Longtime Ed Murray spokesperson and confidante Jeff Reading is leaving the mayor's office on December 12, marking the third departure from the mayoral press team in Murray's first year. Why? Because he "wants to spend more time with his family," PubliCola reports.

Okay, okay, roll your eyeballs back down. Yes, it's easy to speculate about other reasons why he might leave. There's the fact that Reading's name came up in a discrimination claim filed by former press secretary Rosalind Brazel. There's Murray's reputation for off-script temper tantrums, and the high rate of turnover in his press office generally.

But, Reading says in an e-mailed statement, it really comes down to the job being exhausting, sometimes, and wanting to spend more time with his spouse and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter:

I’ll say it’s been a crazily busy year. The list of the Mayor’s accomplishments is long...and that’s just the stuff we planned for. The list of stuff we’ve had to react to and manage on a daily basis is many times longer. The fact is, the Mayor and his office are on fire, and the communications director role is one that sits particularly close to that fire at all times, almost regardless of the issue. The role is incredibly fun and exciting and rewarding—and we have a super-great team here doing super-great work—but it’s also intense and time-intensive and can be exhausting. I have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and a wife who don’t get to see much of the fun and exciting and rewarding part, but they do see plenty of the exhausted part. Which isn’t all that fair to them. So, while it’s the oldest cliché in politics, after serving in the Mayor’s Office through one incredibly productive and successful year, I have decided to leave in order to be able to, yes, spend more time with my family. And my next role is one that I’m very excited about—I’m looking forward to joining the great team at Strategies 360 as VP of Communications.

Whoever replaces Reading will have some serious shoes to fill—see the list "big wins" he touts in his message to city staffers below.

Good morning,

While we’ve had a helluva year of accomplishments in the Mayor’s Office since January, I wanted to let you know that I’ve made the very hard decision to move on.

We frequently hear about how this is the most activist year of any Seattle mayor in living memory, and when you look at the success the Mayor has had in implementing his agenda, it’s hard to disagree: passing the $15/hr minimum wage ordinance, securing sustainable parks funding, appointing a great chief of police and making significant progress on police reform, brokering a deal to allow rideshare companies to thrive, increasing transit service in the city, creating a cabinet-level department of education, establishing the Seattle Preschool Program…to name just a few big wins.

The public has responded with strong support, including decisive approval of three ballot measures and the highest mayoral approval ratings in decades. Mayor Murray is definitely on a roll, and it’s been a great honor to have been a small part of it all. None of it would be possible, of course, without all of your hard work, talent and dedication. I will miss working with you all very much in this role, and hope that our paths cross in my new one.

I am very pleased to report that I am moving over to Strategies 360, effective Dec.15, as Vice President of Communications. My last day in the Mayor’s Office will be Dec. 12, and will remain hard at work in my current role in the meantime.

Best,
Jeff