Why I am endorsing Colleen Echohawk
I’ve been involved in Seattle politics for over thirty years, and Colleen Echohawk has the potential to be Seattle’s most transformative mayor in decades.
She is passionate about fighting for the underdog. In a region with America’s richest people, she fights for the poorest and most oppressed people — displaced Native Americans. And she is good at it, growing the Chief Seattle Club and overseeing $180 million in affordable housing construction. As a Co-Lead in the JustCare program, working with others she has moved entire encampments out of public spaces and into safety. She has a 22 point plan to house every homeless person in 14 months. No half measures.
She’s not a policy wonk or legislator — she is an effective executive. That’s the right skill set for a mayor. But even more important, she has the right temperament. This is not a stepping stone to the next office or a status thing. She is running to help people and genuinely loves the people that others look to sweep aside. We could really use a people-first mayor right now.
She is not tied to the usual interests that run candidates. If she wins she won’t owe a bunch of political debts to the various power brokers that think they run this town. She sees the ways in which housing justice, climate justice and mobility justice are all intertwined fights. On every issue it feels like there are interests grasping to maintain the status quo. Too many people are taking the brunt of inequality, racism and pollution. I know what side Colleen is on based not on her words, but on her career.
There is one issue that is really telling for me in this race. When Mayor Durkan negotiated a police contract that bargained away police accountability reforms, Colleen Echohawk and the entire Community Police Commission urged the City Council to reject the police contract. The Seattle Police Officers Guild and the King County Labor Council urged a yes vote. I believe Bruce Harrell and Lorena Gonzalez care about police reform, but they sided with Durkan and SPOG and voted to endorse the flawed contract. I know the pressure was strong. But that was just bad judgment.
I negotiated the Consent Decree that created the Community Police Commission. It was meant to be a counterweight to SPOG’s political power — to root reform in the community. The Community Police Commission raised the red flag on harsh police treatment of Black Lives Matter protesters in 2015. They were ignored. The response to protests in 2020 was shockingly excessive. Today no one can reasonably deny that police reform has failed. When politicians were gaslighting us on police reform, Colleen always stood with the community. That is what we need in the next mayor.
I watch the political conflicts in this town closely. Rising inequality, racism and climate change all present extraordinary challenges. So it is not surprising that politicians will have public disagreements. They take different sides and they should. But sometimes you need people not stuck in the old fights. Not compromised or worn down by the deal-making. Not in the insider bubble of what conventional wisdom says is possible. Someone a little closer to the ideals that got them into politics in the first place.
We all pay a price for a divided community. At some point, enough of us have to come together to move us all forward. Her experience, temperament, vision and ideals make Colleen Echohawk the candidate to do that. She is not just the best candidate in this race, she gives me the most hope for the transformative change we need. I hope you will join me in voting for her.
Mike McGinn, Seattle Mayor 2009–2013.