‘Did she say anything at all?’ Jake gives Wilson’s delivery a B+ as KIRO reporter warns her messaging is ‘eroding trust’

KIRO host Jake Skorheim gave Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson a B+ for her delivery at Friday’s news conference — her first since asking former Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes to resign — but said the substance was lacking. He posed the question: “She said a lot of stuff, but did she say anything at all?”

KIRO Newsradio reporter Luke Duecy, who joined Jake and co-host Spike O’Neill on “The Jake and Spike Show,” said the news conference answered nothing and that Wilson’s repeated talking points only “created more questions.”

“I think what happened was, and I kind of predicted right before, I thought this could either go two ways: This could go just crazy off the rails, break down, something’s gonna happen, or it’s gonna be a big nothing burger,” he explained. “And in that, she’s going to stick to the messaging that she was given.

“I’ve got some points on the messaging,” he continued. “I don’t think the messaging was great. She stuck to the messaging instead. And I think what it did was create more questions, but also it really created challenges for her and her administration now moving forward, where she’s going to have to lead by example, not by the words coming out of her mouth at a podium, and we just saw one of those examples.”

Duecy on Wilson’s talking points: ‘She has created less transparency’

Duecy went further, warning that Wilson’s repeated talking points are “actually eroding trust” with the public and the media. He pointed to Wilson defending her decision to push out Barnes, in which Wilson said she had a “different” window than Seattle City Councilmembers who were furious with the move.

“From a public relations perspective, she thinks, and her team thinks, that they are being transparent and open in this,” Duecy said. “But what the messaging has done, the messaging points that they created and put out there and practiced and polished and said, ‘Let’s do it again. Let’s run through it again. Let me ask you some questions, and we’ll practice.’ She has created less transparency and a feeling that she has some kind of insight that she’s not going to share with anyone, and that does what? It erodes trust.”

Jake clarified that his B+ was for Wilson’s presentation only, not the substance of what she said. He noted it was likely her best-delivered news conference as mayor because she stayed on script.

“I would not grade the substance,” he said. “I would just grade her presentation performance. I’m going to give a B+.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3