Seattle reacts to latest allegations against Mayor Murray
Sep 12, 2017, 1:37 PM | Updated: 2:08 pm
Ed Murray. (File, Associated Press)
(File, Associated Press)
After yet another accusation that Seattle Mayor Ed Murray molested a minor, political candidates and officials urged the mayor to step down. Murray responded by doing just that.
RELATED: Seattle mayor’s cousin accuses him of molestation
Cary Moon
“As a mother I am angry, as a resident of the city, I am ashamed,” said mayoral candidate Cary Moon shortly before Murray announced his resignation.
Moon said that Murray’s response to his accusers has been inappropriate and that abuse victims should be believed. Moon said Murray should resign from office and that there are “plenty of competent people in the mayor’s office” who can keep things running.
“We can do without him for a couple of months,” she said.
“Each excuse gets more and more shallow and desperate,” Moon said. “… I think this fifth victim who is a family member saying ‘enough is enough’ has got to hit people hard. This was a child. He lived with a family and abused a child.”
Jenny Durkan
Mayoral candidate Jenny Durkan also publicly said that “it is time for Mayor Murray to step down.”
It’s clear that it is in everyone’s best interest for him to resign.
— Jenny Durkan (@JennyDurkan) September 12, 2017
As a parent, former public official and openly gay woman these allegations are beyond sad and tragic; no official is above the law.
— Jenny Durkan (@JennyDurkan) September 12, 2017
Greg Nickels
Greg Nickels was Seattle’s 51st mayor, between 2002 and 2010. He notes that the last time a Seattle mayor resigned was when James d’Orma Braman stepped down in 1969. The following mayor, Wes Uhlman, took office immediately after the election.
“…both candidates should be prepared for a very swift transition,” Nickels said of current mayoral candidates Moon and Durkan. “Unlike normal circumstances when you have a couple months to be able to prepare for your new administration.”
Nickels said that when the first news stories of Murray’s alleged abuse broke, he didn’t want to believe it. But as more and more allegations have come out, he thinks Seattle needs “to clear the decks.”
“I think it is the right thing to do,” Nickels said of Murray’s resignation. “If you would have asked me in the first week of April, I would have said that Ed Murray would have been re-elected in a landslide.”
“I’m sad,” he said. “That’s the overwhelming emotion. I know Ed and Michael. I have always wished him well as mayor even when I disagreed with his policies. And I think he got some great things done. I just think it is so sad to see it end this way and also sad that we have out there, potentially, these victims who have come forward and whose pain also needs to be addressed.”
Beauregard
Attorney Lincoln Beauregard who represents the first man to come forward, Delvonn Heckard, tweeted shortly after The Seattle Times reported the cousin’s allegations.
The truth normally prevails…
— LincolnLawyer (@quietplease321) September 12, 2017
Askini
Danni Askini, with Seattle’s Gender Justice League, echoed Moon’s statements that sexual abuse victims should be believed.
“To hear survivor after survivor come forward to tell their story of abuse and then the mayor to use his position and power to belittle and demean their story … the mayor should resign,” Askini said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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