Is it Jim Compton’s Seat?
Is it possible? I actually agree with Dave Meinert about something—the Seattle City Council should appoint Dwight Pelz to Compton’s seat. As Josh Feit pointed out yesterday on SLOG, Pelz got more votes (71K) in his race for a seat on the city council this November—a race he lost to incumbent Richard McIver—than sitting council members Jean Godden (63K), Tom Rasmussen (62K), David Della (65K), and Jim Compton (63K) got when they were elected. Pelz didn’t win, true, but it’s also true that he has the support of more voters in Seattle than four current city council members. Surely that counts for something.
After appointing Pelz to Compton’s seat the City Council should immediately vote to create districts for council seats so that in future Seattle council members can’t wander off like a confused Alzheimer’s patients without anyone noticing. I’ve been hearing for more than a year that Compton wasn’t engaged at City Hall—hell, he was hardly bothering to show up for work. He wouldn’t have been able to get away with checking out if he were representing a neighborhood, its various groups and activists getting up in his face, and not the entire city. And if Compton represented a district we wouldn’t be talking about appointing someone to “Compton’s seat” as if it belonged to him personally. We would be talking about appointing someone to West Seattle’s seat or Fremont’s seat or Magnolia’s seat or Ballard’s seat, which would make it clear that the seat belonged to the city and the voters and not the politician currently occupying it.
So long as we have “at large” city council seats individual council members can coast along—all the while cashing huge city paychecks.
Compton, like all his colleagues, is among the highest-paid city council members in the country. From November 18 issue of the Seattle Times:
Members of Seattle’s City Council, already among the highest-paid in the country, are about to join the ranks of public employees pulling down six-figure salaries. A pay raise will boost the salaries of council members Jan Drago, Nick Licata, Richard Conlin and Richard McIver to nearly $104,000 next year, up from $94,000 now. Ten years ago, the job paid $71,000. Among the nation’s 40 largest cities, only Los Angeles pays its council more.
When folks complained about how much our city council members are paid, Jan Drago had a Marie Antoinette moment: “I frankly think you get what you pay for,” she told the Seattle Times. Except in cases like Compton’s, when we don’t get what we paid for—not even close.
Yeah, but they still won't make as much as John in the Morning @ KEXP.