Boze: Put a fork in Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says unlike his opponents, the voters know exactly where he stands. Unfortunately for him, that’s on the way out of office even though he finished a strong second in Tuesday night’s primary, predicts KTTH host David Boze.

State Senator Ed Murray is the frontrunner, taking 30 percent of the vote in early returns. McGinn is running second at 27 percent, surprising some City Hall watchers who didn’t expect such a strong showing from the incumbent.

But Boze says the real story is who didn’t vote for McGinn, and you can put a fork in his campaign because he’s done.

“When you’re the incumbent mayor and you get under 30 percent, that means 70 percent of the people said no to you and chose somebody else,” Boze says. “People aren’t wondering what his positions are, people are just not wanting Mayor McGinn.”

McGinn got plenty of attention in the past few weeks for his opposition to a new Whole Foods Market in West Seattle, arguing the non-union chain pays its workers less than a living wage, unlike other union grocers. While it might have garnered some support from organized labor from his campaign, Boze says that’s hardly enough to counter Murray

“Ed Murray already has that [labor support] in spades in the city of Seattle. He’s got the liberal credentials that he needs, plus he has a better business reputation, from what I understand, by not not attacking Whole Foods. He’s got people thinking ‘at least he won’t be opposed to jobs.’ That’s a plus.”

Fellow KTTH host Michael Medved hopes Boze is right.

“If anyone deserves to lose it’s Mike McGinn,” says Medved about the mayor he’s criticized for a number of policies, from labor to transportation. “Murray should just make it a referendum on bike riders. He [McGinn] is an insufferable blight on the body politic.”

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