would have; Pickus blamed the holiday week and the snowstorm for the delay.
In many ways, the story is a tempest in a teapot: The council and mayor have been working together for the past several weeks to reconcile their differences over the city's legislative agenda, which are well known. McGinn, as we noted several weeks ago, wants the agenda to include getting rid of a provision putting Seattle-area taxpayers on the hook for cost overruns on the deep-bore tunnel; the council wants to take a softer stance. Additionally, McGinn wants the legislature ensure that the 520 bridge replacement can accommodate light rail; to ban assault weapons; to fund the Neighborhood Corrections Initiative (which I wrote about here); and to fully fund the state's housing trust fund. (McGinn's agenda, unlike the council's, also does not include any mention of modifying the state's "three strikes" law.) "This has been going back and forth for at least a month," council member Tim Burgess says.
Council president Richard Conlin, whose office (along with the mayor) was responsible for putting the agenda together, said the council's agenda was tightly focused on the five most critical agenda items: Protecting key items in the state's budget; securing the ability to raise new revenues locally; securing funding for King County Metro; defending the city against legislation that puts it on the hook for tunnel overruns; and addressing criminal justice issues "related to juvenile gun possession penalties, vehicular homicide and modifications to the state’s 'Three Strikes' law."
Despite their disagreements over the mayor's priorities, the council seems unlikely to hire its own lobbyist, as they did last year. The city's Office of Intergovernmental Relations, which serves as the lobbying shop for the mayor and the council, just hired a second lobbyist, Jasmin Weaver, to represent the city in Olympia.
Ordinarily, the mayor sends his legislative agenda to the council, and the council amends that agenda over the course of several weeks. What was different this time is that the agenda the council introduced this morning did not come directly from the mayor's office; rather, it was introduced by the council itself. McGinn's office has accused the council of hijacking the agenda; this morning, mayoral spokesman Aaron Pickus said Conlin and the council had "decided to introduce their own agenda" in lieu of the mayor's. McGinn sent his agenda to the council this morning, about a week later than he typically would have; Pickus blamed the holiday week and the snowstorm for the delay.
In many ways, the story is a tempest in a teapot: The council and mayor have been working together for the past several weeks to reconcile their differences over the city's legislative agenda, which are well known. McGinn, as we noted several weeks ago, wants the agenda to include getting rid of a provision putting Seattle-area taxpayers on the hook for cost overruns on the deep-bore tunnel; the council wants to take a softer stance. Additionally, McGinn wants the legislature ensure that the 520 bridge replacement can accommodate light rail; to ban assault weapons; to fund the Neighborhood Corrections Initiative (which I wrote about here); and to fully fund the state's housing trust fund. (McGinn's agenda, unlike the council's, also does not include any mention of modifying the state's "three strikes" law.) "This has been going back and forth for at least a month," council member Tim Burgess says.
Council president Richard Conlin, whose office (along with the mayor) was responsible for putting the agenda together, said the council's agenda was tightly focused on the five most critical agenda items: Protecting key items in the state's budget; securing the ability to raise new revenues locally; securing funding for King County Metro; defending the city against legislation that puts it on the hook for tunnel overruns; and addressing criminal justice issues "related to juvenile gun possession penalties, vehicular homicide and modifications to the state’s 'Three Strikes' law."
Despite their disagreements over the mayor's priorities, the council seems unlikely to hire its own lobbyist, as they did last year. The city's Office of Intergovernmental Relations, which serves as the lobbying shop for the mayor and the council, just hired a second lobbyist, Jasmin Weaver, to represent the city in Olympia.
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