Our Seattle mayor has nose-dived. Only in office for just over a month and his popularity has fallen to 40%. Wow... You must be really incompetent to pull this off. And Mayor McGinn has done it.
Our mayor called for an across the board cutting of 200 senior-level positions, without giving any rhyme or reason as to why he was cutting 'x' amount of senior-level positions from 'a' department, and 'y' amount of senior-level positions from 'b' department. Any reason why? The answer was something akin to a child's answer of, "Because."
(By the way, he caused such a ruckus that he has temporarily backed off on cutting the 200.)
McGinn has pissed off so many of the civil service staff that they are looking to and speaking with the unions. I was at a party the other night where a great majority of the people were city workers and unionizing came up. One guy raised his hand and said, "Count me in!" and everybody nodded their head in approval. Never before has a mayor been so polarizing so as to have the city staff start talking to the unions so seriously.
Mayor McGinn has broken one of his main complaints he used against then-Mayor Nickels on his campaign. McGinn complained that Nickels' staff and cabinet were all political appointees. This may (or may not) have been entirely true. However, Nickels' staff knew what they were doing - as shown above with the willy-nilly cutting of the 200 positions that McGinn has attempted. Were McGinn running things in the opposite way than that of the Nickels' administration he would have had open hiring. But he hasn't.
Sierra Club political organzier Craig Benjamin, who last week told colleagues in an email that he had received “an offer that [he] could not refuse” from Mayor Mike McGinn to coordinate the city’s annual budget process, will stay with the Sierra Club—where McGinn previously served as chair—after all.
In an email to colleagues, Benjamin wrote, “Upon further consideration I decided to decline an offer to join the City Budget Office as an Executive Assistant so that I can pursue other opportunities (like this inspiring endeavor) and I will remain in my present position at the Sierra Club. Please give me a call if you have any questions about this decision.”
Craig Benjamin probably had an 'Oh shit!' epiphany upon seeing everything that is going on.
(You're doing a heck of a job, McGinny!)
The mayor was also ignorant to the fact of "bumping rights" that all city employees know about. Story goes like this: The mayor was riding to work on his electric bike when he came riding up along another employee that he knows well. She tells him that, 'Well I'll be leaving the City soon. I'll be losing my job.'
The mayor says, 'Oh no! I'll take care of you.' (Again, breaking a campaign promise on favoritism.) But then she explained to him about "bumping rights." If the decision is to fire someone in a senior level position - all things being equal, the person being let go has the right to 'bump' you if he's got seniority.
Lastly, oh! Special advisor to Mayor Mike McGinn, (and a pollster for McGinn when he was a mayoral candidate) political appointee, Chris Bushnell. This guy is a laugh riot, and it's a wonder as to why this guy is still around.
Just get this,
Bushnell has a somewhat controversial history. In 1995, he was convicted of bank fraud and possession and utterance of counterfeit securities after he and a friend forged nearly $38,000 in money orders between 1992 and 1994; acting alone, Bushnell circulated another $55,000 in counterfeit money orders.
As a chief economic forecaster for King County, he spent one week a month for about a year and a half telecommuting to his county job from Hawaii, where his wife was in school. After leaving that position in 2008, Bushnell presented a controversial report asserting that [King] county’s budget shortfall was the result of overspending. That report made him numerous enemies at the county, where conventional wisdom has held structural problems for the shortfall.
But that ain't nuthin' compared to this,
Bushnell falsely claimed to have a PhD on his personal business cards, which said he had a doctoral degree; at King County, where as chief economist he referred to himself in official county documents as “Christopher Bushnell, PhD”; and in his work as a pollster for Constituent Dynamics, where he was referred to as “Dr. Chris Bushnell.”
....
Mark Matassa, McGinn’s chief spokesman, said Bushnell’s appointment was not “based on his academic record” but on his “track record of working with the mayor.” During McGinn’s campaign for mayor, Bushnell was a close advisor and helped perform numerous polls through the firm he worked for, Constituent Dynamics. Matassa added: “I don’t think the mayor is concerned with Chris’ background. He knows him, likes him, trusts him, and enjoys working with him.”
....
[Mark Matassa, McGinn’s chief spokesman] says the mayor isn’t concerned about whether Bushnell inaccurately claimed to have a Ph.D in the past. “The important point from here is that he does not have a Ph.D and [that], even so, the mayor stands behind Chris,” Matassa says. “I don’t think Chris misrepresented himself to the mayor.”
We've never seen a spokesman for a mayor backpedal so much, so fast, and in such a short amount a time.
"[The] mayor isn’t concerned about whether Bushnell inaccurately claimed to have a Ph.D in the past..."? What about the conviction of bank fraud? What about the forging of $38,000 in money orders? What about the circulated $55,000 in counterfeit money orders? Come on, now. Are you saying that McGinn didn't know because he didn't ask? (His own political version of DADT.) Or is it that the mayor just doesn't give a damn?
We all just sit around with our mouths agape wondering what's going to happen next. This is better than watching Lost. Because the guy really is lost.