Tourist getting stabbed, robbed while Seattle Mayor enjoys security on vacation

At least Mayor Ed Murray can feel safe wherever he goes, while Seattle residents and tourists are harassed and assaulted.

Even when he goes out of the country, the mayor can rest easy, thanks to taxpayers.

The Seattle Police Department spent about $20,000 to have two officers travel with Murray to Israel in June, The Seattle Times reports. That includes spending about $6,500 before Murray’s business trip was scheduled to begin.

Murray was in Israel to speak at an LGBTQ conference. While he was there, he also took the time for some sightseeing. That means even while Murray was playing tourist with his husband, also an employee of the city, taxpayers were footing the bill so that Murray felt safe.

Here’s the irony of it: Nobody in Israel knows who Ed Murray is, KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson pointed out. Nobody has the faintest idea. Regardless, Murray apparently needed two body guards to tag along, according to the Times.

And the added security wasn’t necessarily the mayor’s idea. Chief of Police Kathleen O’Toole told the Times that she asked for a “comprehensive assessment” from a Secret Service agent and received advice on keeping the Murray safe. When Murray leaves the country, a security strategy is created, according to the Times. Depending on “need” Murray may have a security detail, whether he’s leaving on business or on vacation, O’Toole said.

In all, the trip to Israel cost taxpayers about $36,000. The total cost of the trip was about $50,000, according to the Times.

That amount of money for a trip that does not benefit the City of Seattle is absurd, Dori said. What’s worse, is that while the city is spending thousands on protection for a mayor nobody outside of the Northwest has heard of, people in Seattle are being jumped while waiting for the bus. There are tourists being “beaten and carved up,” Dori said.

Maybe the two cops who spent some time with Murray in Israel should have been patrolling Seattle’s “Stab Alley.”