‘People on the left are really unhappy’: Journalist breaks down discontent with Mayor Katie Wilson

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is breaking with Democratic tradition by endorsing progressive challengers over two veteran state lawmakers, announcing that she will endorse progressive activist Hannah Sabio-Howell in her challenge against Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen and Ron Davis in his bid to unseat longtime state Rep. Gerry Pollet.

Hannah Krieg, an independent journalist and founder of The Burner Seattle, joined “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio to provide her initial response to the endorsement and whether it would hurt or help Sabio-Howell, and also what she believes Wilson’s supporters are feeling in the early stages of her term.

“I was shocked to see that endorsement. I had heard that there was some effort from big labor to try to get Wilson to weigh in on that race in the other direction and endorse Pedersen,” Krieg said. “Obviously, that didn’t go that way. I don’t know if it’s going to help or hurt Sabio-Howell, if it really matters. Her supporters basically seemed pretty excited about it. It’s legitimizing for someone who’s a challenger in general to like get a big name endorsement, even though I would say Wilson is somewhat not necessarily a standard bearer for the left right now.”

Curley asked Krieg to elaborate on why she didn’t believe Wilson was a “standard bearer” for Democrats.

“I would think that there are people on the left who are really unhappy with Wilson’s performance,” Krieg said. “I think they want quicker, more decisive action on a number of issues, including the surveillance cameras, which really hurt trust with some of her supporters. I think people are not happy with the continuation of sweeps of unhoused people and other things in her base, but I also think her base is quite happy with how she’s approached transit.”

Curley and Krieg debate the role of government in childcare

John Curley and Hannah Krieg went head-to-head discussing government-subsidized childcare, with Curley arguing for the people’s freedom to choose and letting the market decide who wins and loses, while Krieg advocated that subsidized childcare improves the quality of care and regulations that protect children.

“It could be really good for Seattle to have free childcare,” Krieg said.

“Is it free?” Curley asked.

“Well, sure,” Krieg responded. “Government-subsidized child care, tax-funded child care, that I think could really help make sure that all the kids in Seattle are getting a good foundation, so I think that’s pretty much a net positive. Do you disagree?”

“Yeah, I do. I can’t imagine anything the government would touch that wouldn’t make the cost of childcare go up,” Curley said.

Curley continued to state that he doesn’t believe child care workers should be unionized. Still, Krieg combatted Curley’s claim with her belief that the union has a good grip on caring for a child, and questioned Curley’s personal experience working in childcare.

“It seems like workers would know how much work it takes to care for a child,” Krieg said. “If you’re saying that everything government touches is like bad, or whatever, I think it’s good to have high-quality child care, and I think the union probably has a pretty good idea of what it takes to care for children. Certainly, a bunch of workers who are caring for children don’t know how to care for children. When’s the last time you worked in a daycare, Mr. Curley?”

Debate turns to staffing ratios, how much regulation is too much

Curley explained that his mother operated a preschool in Pennsylvania, then steered the conversation back to his argument that government regulation drives up costs rather than letting the free market determine a service’s value.

“If you had more choices and you got the government out of it, then you would actually allow the market to determine the best value,” Curley said. “If you leave it up to the parents, if you assume that the parents know best, as opposed to somebody in Olympia, the parent could make the decision that’s best for my kid. I would just like to have more choices, opposed to regulations that clamp down on choices, and choices are what open the market, allowing the prices to fluctuate.”

“Do you want to let child care open with a 1-to-10 ratio?” Krieg asked. “There needs to be a line. Next, they’re going to make us have a license for a toaster, like what are you talking about?”

“If a parent wants to go to a 1-to-10 and have [the kids] raised by wolves, as my brother and I were, then it would be OK,” Curley responded. “If it were a 1-to-10 or 1-to-20, I don’t think they’d be in business very long.”

“Oh, OK. Let the market decide,” Krieg said.

“Sweet, perfectly said, Hannah,” Curley responded. “That’s exactly right.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jcurleyshow