SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: It’s report card time, and Jenny Durkan gets a D

Nov 28, 2018, 5:27 AM

jenny durkan, income tax...

Former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, left, is administered the oath of office for Seattle mayor by U.S. District Court Judge Richard A. Jones on Nov. 28, 2017. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

In honor of her one-year anniversary as mayor of Seattle this Wednesday, the Dori Monson Show took a cue from its news partner KIRO 7and decided to give Mayor Jenny Durkan a grade for her first 365 days in office.

“I give her a D — she’s not quite a failure yet, but I haven’t seen any improvement,” Dori said. “Crime is worse. Homelessness is worse. Money being squandered is worse. Break-ins are the worst in America, for property crime, we are the worst [major] city in America.”

That’s not to say that Durkan could not improve her grade in the future — but she would have to put in some serious extra credit hours to turn the city’s failures around.

“If somebody came in and we actually had crime go down, and people safe walking down the streets, and cars that don’t get their windows smashed every couple of seconds,” Dori said, then he would start handing out honor roll grades.

Dori criticized the mayor for saying that a chunk of the city’s new $5.9 billion budget will go toward helping Seattle’s “least advantaged.”

“I hate phrases like that. Why are any of us the ‘least advantaged?'” Dori asked. “That’s such a bizarre turn of phrase. The reality is, we all have the same opportunities.”

He elaborated, “I know from personal experience that being in poverty doesn’t mean you can’t climb out of it — it means you’ve got to make some decent decisions along the way.”

Dori also had a good laugh when Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, who just announced her retirement, told KIRO 7 that Durkan is doing well because she “knows her department heads, knows who she can trust and rely upon.”

“Is that the standard these days? She knows her department heads … Is that what we’re grading our city on these days?” Dori laughed. “We’ve got a lot of crime out there. We’ve got a lot of problems. But the mayor knows her department heads now.”

You may be wondering if there is any past mayor of Seattle whom Dori would give a grade that would make parents reading a report card proud. The answer is yes — but you have to go back to the 1990s.

“I like Norm Rice — he was a good guy,” Dori said of the mayor who served from 1990 through 1997. He added that Rice was the last Seattle mayor to have the guts to come on the Dori Monson Show.

In Dori’s view, the mayor’s office just went downhill after that.

“Greg Nickels, we got a dusting of snow and the entire region was paralyzed,” Dori said. “Why? He did not want to put salt on the street because he was afraid it would wash into Puget Sound — which is all salt water.”

RELATED: Cato Institute on why Jay Inslee gets a failing grade

Associated Press

Democrat Katie Hobbs wins reelection for governor in Arizona

Democrat Katie Hobbs won election Wednesday as governor of Arizona, defeating Republican Andy Biggs, Republican Gertritrude Gonzalez (write-in) and Republican Alice Novoa (write-in). Hobbs won despite being viewed as the most vulnerable Democratic governor in the country. She courted disaffected Republicans and independent voters to win a second term in the swing state. Hobbs also […]

5 minutes ago

Associated Press

Republican Kurt Alme wins election to U.S. Senate from Montana

Republican Kurt Alme won election Wednesday to the U.S. Senate representing Montana, defeating independent Seth Bodnar and Democrat Alani Bankhead. Alme will replace Republican Sen. Steve Daines, who made a surprise announcement in March, just ahead of the state’s filing deadline, that he would not run for a third term. Both Daines and President Donald […]

31 minutes ago

Associated Press

Republican Jim Pillen wins reelection for governor in Nebraska

Republican Jim Pillen won election Wednesday as governor of Nebraska, defeating Democrat Lynne Walz. Pillen, the incumbent governor who is also a hog farm owner, first assumed office in 2023. Walz is a former state senator. The Associated Press declared Pillen the winner at 2:53 a.m. EST.

31 minutes ago

Associated Press

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed wins election to U.S. Senate from Michigan

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won election Wednesday to the U.S. Senate representing Michigan, defeating Republican Mike Rogers. El-Sayed, a former public health official, will succeed Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, who is retiring. El-Sayed will be the country’s first Muslim senator and his victory holds a seat that his party could not afford to lose as it […]

58 minutes ago

Associated Press

3 dead, including suspect, and 2 deputies critically injured in eastern Washington state

SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. (AP) — A shooting and subsequent firefight with responding officers left three people dead, including the suspect, and two deputies critically wounded in eastern Washington state Tuesday. Deputies responded to a home in Spokane County, which borders Idaho, around 2:30 p.m. after a woman told her neighbor that she had been shot […]

1 hour ago

Associated Press

Democrat Jocelyn Benson wins election for governor in Michigan

Democrat Jocelyn Benson won election Wednesday as governor of Michigan, defeating Republican John James. The victory by Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state, means the governor’s office will remain under Democratic control in the swing state. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was barred from running again by term limits. Benson served as Michigan’s chief elections administrator in […]

2 hours ago

Dori: It’s report card time, and Jenny Durkan gets a D