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Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Mayoral Interrogation Is On

Posted by on Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 1:27 PM

A few of the exchanges...

The questions McGinn has answered (the candidates choose which ones they answer in what order):

Q: Have you ever testified before City Council?

A: Yes, many times.

Q: Do you support building a new city jail? I-100 questioned the logic of building a new city jail, when we are so stretched for resources in critical areas like education and human services. Should we be focusing on outdated strategies like building more jail cells than their are criminals or should we be making progress and finding alternatives to incarceration?

A: I do not support building a new jail. We should be making progress in finding alternatives to incarceration. To the extent the city has jail needs, we should work with the County.

Q: Your stance on total marijuana decriminalization? If a state or local referendum motion came before voters to render marijuana possession non-criminal (such as has happened in the state of Massachusetts), would you support such a measure? Additionally, if such a measure passed and became law, would it have your full and total support, as an elected servant to your constituents?

A: Yes I would support it. If every politician who ever smoked marijuana supported it, it would be decriminalized in a heartbeat.

The questions Mallahan has answered:

Q: "Not to pop off turtles." Joe: Can you explain the "not to pop off turtles" comment you made during the CityClub mayoral debate?

A: Turtles are those elevated dots in a line that lay over road striping that cause the rumble rumble sound when you cross into another lane of traffic. A turtle + adhesive on our roads costs roughly $12 per "turtle." Seattle Department of Transportation kept plow blades a couple of inches off the pavement during the snow storm response to avoid popping "turtles" off the pavement and to avoid increasing the size of pot holes. It was a penny wise and pound foolish. We lost about $300 million of retail revenue during two weeks of impassable roads.

Q: Why, personally, do you want to be mayor? We already know the standard responses: service, altruism, civic duty, blahh blahhhh. Why is being Mayor of Seattle better than what you were doing previously? What are your long-term life plans and how does becoming the next mayor play into those plans?

A: I am passionate about my progressive values of social justice and environmental stewardship. I got in this race because city hall had become so inefficient and so ineffective at delivering basic services, like public safety, that we were at risk of moving backwards. We won't be able to pursue our progressive values if we aren't good stewards of tax dollars, and if we don't get this economy back on track again. We simply won't have the financial latitude to pursue our values. I think we can do better and I think my effective management and leadership skills will help us do better.

Q: Journalistically, who would you rather answer to: Frank Blethen or Dan Savage?

A: Well, let's just say it was Dan Savage's threat to run for mayor that finally convinced me I had to get in the race....

More here.

 

Comments (16) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
I'm so sorry about that, Seattle. Please forgive me.
Posted by Dan Savage on October 22, 2009 at 1:38 PM
stinkbug 2
I think Mike is in twitter mode.

Posted by stinkbug on October 22, 2009 at 1:48 PM
raindrop 3
Yes, get rid of those damn turtles!
Posted by raindrop on October 22, 2009 at 1:49 PM
4
Looks like time is almost up and Joe Mallahan has only answered a fraction of the number of questions that McGinn has answered. And he answsered only the "softball" questions that fit with his scripted campaign answers. Lame.
Posted by Jakey on October 22, 2009 at 2:02 PM
Joe Szilagyi 5
Of course, this one goes unanswered.

http://2009mayor.electionland.thestrange…

I am utterly baffled at the pathological inability of Mallahan or any of the political hacks he employs to give any kind of straight or even semi-plausible answer to these questions, when they are put to them.
Posted by Joe Szilagyi http://www.joeszilagyi.com on October 22, 2009 at 2:02 PM
Baconcat 6
I am loving the Vekich banner ad.
Posted by Baconcat on October 22, 2009 at 2:08 PM
Will in Seattle 7
Maybe Joe is trying to decide which tie to wear.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on October 22, 2009 at 2:16 PM
Renton Mike 8
Shorter Mallahan's second response: We can't be good progressives if we don't spew Republican talking points.
Posted by Renton Mike on October 22, 2009 at 2:20 PM
9
from a once good newspaper to Dan Savages personal ego fueled political machine, time to throw in the towel.
Posted by DAN SAVAGES ANAL LEAKAGE on October 22, 2009 at 2:22 PM
10
zzz nothing new or interesting thanks for this waste of time
Posted by Swearengen on October 22, 2009 at 2:55 PM
11
Surprise! McGinn picked Savage, since the Stranger has slobbered all over him from the start.

Never thought I'd be saying this, but things have gone downhill since Erica left.
Posted by bigyaz on October 22, 2009 at 3:10 PM
Will in Seattle 12
Surprise! The Seattle Times called a normal debate "an insult-filled debate" because they're stuck on stupid.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on October 22, 2009 at 3:25 PM
13
And how many turtles were knocked off?
Posted by tiktok on October 22, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Stewie Griffin 14
I expected a real interrogation, not these flabby feel good questions.
Posted by Stewie Griffin on October 22, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Will in Seattle 15
Any idea if the turtles were outsourced to India?
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on October 22, 2009 at 4:02 PM
TheMisanthrope 16
I think I would have preferred if a)there was no time limit, b) The Stranger chose the questions the candidates had to answer, and c) they demanded real answers, not just campaign gimmes.

Bored now.
Posted by TheMisanthrope on October 22, 2009 at 6:20 PM

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