Has Murray Become a Proxy for Nickels’ Revenge?

Among the small army of campaign operatives, consultants, and policy advocates who have attached themselves to the fate of leading mayoral candidate Ed Murray, over a dozen share a trait that Mayor Mike McGinn’s campaign considers more than a coincidence: They all once worked for the man McGinn vanquished, Greg Nickels.

To name a few: Christian Sinderman, whom Nickels hired to coordinate his ill-fated campaign for Secretary of State last year, will be overseeing the mailing effort for Murray.

Sandeep Kaushik, the ex-mayor’s communications director from June 2005 to August 2007, is a partner in Soundview Strategies, which has to date been paid $6,000 by Murray for political consulting services. Kaushik is the spokesman for the Murray campaign.

Murray’s pollster, EMC Research—which conducted a large voter survey in May to the tune of a $30,000 fee—was Nickels’ pollster in 2009.

New Partners Consulting, which performed opposition research for Nickels in 2009 and helped with crisis communications in the aftermath of the December 2008 snowstorm, is also now in the Murray camp. The firm has been paid $9,790, according to campaign disclosure reports.

Meanwhile, Nickels’ former deputy Tim Ceis, who earned the nickname “The Shark” for his hardball tactics during his tenure as Nickels’ enforcer, is helping out by, as he put it, “just trying to raise a little money for Ed.”

Mayor McGinn’s campaign manager, John Wyble, maintains this is all about payback by Nickels loyalists who found themselves on the outs after McGinn ousted Nickels in 2009. “I think some of these people weren’t ready to leave. They liked running the city and they want to do it again,” says Wyble.

Counters Ceis, “I think these people are more motivated by their business interests. Wyble shouldn’t be personalizing the campaign this way.”

Ceis’ involvement in the campaign comes by way of the independent political committee People for Ed Murray, created earlier this month to raise funds (the senator is barred from raising money himself when the legislature is in session). The committee is chaired almost entirely by Nickels loyalists—many of whom, according to multiple sources, believe Murray has the best chance of any of the eight contenders to defeat McGinn and take city hall.

One of them is former Mayor Charley Royer, a longtime Nickels supporter who served, on least one occasion, as his campaign surrogate in 2009. Also expected to play a major role on the committee is Lisa MacLean, who worked in all three of Nickels’ mayoral campaigns.

Democratic political consultant Dean Nielsen, who created the independent campaign committee, pooh-poohs the extensive connections, citing the fact that he’s worked on a number of campaigns against Nickels. “I really find the assertion that this is some kind of Nickels thing is kind of bizarre. I just beat Nickels in the Secretary of State race with Kathleen Drew . . . I was with [Paul] Schell in 2001, and didn’t support anyone in the 2009 primary. I personally haven’t spoken to Greg in at least five years, maybe longer,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Politics is a business. People go where the work is.”

Indeed, several Nickels department heads who found themselves out of work when their boss was ousted have attached their fortunes to Murray. While they all initially supported Tim Burgess for mayor, Patricia McInturff, former Seattle Director of Human Services; Adrienne Quinn, former Seattle Director of Housing; and Ken Bounds, former Seattle Superintendent of Parks, have now endorsed Murray. All three lost their jobs when McGinn took over.

No love is lost between Murray and McGinn. Murray seriously considered mounting a write-in campaign after Nickels lost in 2009. Earlier this month, Murray told Seattle Weekly that if McGinn survives the August 6 primary—which he fully believes McGinn will—“I think this is going to be the ugliest campaign Seattle has ever seen.”

To which Wyble responded on his blog, “Ed, you would be better served to keep your sleazy attack dogs on a leash, get your campaign out of the gutter, and join the rest of us in a rigorous debate about the future of this city.

“We can all waste our time taking potshots at each other. But I think the voters would appreciate if Ed Murray told his consultants to pull their heads out of the gutter and focus on why Ed should be the next Mayor.” Ellis e. conklin

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