City Hall
McGinn in a Better Position than Council? Let's Go to the Videotape.
As PubliCola's resident crank, I have to respectfully disagree with Josh's (and PI.com reporter Chris Grygiel
's) assertion that Mayor Mike McGinn is in a strong political position right now compared to the city council. While I certainly agree that the mayor has the moral high ground on the cost overruns issue---as he says incessantly, he's "just asking the question: Who's going to pay?"---there's a big difference between a soap box and political clout. The city council doesn't listen to him, the legislature doesn't respect him, and the governor won't even talk to him. So how is he going to get any of his agenda accomplished, let alone kill the tunnel?
(We're in end-of-year reflection mode here at PubliCola. For more, check out this cautionary tale about McGinn we ran a year ago this week.)
McGinn was elected as a single-issue candidate who promised to expand his scope to include more than just fighting the deep-bore tunnel. If anything, though, his commitment to the anti-tunnel cause has only deepened---and made it tough for him to get things done.
Let's recap some highlights of McGinn's first year in office.
• Before even taking office, he earned the wrath of hundreds of city employees by promising to summarily fire 200 strategic advisers and managers. It didn't happen.
• He blindsided the council by proposing a $241 million vote on the downtown seawall without consulting them first, prompting the council to shelve the vote, which he wanted to hold during a special election in May, indefinitely. The soonest the council is likely to put the measure on the ballot now is next November.
• He proposed putting light rail to Ballard and West Seattle on the ballot within his first two years in office---meaning, practically speaking, either next August or November. That would mean putting a multibillion-dollar measure on the ballot the same year as the $100-million-plus Families and Education Levy, a vehicle-license fee increase of up to $80, and the seawall. Voters' tolerance for new taxes is not unlimited, and the council has indicated that unless the economy improves dramatically, it will shelve McGinn's rail proposal in favor of more practical and immediate needs like the levy and the seawall.
• He rolled out a number of other major initiatives that seem to have since fizzled due to lack of enthusiasm or support from the council, including the Youth and Families Initiative, Walk Bike Ride, later bar hours, and citywide broadband.
• Due in part to his strained relationship with the council (during budget negotiations with the council, he refused to list his proposals in order of priority, telling the council that every program in his budget was his top priority) he failed to secure an increase in the commercial parking tax that would have helped expand walking, biking, and transit programs. An effort to convince the Museum of History and Industry to give the city $7 million in windfall profits from the sale of its building in Montlake was similarly unsuccessful.
• He got outplayed by city council president Richard Conlin when he declined to sign an environmental agreement with the state (remember the "constitutional crisis "?); Conlin signed in his stead, and the tunnel project moved forward.
• He alienated Gov. Chris Gregoire, along with much of the state legislature, by making the highly impolitic statement that "I just don’t think we can trust the politicians in Olympia to protect us from cost overruns" on the tunnel. Subsequently, Rasmussen told Seattle Channel host C.R. Douglas that McGinn's statements will make it harder for the city to push its agenda in Olympia. And Gregoire told the PI.com that she doesn't even talk to McGinn anymore; she prefers to deal with council president Richard Conlin.
• He suggested that the city council hold off on signing three agreements with the state on the tunnel until voters have a say on one or both of two anti-tunnel initiatives that could be on the ballot next November, an idea that council transportation chair Tom Rasmussen shrugged off as a nonstarter.
Yeah, as Josh suggests, the cost overruns provision could ultimately vindicate McGinn---if the tunnel goes into overruns, and if the state says Seattle must pay, and if the legislation is found to be enforceable in the inevitable ensuing lawsuit. But that's a lot of ifs, all of which would have to happen in the two-and-a-half years before McGinn runs for reelection. Tunnel overruns in 2015 will not benefit a mayor seeking voter support in 2013.
If he wants to get the upper hand, as I've written before, McGinn needs some wins, and in a strong mayor/strong council system like Seattle's, that means making nice with the council. Like it or not, McGinn needs more than just "the people" on his side. He needs the council and Olympia, and right now, he doesn't have either.
(We're in end-of-year reflection mode here at PubliCola. For more, check out this cautionary tale about McGinn we ran a year ago this week.)
McGinn was elected as a single-issue candidate who promised to expand his scope to include more than just fighting the deep-bore tunnel. If anything, though, his commitment to the anti-tunnel cause has only deepened---and made it tough for him to get things done.
Let's recap some highlights of McGinn's first year in office.
• Before even taking office, he earned the wrath of hundreds of city employees by promising to summarily fire 200 strategic advisers and managers. It didn't happen.
• He blindsided the council by proposing a $241 million vote on the downtown seawall without consulting them first, prompting the council to shelve the vote, which he wanted to hold during a special election in May, indefinitely. The soonest the council is likely to put the measure on the ballot now is next November.
• He proposed putting light rail to Ballard and West Seattle on the ballot within his first two years in office---meaning, practically speaking, either next August or November. That would mean putting a multibillion-dollar measure on the ballot the same year as the $100-million-plus Families and Education Levy, a vehicle-license fee increase of up to $80, and the seawall. Voters' tolerance for new taxes is not unlimited, and the council has indicated that unless the economy improves dramatically, it will shelve McGinn's rail proposal in favor of more practical and immediate needs like the levy and the seawall.
• He rolled out a number of other major initiatives that seem to have since fizzled due to lack of enthusiasm or support from the council, including the Youth and Families Initiative, Walk Bike Ride, later bar hours, and citywide broadband.
• Due in part to his strained relationship with the council (during budget negotiations with the council, he refused to list his proposals in order of priority, telling the council that every program in his budget was his top priority) he failed to secure an increase in the commercial parking tax that would have helped expand walking, biking, and transit programs. An effort to convince the Museum of History and Industry to give the city $7 million in windfall profits from the sale of its building in Montlake was similarly unsuccessful.
• He got outplayed by city council president Richard Conlin when he declined to sign an environmental agreement with the state (remember the "constitutional crisis "?); Conlin signed in his stead, and the tunnel project moved forward.
• He alienated Gov. Chris Gregoire, along with much of the state legislature, by making the highly impolitic statement that "I just don’t think we can trust the politicians in Olympia to protect us from cost overruns" on the tunnel. Subsequently, Rasmussen told Seattle Channel host C.R. Douglas that McGinn's statements will make it harder for the city to push its agenda in Olympia. And Gregoire told the PI.com that she doesn't even talk to McGinn anymore; she prefers to deal with council president Richard Conlin.
• He suggested that the city council hold off on signing three agreements with the state on the tunnel until voters have a say on one or both of two anti-tunnel initiatives that could be on the ballot next November, an idea that council transportation chair Tom Rasmussen shrugged off as a nonstarter.
Yeah, as Josh suggests, the cost overruns provision could ultimately vindicate McGinn---if the tunnel goes into overruns, and if the state says Seattle must pay, and if the legislation is found to be enforceable in the inevitable ensuing lawsuit. But that's a lot of ifs, all of which would have to happen in the two-and-a-half years before McGinn runs for reelection. Tunnel overruns in 2015 will not benefit a mayor seeking voter support in 2013.
If he wants to get the upper hand, as I've written before, McGinn needs some wins, and in a strong mayor/strong council system like Seattle's, that means making nice with the council. Like it or not, McGinn needs more than just "the people" on his side. He needs the council and Olympia, and right now, he doesn't have either.
