Mayor Mike McGinn, whom we supported for mayor when it Greg Nickels was eliminated, is turning out to be pretty ineffective in his first month or so on the job.
He’s now having to walk back his proposed staff cuts in the face of opposition from the entrenched bureaucracy:
During his campaign, McGinn promised repeatedly that if elected, he would cut hundreds of “political appointees” added by his predecessor Greg Nickels—strategic advisors and “senior management” who owe their jobs to political patronage. The claim, a staple of McGinn’s stump speech, was a red-meat line for the fiscal-conservative wing of his supporters.
The problem, as the testimony at this morning’s meeting laid plain, is that most of the folks McGinn is targeting aren’t political appointees at all. In fact, the majority of those who spoke this morning have been at the city for many years or decades. And many were elevated to their current positions after taking on new responsibilities, or, ironically, as a way of saving money—because strategic advisors are management, they aren’t paid overtime for working extra hours.
Come on dude, get it together.
Well, to be clear, we actually supported Nickels. It’s not like either one of us had high expectations for McGinn’s management skills; we just like him better than Mallahan because he was more pro-transit.
Already trying to distance yourself from the guy, eh Professor?