Bombastic 'Mo

Endorsement for Seattle Mayor: Mike McGinn

Full disclosure - I volunteered for the Mike McGinn campaign.  So did a shitload of other Seattleites.  When I went into the office to offer up some of my time, their volunteer coordinator, Sol, took me into a back office and ran a quick mini-interview to get to know me and my strengths.  He then told me about his background working in the Obama campaign and why he cared for McGinn.

Within minutes, I was working alongside fellow twenty-somethings with time to give and a penchant for McGinn’s grasp of the issues, care for the city, and electric biking.

In contrast, Joe Mallahan’s campaign has been run by high-paid staffers who protect him from the media and try to prevent as many blunders as possible (e.g. “Africans endorse me”, “Hello my Brothers and Sisters”, and of course, everything he’s said during his multiple debates).

McGinn threw multiple town halls throughout the city (I attended three).  During each, he was able to charm Seattle’s citizens with ease (he’s got a killer wink) and show that he really understands the issues at hand during this election.

The viaduct replacement, a $4.2 billion dollar tunnel that won’t even have any exits in downtown Seattle, has been a contentious issue throughout this entire campaign.

Many Seattleites (rightly) fear the viaduct will end up falling down before our local government acts.  Washington State Department of Transportation released a video of what would happen to the viaduct if a strong enough earthquake hit us.

And McGinn’s protests about the tunnel stoked some of those fears.  At the same time, the current tunnel budget leaves Seattle paying nearly a billion dollars for a state highway that runs through it, AND leaves the city on the hook for all overruns.

After the city council entered into an agreement with the current wayward Mayor Nickels, McGinn has signaled he would no longer oppose the tunnel (what’s done is done) but will continue to fight the provision leaving Seattle on the hook for overruns.

Deep bore tunnels don’t have the best track record for coming in under budget (few government projects do), but some estimates show the tunnel coming in another $2 billion over.   This would (according to McGinn) saddle Seattle taxpayers with potentially $15,000 in taxes for the average family of four.  At a time when we’re already heavily hit, that money could instead be invested in things that I (and I’d say most of Seattle) cares for.

Like:

Expanded Light Rail: While neither candidate is against Light Rail, McGinn wants to put Light Rail expansion up to the citizens for a vote within two years, and connect our high density neighborhoods:  Wallingford, Fremont, Ballard, Queen Anne, Belltown, and West Seattle.

http://mcginnformayor.com/issues/transportation/

Offer a Publicly Owned Fiber Optic Network for Internet:  Some people see him as a crazy dreamer for trying to offer such a “luxury” as a public utility.  The Internet is not a luxury, any more than roads or running water is.  In this day and age, the Internet is an economic engine of it’s own.  At the same time, local Cable companies have shown no interest in upgrading their services despite a desire to continue to increase prices.  A public option (as in health care) would create a stronger infrastructure, and be offered to Seattleites for less money.  This is a good idea. Period.  Send.

http://mcginnformayor.com/issues/internet-infrastructure/

And more - http://mcginnformayor.com/issues/

Some other good references:

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/hes-the-change-we-need-in-the-mayors-office/Content?oid=2418755

http://publicola.net/?p=16484

Video debate - McGinn vs. Mallahan:

http://www.komonews.com/home/video/65923832.html?video=YHI&t=a

In Portland, you only have to be 18 to have a Sam Adams

Ok, I bit the headline from a commenter on Queerty, who in turn found it somewhere even Google couldn’t track.

I was made aware of this story on January 20th, but I didn’t want to take part in the muck-raking during our spectacular inaguration.  That and I may have had a few drinks at breakfast….

The Willamette Weekly has been covering the long-dead sex life of the openly gay mayor of Portland, Oregon.  Sam Adams was elected as their mayor in May of 2008, and was sworn in on January 1st.  During his campaign, allegations were raised by one of his challengers that he had sex with the aptly named Beau Breedlove, a man who was 17 when they met in 2005.  At the time, Adams denied the allegations.

Pressed with mounting evidence that Adams was romantically involved with Breedlove, Adams confessed to lying during his general election.  He admitted to having sexual relations with Breedlove after he turned 18 (the legal age of consent in Oregon).  Adams indicated he lied to avoid the wild speculation that he had sex with Breedlove before he was of age, citing stereotypes that gay men are attracted to underage children.

Since then the media has thrown a giant fit reminiscent of the Clinton-Lewinsky years.  And I’ll clarify now, I was 12 years old when that happened, and even then I knew it wasn’t a big deal.  And I still thought girls had cooties.

Journalists all over are calling for Adams to resign.   Just Out, Portland’s largest gay paper, is out for blood.  Seattle’s own alt-weekly (aka gay weekly) The Stranger has differing opinions within its ranks.  Erica C. Barnett called for a resignation based solely on the fact that he lied to reporters, while sex advice columnist Dan Savage defends Adams rights to privacy and to stay in office.

Savage is also attending a rally tomorrow outside the Portland’s City Hall (Friday, 1/23 at 5:30 PM PST).  The Facebook group Support Sam Adams currently has 1,083 members and is growing.

My take?  I almost resisted blogging about this because it shouldn’t be news.  Who cares.  This is nothing more than a sex-negative witch hunt.  While it’s comforting for members of the press to hide their outrage behind the allegations of lying, this is nothing but a facade.  All politicians lie.  Obama lied about Gay Marriage.  And, in all honesty, I lied. Obama doesn’t actually read this blog.  Yet.

What it comes down to is a populace ready to devour a politician for being human.  My disdain for age of consent laws aside, this has nothing to do with his ability to be the mayor of a city.  This doesn’t affect his years of public service.

Let it go journalists.  This isn’t a story.  And if you’re in the Portland area, show some solidarity for your mayor.  After all, what a DILF.