Former mayor says Ed Murray should do more than drop from race
May 9, 2017, 4:53 PM | Updated: 6:48 pm
Former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. (File, AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
(File, AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
When Ed Murray dropped from Seattle’s mayoral race, it wasn’t enough for one other candidate.
Former Mayor Mike McGinn — who is also aiming to run again for Seattle mayor — tweeted that Ed Murray should resign.
In order to focus on the future, for the sake of survivors & the city, I feel @mayoredmurray should resign.
— Mike McGinn (@mayormcginn) May 9, 2017
The tweet was published shortly after Murray held a press conference Tuesday to announce that he would be dropping from the race.
McGinn also suggested that Murray donates his remaining campaign money to a non-profit that supports survivors of abuse. Murray has raised approximately $400,000.
The executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission told KIRO Radio that it’s likely about half of Murray’s campaign funds, raised so far, have been spent already. Some money could go back to donors or a charity.
“It can also be given to the state treasury or to a political party, but most of what we see is refunds to contributors and donations to charities,” Executive Director Wayne Barnett explained.
During his brief statement Tuesday, Murray said that the allegations against him have disrupted what a mayoral race should be about — the issues. If he were to stay in the race, the problem would persist.
Despite his decision not to seek re-election, Murray maintains he is innocent in the case in which several now-grown men are accusing him of abuse that occurred decades ago.
As the case against Ed Murray — which has taken a few strange twists recently — continues, it is unlikely the mayor would donate his remaining campaign money to survivors of abuse, as McGinn would like.
If Murray were to donate to survivors of abuse, it could be seen as an admission of guilt and used against him by the plaintiff in the abuse lawsuit. Murray and his defense team have to be careful, especially against an attorney that was recently fined $5,000 for ethical violations related to filing practices.
