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Thursday, July 23, 2009

City Municipal League Rates Mallahan "Outstanding"

Posted by Dominic Holden on Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 4:48 PM

The Municipal League, a nonpartisan nonprofit advocate for good government, issued rating for candidates running for office this year. Some of the grades sting (such as finding that viaduct-hugger Elizabeth Campbell is "not qualified" for mayor) while other ratings confirm that underdogs are able to hold their own (such as city attorney candidate Pete Holmes, who was rated "very good," despite incumbent Tom Carr's campaign's repeated assertions that Holmes is unqualified for the position).

Of note, Joe Mallahan is the only candidate for mayor rated outstanding. But nobody running for King County Executive was rated outstanding. The front runner in the race, Republican Susan Hutchison (who is polling in nearly 40 percent), received only a "good." The leading Democrats running against her were all rated "very good." Also, city council candidate Rusty Williams got branded with "not qualified."

Candidates are eligible for one of six ratings: Outstanding, Very Good, Good, Adequate, Not Qualified, or No Active Campaign. Here they are:

SEATTLE MAYOR
Elizabeth Campbell: Not Qualified
James Donaldson: Adequate
Jan Drago: Good
Kwame Wyking Garrett: Insufficient Info
Joseph Mallahan: Outstanding
Michael McGinn: Good
Greg Nickels: Very Good
Norman Sigler: Adequate

KING COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Dow Constantine: Very Good
Ross Hunter: Very Good
Susan Hutchison: Good
Fred Jarrett: Very Good
Goodspaceguy Nelson: Not Qualified
Larry Phillips: Very Good
Alan Lobdell: Good
Stan Lippmann: Not Qualified

Aww, poor Goodspaceguy, burned on the moon walk anniversary week.

More after the jump.

SEATTLE CITY ATTORNEY
Thomas Carr: Outstanding
Peter Holmes: Very Good

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL Pos. 2
Richard Conlin: Outstanding
David Ginsberg: Adequate

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL Pos. 4
Sally Bagshaw: Outstanding
David Bloom: Good
Brian Carver: Not Qualified
Dorsol Plants: Good
Thomas Tobin: Not Qualified

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL Pos. 6
Jessie Israel: Very Good
Martin Kaplan: Very Good
Nick Licata: Very Good

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL Pos. 8
Bobby Forch: Good
David Miller: Very Good
Michael O'Brien: Good
Robert Rosencrantz: Outstanding
Jordan Royer: Very Good
Rusty Williams: Not Qualified

KING COUNTY COUNCIL Pos. 9
Reagan Dunn: Outstanding
Mark Greene: Adequate
Beverly Tonda: Good

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD Pos. 5
Mary Bass: Adequate
Joanna Cullen: Adequate
Andre Helmstetter: Good
Kay Smith-Blum: Very Good

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD Pos. 7
Wilson Chin: Very Good
Charlie Mas: Very Good
Betty Patu: Very Good

Comments (14) RSS

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The Muni League has interviewed me at length about several of these races. Rusty Williams is every bit as qualified to serve on the City Council as Joe Mallahan is qualified to serve as Mayor.

Posted by ivan on July 23, 2009 at 4:57 PM

Hee hee! Perennial anti-vaccine candidate Lippmann got hisself disbarred a bit ago. Took a client's fee but did no work, closed his practice, gave her no refund, and WSBA found he'd never put her check in his business or trust account. WSBA refunded the money Lippmann's client lost, and disbarred him. What a sweetheart.

Posted by gloomy gus on July 23, 2009 at 5:07 PM

What a joke. The chairman of the Muni League, Bradley Meacham, is a Senior Manager at T-Mobile, where Joe Mallahan is VP.

Posted by DOUG.

on July 23, 2009 at 5:15 PM

Anti-science candidate Susan Hutchison does not deserve a "good" rating - "adequate" perhaps, but definately not "good".

Posted by Pol Pot

on July 23, 2009 at 5:33 PM

sadly, ivan is right.

thanks for the info @3.

Susan H deserves a Not Qualified By Virtue of Being A Science-Hating Evolution-Denying Extremist Wingbat Republican rating.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on July 23, 2009 at 5:36 PM

I'm so excited that Stan Lippmann is running again (and again and again and again.)

Surely, the 34th time is the charm.

Say hello to KC Executive Lippmann!

Posted by Jakey on July 23, 2009 at 5:44 PM

Goodspaceguy Nelson is much more qualified than Hutchinson.

Posted by au_gout on July 23, 2009 at 5:47 PM

Somebody refresh my memory: What's the Muni League's pet issues? I hope spamming people isn't one of them. Either way, the Muni League's M.O. might help explain why Mallaspam got such a sweet rating.

Posted by Gomez

on July 23, 2009 at 11:11 PM

Dom, hear about Obama's liimited pot vocab?
bummer...

Posted by I hear McCain gets stoned every night... on July 24, 2009 at 7:48 AM

@3: It's very, very unlikely that the relationship had anything at all to do with the ratings. MuniLeague ratings are determined by a group of citizen volunteers, and if a board member or volunteer has any relationship whatsoever with a candidate they are required to excuse themselves from the process. The board ultimately signs off on the ratings the Candidate Evaluation Committee has agreed on, but it's extremely rare for them to overrule the committee's ratings.

@8: The MuniLeague's pet issue is good government. Period. From their website: "The League’s mission is to promote government that is open, effective and accountable, and to improve the caliber of public officials and the quality of public decisions." They are fiercely non-partisan, which is why Susan H. didn't get a Not Qualified rating. She was evaluated strictly on her ability to govern, not her wackadoodle policies.

I encourage Sloggers far and wide to volunteer on the Candidate Evaluation Committee. It's a wonderful opportunity to learn about who's running for office, to get an insiders view of how the sausage gets made, and to meet some amazing, engaged citizens.

Posted by TVDinner

on July 24, 2009 at 7:55 AM

I don't trust him. Isn't he related to the Mallahans in Whatcom County, Victoria Mallahan? YES HE IS! The felons that are currently out on bail, awaiting trial for defrauding investors of hundreds of thousands of $? Maybe they just changed their last name to Mallahan from Madoff??
Just Google & see...

Posted by RP on July 24, 2009 at 3:12 PM

Okay, somebody who isn't a Muni League tool, refresh my memory: What's the Muni League's pet issues?

Posted by Gomez

on July 24, 2009 at 9:34 PM

Mallaspam has barely voted in local elections, let alone even lead even a small community office. He can't give details regarding how he plans to run the mayor's office or how to fund some of these items he touts.

How in the hell could they give him high marks?

This doesn't seem correct.

Posted by sammy on July 24, 2009 at 11:30 PM

Yes, without a doubt, Mallahan is a joke. Any executive of evil T-Mobile, the most complained about company in the U.S. is highly unqualified. See T-Mobile's report at BBB.org (23,00 complaints in the last 36 months) or contact the Wa Sate Attorney Gerneral. I hope the citizens of Seattle aren't as ignorant as the Municipal League and do a little research.

Posted by yougottabekidding on July 30, 2009 at 12:44 AM