Photo by Dan Miller
Why is south Seattle neighborhood activist, Windermere realtor, and one-time Seattle City Council hopeful Darryl Smith suddenly speaking for Mike McGinn’s campaign?
Rumor mill has it that Smith, a longtime McGinn supporter (and board chair at McGinn’s non-profit, Great City), is queued up for a top spot in a McGinn administration, perhaps deputy mayor.
Yesterday Smith emerged as the campaign spokesperson.
Smith, however, tells PubliCola that McGinn has not approached him about a spot and called his supposed anointment “nothing more than talk” and “some sort of a silly rumor. I don’t think he’s talked to anyone about anything” like that, he added.
“First,” he quipped, “I think we need a few more thousand votes. We’ve got to get the guy in office.”
He added that “Mike is a brilliant guy, and I’m confident he will surround himself with people who will challenge him, not just ‘yes men and woman’.”
As to his sudden role as TV spokesperson yesterday, Smith says: “You no how we operate around here. No one has any titles. We’re all voluteers. Yesterday, I happened to be the campaign spokesperson.”
Although Smith did seek the council seat now held by Sally Clark (who was appointed when Jim Compton stepped down in 2005) and has been rumored to be running for various offices since, his only formal governmental experience is serving on the Seattle Planning Commission’s neighborhoods committee.
According to one rumor circulating on Election Night, diversity is McGinn’s highest priority in choosing a deputy mayor. If he wins, however, many observers (supporters and detractors alike) have suggested that the political neophyte surround himself with a staff that has the deep government experience he lacks.
Additional reporting by Erica C. Barnett
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I feel like the picyune police, but if you are quoting words the man said, you should spell the “no” above as know…at least I hope that is what he meant.
dont forget nimby and anti casa latina activist.
Darryl Smith is a very respected Dude in SE, very progressive and people’s person.
This has been a rumor for weeks and seems to be coming from the Mallahan camp more than from the McGinn camp.
Story= unsourced rumor that is officially denied.
Darryl is great but does it really make sense to have a Deputy that has never worked in City Hall before? And who is Mallahan talking about for this position, Podlodowski?
“We don’t have titles” is a party line, a campaign mantra. People in that campaign not named Mike McGinn call the campaign’s shots within consistent roles.
Rumor I heard:
Tim Ceis will stay on as an advisor/consultant for McGinn, while he is serving on the Dow Transition
Team. Folks, the more we think things will change,
the more it stays the same.
“According to one rumor circulating on Election Night, diversity is McGinn’s highest priority in choosing a deputy mayor.”
What does this mean? How can one person selected for one position be diverse? Diversity, as it is commonly understood in the US, means a variety of people from different ethnic, racial, religious, socioeconomic, regional, gender, etc. backgrounds. I don’t see how one person could embody diversity, save for a Barack Obama type…
T Chen:
What does that mean “save for the Barack Obama type”? He embodies diversity because he has a multi-ethnic background? I think Josh was trying to say that McGinn’s entire administration will hold diversity of as a value, thus will be choosing advisers from a variety of backgrounds. I would be very very surprised if Tim Ceis we retained by either administration (Mallahan or McGinn), isn’t he toxic at this point?
I was impressed with Smith when he ran for Council a few cycles ago. I’m too lazy to look it up, but I think he was in one of those “I want to vote for several in this race, nobody in others” primaries, and didn’t make it to the general.
kstine,
A Barack Obama type means someone who personally has lived a life of great diversity of experiences, cultures, races etc. Obama grew up in Hawaii, the state with the highest number of interracial marriages and mixed race people by far. He lived overseas in a predominately Muslim country. He was raised by a white mother and white grandparents from the midwest. He has lived and worked among the poor blacks of Chicago’s inner cities, and has also moved comfortably among some of the smartest, most privileged people at Harvard Law School and Columbia U. The man himself is biracial. He is the embodiment of diversity, if any one person could be.
The subtext then of the McGinn focus on diversity, as I read it from your comments is that McGinn’s campaign was composed mostly of a narrow representation of well-educated agnostic whites who favor transit oriented development and density, and reduced car dependence, and that he will try to seek out people who do not fall into those categories to be more in tune with other types of Seattleites…
I still hold to my original point that diversity, in the context of one position doesn’t mean much. It’s like saying to someone with a bag of M&Ms, “I want one M&M. Please give me a diverse one.” Only in the context of an entire bag, or a handful, of M&Ms does diversity as a concept make sense.
Do you hear that giant sucking sound City of Seattle? That’s the brain drain of many City of Seattle smarty pants heading over to King County to work for Dow (and perhaps KC Exec Cheif of Staff Ceis?)…
Maybe Grace Crunican will become the head of Metro Transit.
I love voluteers!!
Hey @13 – Hello King County…can I come to work for you? Where do I sumbit my resume?
@ 13 You mean all the talent is leaving?
Go Darryl!
Grace would be an amazing Metro Transit Director!!!But we REALLY need her at the City. She has completely transformed the culture of SDOT put vastly greater focus on Pedestrian, Bike and Transit modes. Would Mallahan or mcGinn be stupid enough to get rid of her? That would just be plain ass dumb.
@16 – I did not say ALL the talent is leaving but certainly many many smart people will be heading next door to go to work for Dow Constaintine. Did you know that Constaintine used to work for Nickels? He took Greg’s seat on the KC Council when Greg became Mayor. Alot of smart people who have been over at the City are obviously going to heading over to work for Dow and the County. Tim Ceis is managing the transition team. Will he take his old job back as the Cheif of Staff for the KC Exec? He worked for Sims before coming over to work for Nickels. After he left Sims office is when Ron started doing all the crazy things which had people not feeling too good about Ron Sims. Dow would be smart to grab Tim Ceis and a few other big time smarty’s who will leave the City.
We totally need a posting where we all can discuss the rumors of who we think is going where and who should be going where. I love this part of the post-election game
Both Mallahan and McGinn should both look at finding people who know city hall and people of diverse backgrounds for at least some of the senior positions in their administration. Fortunately it is possible to find people who meet both criteria.
Darryl as Deputy Mayor has been the worst kept secret.
I have a lot of respect for Darryl. He’s been involved in a lot of work in Columbia City and the surrounding area. I voted for him in his run for city council and have continued to see him engaged with the community, local schools, local businesses, transportation, you name it. Both he and his wife are exceptional. I think he’d be a fabulous asset to the wider city as Deputy Mayor.
Darryl Smith is a very respected Dude in SE, very progressive and people's person.