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Thursday, March 21, 2013

City New Council Spokesman Has Baggage with Liberal Council Members

Posted by Dominic Holden on Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 7:01 AM

I wrote recently that the Seattle City Council was seeking a "divisive strategist to foment petty drama with the mayor." But in hiring a new communications manager, the council not only picked a divisive political operative with an axe to grind with the mayor, they found someone who has a axe to grind with other council members.

The new interim communication manager is Dan Nolte, who was a paid staffer for the mayoral campaign of Council Member Tim Burgess last December. "He helped with some early organizational stuff," Burgess confirms. So Nolte's allegiances are clearly with Burgess, which raises doubts about his faithfulness to Council Member Bruce Harrell, who's running for mayor against Burgess. Before that, Nolte left council Member Sally Clark's office to become campaign manager of the pro-deep-bore tunnel campaign—meaning he was opposing tunnel opponent Council Member Mike O'Brien.

Asked whether his paid campaign gigs run at cross purposes with his obligations to represent all council members equally, he said no, of course. "I do not oppose the people whatsoever, I have been able to get along with them." He adds that Council President Sally Clark "checked in with" Harrell and O'Brien to get the green light. "I don't think will have any problem representing them, and supporting their positions and staff however they need," he says.

I'll take that with a shaker of salt. If I were Harrell or O'Brien, I'd be pissed.

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Comments (16) RSS

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Up next: Slog user Danimal swoops in to laugh and chortle about all this whining implying he has to act ethical or principled or some shit.

Posted by Baconcat on March 20, 2013 at 5:45 PM

Oh please.

They all work for anyone except the citizens here.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on March 20, 2013 at 5:57 PM

Is @2 the crazy RONPAUL™ dude who is running for council?

Posted by Asparagus! on March 21, 2013 at 7:30 AM

These people are nothing more than mercenaries. They'll back whoever is paying their bills.

Posted by decidedlyodd on March 21, 2013 at 7:31 AM

Isn't that sweet? Drama queen Dom is getting offended for others. Go back to sucking dicks and let men handle the important stuff.

Posted by IReadTheStrangerThereforeIAmAVictim on March 21, 2013 at 7:38 AM

@3 Nope. Will is our village idiot. Been here nigh on a decade, and still blathering. He's not a Paultard, to his credit. But that's about as far as we can go.

Posted by mkyorai on March 21, 2013 at 8:05 AM

Dom - the Council would not have hired him if the Councilmembers didn't agree with offering him the position. Plus, Dan represented the will of the majority of the Council when working on the tunnel campaign. It was O'Brien that was opposed to to Council, not Nolte to any individual members. Let's get real here.

Posted by TJ on March 21, 2013 at 9:28 AM

Yes, anyone who works for the council should equally represent all the views of all nine council members, who frequently disagree. Also, they should never have worked for any other elected or political official before. So the ideal candidate, by your standards, has zero logical or political skills and zero work experience. Neat!

Posted by Logic! on March 21, 2013 at 10:02 AM

"Interim" is his title? Interim until what, I wonder? Are there other candidates he has to beat before a "final" is hired?

Posted by TomJohnsonJr on March 21, 2013 at 10:23 AM

Dom quit trying to create drama when there's so much there already. Dan's a great choice for the following reasons: he looks great in a tie, he stays awake using a banned energy drink called Brain Candy, and he can tweet the fuck out of the boring shit council does.

Posted by JC lives! on March 21, 2013 at 10:48 AM

This is so silly, it's not even news. It's an *interim* gig, as in the Council is currently down a key staffmember, and thought it smart to bring in someone who knows the issues, the staffers and the Councilmembers themselves.

Hey I know, they should hire someone that has no idea what's going on, has zero connections to any of the nine Councilmembers or their 27 staff and doesn't suck... good luck!

Posted by Oh Please. on March 21, 2013 at 10:52 AM

plus i hear that the last communications manager used to drink red bull, which gives you wings. do you really want your pr staff to have wings? brain candy has shown to be just as effective at keeping you awake at public hearings without the undesirable avian side effects.

Posted by candyformybrain on March 21, 2013 at 11:04 AM

@6 or I could have served on the 36th District Democrats executive board with the person you're saying bad stuff about, and know it's a bunch of hooey.

Hmmm. Which (easily confirmed) fact could it be. I wonder.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on March 21, 2013 at 11:35 AM

Dominic obviously has no idea how universally adored Mr. Nolte is...

Posted by lisalouh on March 21, 2013 at 12:15 PM