 "Photo: Braden VanDragt | The Spectator")
 "Photo: Braden VanDragt | The Spectator")
 "Photo: Braden VanDragt | The Spectator")
The mood was pensive today as roughly 100 students and community members filed into Pigott Auditorium for the Capitol Hill Community Council’s Seattle Mayoral Candidate Forum.
With just over two weeks remaining before the general election, the polls have been growing close in the race for the first new mayor of Seattle since Greg Nickels took office in 2002. While his two terms in office were marked by solid economic growth, national recognition as a fierce advocate of popular Seattle issues such as the local ratification of the Kyoto protocol, and the long-awaited extension of the light rail system through downtown Seattle, Nickels was cast out of the lot during the primaries, leaving the race to community organizer Mike McGinn and T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan.
While Mallahan rose quickly as the early leader following the primaries, McGinn has quickly closed the gap to bring each candidate to a 38 percent approval rating among voters, according to a Sept. 15 KING/Survey USA poll.
Such was the tone of support for the former underdog as community members expressed their distaste for Mallahan, who spoke first at the forum today on a range of issues stretching from public safety to economic growth.
Striking a tone of pragmatism, the businessman, who raised eyebrows earlier in the campaign when he financed his bid for office with a $200,000 contribution of his own money, caught the jeers and displeased sniggers of community members expressing their displeasure with a number of his positions. This was most notable when Mallahan spoke of replacing the decrepit Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel and while explaining his position on public education, which appeared sparse and underdeveloped to audience members during the forum’s question and answer session.
Notably, Mallahan said he supports construction of a First Hill streetcar line as long as it stays under its $120 million funding from Sound Transit. Previously, Mallahan opposed the project.
Mallahan, who provoked anger from the audience when one community member loudly rejected his business-themed terminology, announcing “I am not a customer” to the candidate during the question panel, is not without his share of support.
Endorsed by more than a dozen labor unions, the bulk of local Democratic offices, much of the Seattle law-enforcement community and Governor Christine Gregoire, Mallahan argued Saturday for stronger support of businesses in Seattle and a beefed-up holistic approach to crime in Seattle’s many neighborhoods.
The sibling of multiple Seattle University graduates, Mallahan cited his working-class roots and Catholic commitment to social justice as he argued for more responsible funding of police work and social programs in Seattle’s poorer areas.
“We need to drive efficiencies in everything we do and hold every piece of the organization accountable, and that includes holding human service agencies accountable to ensure the dollars we do spend have the greatest human impact,” the candidate told The Spectator in a post-forum interview.
McGinn, who opposes the costly tunnel option and has so garnered the support of the Sierra Club, spoke second to a more receptive audience.
Drawing on his history as in civic involvement, the former lawyer-turned-community organizer quickly drew on the story of his transformation to this post and his subsequent calling to politics. The founder of Great City, a local progressive union of community members and environmentalists, McGinn cited his family and his city as the reasons for his participation in the race.
“So I got into this race, I volunteered… because I love this city, and I care about the future we build,” McGinn told the crowd.
McGinn defined his stance on such Seattle’s public education programs, which he would take under the control of the Mayor’s Office if they failed to improve in the first years of his term. McGinn also emphasized his focus on environmentally progressive solutions to the city’s transportation needs.
Seamus can be reached at mckeons@seattleu.edu.
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