Letter to the Editor: Observing the Candidates for City Council Position 1
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
To the Editor:
I am writing to offer my personal observations of the candidates in the upcoming election for City Council Position 1 between Keith McGlashan and Jin-Ah Kim.
Ms. Kim’s campaign flyer tries to discredit Mr. McGlashan by stating “He was Mayor when the Point Wells development was approved . . .”. While true that Mr. McGlashan was the Mayor, does Ms. Kim not know that it was Snohomish County where the property sits that approved the development? Or does she know and just not care if a true statement can be manipulated to imply something that makes your opponent sound bad? Not very good either way.
I saw Ms. Kim in person at a Democratic political meeting earlier this year. She attacked a candidate seeking an endorsement from the group by stating that an unflattering article was “the very first item that appears on a Google search of your name.” It was disappointing to learn later that the unflattering article was not really the first item that appeared on a Google search about the candidate. The article could be found, but it took some work and was clearly not “the very first item” that appeared. Ms. Kim seems comfortable distorting the truth for political advantage.
My observations of Keith McGlashan are very different. I do not know Mr. McGlashan well and don’t agree with every decision he has made, but I have found him to be informed and thoughtful about his decisions, and respectful and honest in our discussions.
Truth from our elected officials is still important, maybe more now than ever in the age of Trump. My concerns about Ms. Kim’s approach to politics and what that would mean for the Shoreline City Council led me to contribute to Mr. McGlashan’s campaign, and I urge Shoreline residents to vote for him in the upcoming election.
Tim Friedrichsen
Shoreline
Posts
6 comments:
I am disappointed in Keith's actions on the city council. That matters more to me than an election flyer. Keith has shown me doesn't care about anything not in his own neighborhood or against his own interests. I am fed up with Shoreline having a self-serving city council instead of one who serves its citizens!
Robert Pattman
I’ll address the subject that hasn’t been brought up yet repeatedly by anyone else, the candidate endorsement topic.
Oh sure, I have nothing to hide about that, I believe you are talking about the 32nd District Democrats March meeting where I questioned the current Deputy Mayor Winstead about the first google search article of her name. Here is a video of that meeting, the comment the author is referring to is at 2:20:00:
https://www.facebook.com/ivictoriaruth/videos/1333702276717746/?filters_rp_author=%7B%22name%22%3A%22author_friends%22%2C%22args%22%3A%22%22%7D
Here is the google search article I'm referring to (I google all candidates seeking endorsements).
http://mynorthwest.com/14872/outcry-from-shoreline-residents-doesnt-stop-council-from-rezoning-area-around-light-rail/
The question I ask in the video is about this quote from the article above:
"The council’s decision to even consider the rezone drew shouts from the crowd, where residents demanded a recall of councilmembers.
At one point, Mayor Shari Winstead told the community members she would have police remove anyone who interrupted."
I did some additional research after going home that night to make sure the quote actually did happen (all council meetings are recorded). Here is an article I found with footage of the actual council meeting that confirmed that Deputy Mayor Winstead did in fact tell residents, she would have police escort them out:
http://komonews.com/news/local/shoreline-residents-voice-concerns-about-light-rail-expansion
Mr.Friedrichsen - When someone makes a factual error and admits it, that is not a lie, it's an admitted mistake. This is a highly desirable trait that we should all encourage.
Jin-Ah is telling you a factual account Tim Frederickson. Your candidate did not get the endorsement because of the way she treated citizens at the Rezone hearings. Jin-Ah merely looked up her name. And your candidate did not do the outreach to PCO’s before the meeting. That is the process.
This is no reason to resort to name-calling towards Jin-ah. She has run a credible campaign, garnered amazing endorsements, and raised an impressive amount of funds to be competitive.
And yes, we are all aware that permits will be approved by Snohomish County for Point Wells. But McGlashan has been in office during the entire time that BSRE has sought to build their massive project. So do you not think a Shoreline City Councilmember could make any difference on something of such great impact to our city? I do!
The Mayor's job in the City of Shoreline is to run the Council meetings with civility. Yelling, booing and other similar behavior is not similar, and makes everyone in the room fearful - including those with differing opinions. Mayor Winstead was simply doing her job as Mayor - trying to run the meeting with civility. Just because the commentors above didn't like the outcome, they are upset by the Mayor reminding people that if their behavior was not civil they would be removed from the Council Chambers. Nobody was threatened because of their opinion - just because of their behavior. I guess it's really horrible to have a Mayor who insists that people follow the rules. Ms. Kim was also not truthful in telling everyone she planned to run a "clean campaign" - she fired the first shot at McGlashan and now whines about everyone picking on her. If you lay with dogs you are going to get fleas.
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