So who does the Seattle business community want to fill the two big local open slots – mayor of Seattle and executive of King County? There’s something of a formal choice enunciated in the picks of the Alki Foundation, which in effect is the Seattle Chamber of Commerce public affairs division. And today, it delivered its endorsements.
On was more or less obvious: businessman (from T-Mobile) Joe Mallahan for mayor. Of the two candidates in the running – neither an apparent major front-runner – Mallahan has a substantial business background and likely would be more comfortable with the city’s business interests, and they line up on Alaskan Way replacement options. The other contender, Mike McGinn, is an attorney and environmental activist who probably would bump heads with a number of businesses more than Mallahan would.
The King County ran was less obvious, featuring a liberal Democrat, County Council member Dow Constantine, and former local news anchor Susan Hutchison, who is undeclared as to party but is assumed to be well to Constantine’s right. That might seem to make her the business community choice, but no – the nod went to Constantine.
Why? The Seattle Times asked, and in a blog post outlined the rationale: “Alki Chairman Michael Luis said the county exec’s race was a difficult one for the group. But Luis said it boiled down to this: ‘Susan Hutchison remains sort of a political unknown and just never made people totally comfortable that she was ready to take the reins of a complicated government.’ . . . Constantine is not perceived as a ‘business-type candidate,’ Luis acknowledged. But he is ‘well known’ and could walk into the exec’s job ‘knowing how the place works.’ The general sense among the Alki group was that Hutchison ‘hadn’t made the case she could do the job,’ Luis said.”
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