Rantz: Cary Moon’s campaign off to a rough start

This week I’ve heard a lot of Seattlites bemoan the idea of sitting through another campaign fight between Mayor Ed Murray and former Mayor Mike McGinn. It’ll certainly be a competitive one, but many have cried out, “Isn’t there anyone better?”

Perhaps Cary Moon could have filled that void, but she doesn’t. Her campaign, on day one, betrayed one of her core principles.

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We booked an interview with Moon on Wednesday, through her campaign staff, hours after she announced she was running for mayor. About 10 minutes after she was late to the phone interview, another staff member (apparently brought in to oversee the campaign) indicated to our producer that she would be canceling, instead, to focus on in-person interviews. We offered her an in-person opportunity, too, but were denied.

Yes, this is unprofessional and we were left annoyed (we’re adults, we’ll get over it), but this incident reflects a poorly-run campaign and shows she’s not the person she claims to be.

Moon says she’s a leader who works together with people representing “all voices” to come up with shared solutions to issues facing Seattle. But Moon doesn’t appear willing to talk with media members who are more apt to challenging her beliefs.

She talks to Progressive publications (as she should; I found all the interviews interesting). But I suspect her campaign truly blew us off because I’m a Republican who is somewhat dubious of her positions (presumably, of course; she fled our interview so I’m not certain if we disagree on everything).

If you’re telling us how committed you are to all sides of an issue and coming together, you wouldn’t cancel an interview you had agreed to, simply because you might get a tough question thrown your way.

This also shows you how poorly run this campaign is. Moon’s announcement was lost in a busy news day. She announced her run on the same day we learned the identity of “D.H.” — the Kent man suing Mayor Ed Murray for rape. She was offered a large platform to cut through the biggest news of the day, but her campaign decided to blow it off.

You know who has never canceled on us? Murray and McGinn. I disagree with them on a ton of topics and yet we always manage to have respectful and civil discussions. Why? Because they also value people outside of the Progressive-activist community and they aren’t scared to take on people who may disagree with them.

Consequently, Moon won’t ever be on the air with us during the campaign.

No, she didn’t have to come on with us. We’re certainly not owed an interview. But she decided to pull a move that much bigger and better candidates than her don’t even do. Don’t want to talk to someone who might challenge you? Don’t agree to it first. Spend a few minutes before you agree to an interview.

If her campaign is willing to treat people she perceives as opponents with this much disregard, she’s no longer worth our time and shouldn’t be worth yours.

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