Mayoral candidate vows to pick up a shovel and clear a path to a better Seattle

[Mallahan for Mayor]

Joe Mallahan, Wallingford resident and T-Mobile executive, declared his candidacy for Seattle Mayor today. Citing his business track record of solving complex problems, Mallahan vowed to restore trust, confidence, and accountability to Seattle City Government.

“We need a climate change in city government,” Mallahan stated. “Our current city government is broken, it isn’t delivering basic services and the Mayor is out of touch.”

Mallahan wants to regain the trust of citizens by efficiently delivering the basic services that are relevant to taxpayers and Seattle businesses struggling in this tough economy. “I have a track record of being a guy who rolls up his sleeves and works hand in hand with people to solve big problems,” said Mallahan.

“I am known to T-Mobile employees as someone who always takes care of the customer,” said Mallahan. When Hurricane Gustav was threatening to hit southeast Texas last fall, Mallahan worked over Labor Day weekend with a dedicated team of technologists to activate free calling for hundreds of thousands of customers who were evacuating and otherwise might not have been able to use their phones. “When Greg Nickels was faced with a snowstorm disaster a few months later it seems he just stayed home and threw another log on the fire,” said Mallahan.

Mallahan acknowledged his outsider status, “Listen, I haven’t been a politician since I was a teenager nor have I been fundraising for the past eight years. But I assure you by the May 10th financial reporting deadline, I will be on par with the incumbent’s war chest through grassroots fundraising, new social media and my own personal contribution to the campaign. The Mayor will no longer be able to hide behind his war chest or his political machine. Mayor Nickels will now have to defend his disappointing eight-year record. He’s been able to scare off viable, legitimate candidates to date, but no longer.”

Mallahan comes from a large Irish Catholic family. One of nine children, he was born and raised in South Everett. He crabbed and fished with his father, a paper mill worker, in the Puget Sound as a child and takes his own children crabbing and shrimping right in Elliot Bay. As a teenager, Mallahan was a student editorialist for KIRO-TV, where he supported the bargaining rights of striking teachers in the fall of 1980.

Mallahan has a Masters degree in International Studies from the Jackson School at the University of Washington and an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago. He and his wife, Carolyn, moved to the Wallingford neighborhood nine years ago, where they live in a 100 year old house with their two teenagers.

[Jason J Denis]

I'm excited to hear of your candidacy Joe and even more excited to learn more about your stances on the issues as your campaign evolves. As a resident of Seattle/King Co. for 10 years now, I've been repeatedly disappointed by the actions, or should I say inaction, of our local government. Seattle has a very diverse, creative, and intellectually-gifted population. The City's choices has not reflected those same attributes. The residents of Seattle deserve more. Our community is capable of so much more and I hope Joe can help us realize our potential. I hope Joe can apply his corporate/business savvy and inpatience for problem-solving in leading our City to a better future. I hope.

[Robert Mallahan]

I have been in Seattle for 21 years and am looking for change. Currently, the major is building a tunnel with only two lanes each way, no room for light rail or room to remove a "disabled" car. Plus, this silly tunnel has no exits to downtown and is not a step for the future growth. This tunnel smells of rich cat payoffs to major Nickles campaign contributors. It serves no other function, then to provide views for old buildings, that the Major's friend's own. Check it out and you will find a bunch of corporations owe to another bunch of corporations that own the old buildings next to the Viaduct. It stinks in my opinion. I am in a van pool which uses the Viaduct to get people to work on time. When we use to drive the surface streets, the people were getting to work 15 minutes late in the morning and their bosses were complaining. We quit taking people to drop off near Safeco. We went from 8 people to 6 people and that cost us all more money. What happened to getting people out of their cars? We need mass transit in a big way. A tunnel with no light rail, how stupid. I challenge you to have the Viaduct shut down one lane each way for a week and see what a nightmare it will cause. It is six lanes and the silly tunnel is only four lanes. Plus, King County is saddled with the cost over runs. Look at Boston's Big Dig and their more than doubled cost over runs. When reinforcing the old Viaduct came up, Major Nickles hired the same firm that rejected it the first time. Guess what, they rejected it a second time. Fat Cat payoff. Everyone knows that you should hire a second firm. But like a dog on a bone, the mayor though he was above common opinion. I am a structural engineer who lived in Anchorage, which has many earthquakes. Gee, major Nickles reinforce the existing and do it now. That's what they do in Anchorage. If this Viaduct is as unsafe as you say it is, then you a ignoring your duty as major. Plus, we won't have to fill up another landfill with more debris. Major Nickles you are not very sustainable. Go for it Joe. You have my vote.

[Pam Shekell]

Would love to see you win Joe! Finally we would have someone not only smart enough but with the right attitude.