After months of strong opposition to the deep-bored tunnel option as a replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, mayoral candidate Mike McGinn has shifted his position. He announced in a statement Monday that if elected, he would go along with Seattle City Council’s 9-0 decision to fund the tunnel project.
“It is not the mayor’s job to withhold the cooperation of city government in executing this agreement,” McGinn said in an interview with Publicola, pledging to maintain a skeptic viewpoint and fight a clause that places the burden for cost overruns on the City of Seattle.
With McGinn down in the most recently published poll to opponent Joe Mallahan just weeks from election time, some analysts believe the move is an effort to broaden his support base. Tunnel opposition helped drive McGinn’s grassroots support in the crowded primary field, but is widely seen as a barrier to broad support in the two-man general election.
Mallahan has released a statement stating that McGinn’s decision was purely political:
“My opponent has shown he is willing to say whatever voters want to hear. His flip-flopping clearly demonstrates that voters have a choice between a political opportunist or a principled leader and effective manager, like myself, to lead this city and our economy forward.”
But McGinn claims that the announcement is not a shift in his personal stance, just a necessary outcome of the city’s legislative process.
“Yesterday, I acknowledged that it’s not the mayor’s job to ignore legislation passed by the council,” McGinn said in an interview with Publicola.
The real impact of McGinn’s decision may be more practical than electoral: tunnel opponents have lost their highest profile and (potentially) most influential spokesperson. The council’s funding decision and McGinn’s newly qualified stance could be permanently damaging blows to those seeking a surface option to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
