Feisty Seattle mayor gets it done his way

In his inaugural year as mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels has made one thing abundantly clear: He's the boss.

Not that a mayor should have to prove that, but for Nickels, the defining story of what he hopes will be the first of eight — heck, make it 12 — years as mayor has been a historic consolidation of power at City Hall and the shedding of his nice-guy image.

Nickels pushed out popular department directors and installed loyalists. He ordered city bureaucrats to route all policy — and credit — to the mayor's office. He picked fights with the City Council, and for the most part, he has gotten his way.

In his 12th-floor office at City Hall recently, Nickels listened to a Randy Travis Christmas album and spoke with pride about his first year, saying he has set the stage for city government to fulfill his considerable list of campaign promises.

Nickels said people who are shocked by his style — which has emerged as more autocratic than collaborative — better get used to it.

"I think that as mayor you need to make a decision and then move on. That's a new style at City Hall," he said.

But the mayor's tactics have upset critics, who said he seems more interested in petty political gain than good public policy. Some observers said they're waiting to see whether Nickels has a vision to go with his big political stick.

"He's established his territory and his style. Now, he needs to find second gear," said David Brewster, a longtime political observer and executive director of the Town Hall cultural center.

Budget taming and the note

From the beginning, Nickels signaled he intends to do plenty with his newfound authority. He got off to a fast start with a 100-day agenda that focused on speedy pothole repairs and other small improvements to city services.

This year, Nickels is likely to continue pushing for transportation fixes and to propose a major ballot measure to pay for new fire stations.

So far, Nickels has avoided the sort of major public-safety gaffes that doomed his predecessor, Paul Schell.

He spent six days walking around Pioneer Square during Mardi Gras, sending the message that rioting would not be tolerated. The event went off without major problems, a contrast to the previous year's rioting that resulted in one death.

Nickels also stood by Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske through a police-union vote of no-confidence and launched a reorganization of the Police Department, which included eliminating downtown specialty squads such as the gang unit and deploying more officers to neighborhood precincts.

The mayor lived up to campaign pledges to aggressively promote Sound Transit's light rail and a new monorail.

But he admitted he fell short on his specific promise to break ground on light rail within his first six months as mayor. Sound Transit is waiting for a $500 million federal grant to proceed with its 14-mile rail project.

Nickels used his veto pen once, rejecting legislation that would have allowed developer Richard Hedreen to cash in otherwise worthless city-construction credits.

The veto was blasted as anti-business by critics but hailed by labor leaders who had lobbied against the legislation.

Much of Nickels' inaugural year was spent wrestling with a $60 million budget gap.

The mayor generally won plaudits for attempting to bring down city spending to a sustainable level and for trying to cut administrative expenses. Some of his cost-cutting ideas, such as the elimination of the city's technology department, were doused by the City Council.

In the end, the city's $639 million budget this year wound up representing the smallest year-over-year increase in decades and will lead to cuts in city services, including two-week library closures and reductions in the fire and police departments.

The budget deliberations also provided an oddly appropriate capstone to Nickels' first year in the form of an infamous, threatening note delivered to a city councilman.

In early November, the council voted to cut Nickels' proposed personal office budget. (He had proposed giving his office a $645,000 increase to restore cuts made last year.)

The mayor's deputies responded by delivering a handwritten note to City Councilman Jim Compton. The note threatened to yank funding for a Green Lake fire engine in retaliation for the cut to the mayor's budget.

The threat worked. Compton reversed his vote. But the contents of the note were made public.

The incident was emblematic, displaying Nickels' ability to get his way and the sort of hardball political tactics critics say are typical of his administration.

False advertising?

City Council members have groused all year about Nickels' power grab, which has come largely at their expense.

"I think his mayoral campaign was false advertising. He is not the person the people thought they were electing," said City Councilwoman Jan Drago.

She said Nickels steals ideas and credit for city projects and has prevented city staff members from cooperating with the council.

For example, early last year Nickels stopped the police and fire departments from meeting with council members to develop an emergency-preparedness strategy. The mayor's office said it would be developing its own plan, but so far it has not been forthcoming, Drago said.

City Council President Peter Steinbrueck gave Nickels some credit.

"He's energetic and ambitious. I think he's accomplished a lot in a year," said Steinbrueck, who meets with the mayor weekly and said he gets along fine with him on the personal level.

But Nickels has not lived up to his campaign promise to work collaboratively with council members, Steinbrueck said.

"It's all about politics, patronage and loyalty to the mayor," he said of Nickels' governing style.

Indeed, Nickels' campaign slogan — "the Seattle Way" — has become something of a running joke in political circles. While the mayor spoke during the 2001 campaign of collaboration and "bringing people together," critics said he has not done that.

"He doesn't want to listen to people. He seems to want to surround himself with people who just agree," said Pat Champion, vice chairwoman of the Seattle Human Rights Commission, a volunteer group that advises the city on civil-rights issues. (Nickels tried to disband the commission in his budget proposal.)

Many of the people riled by Nickels are the liberal activists who believed he would be a softer alternative to City Attorney Mark Sidran, who ran as Seattle's version of New York's tough-on-crime mayor, Rudy Giuliani.

Sidran, who has been relaxing at home in the year since his defeat, chuckled at the uproar Nickels has created.

"I think the people who are the most shocked are my political opponents, those who thought ill of me," Sidran said.

Cultivating business

As he has angered some of Seattle's liberal activists, Nickels has sought to position himself as a friend of downtown business, promoting economic development and aggressively supporting the University of Washington's expansion plans — issues pushed by the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

Nickels' political committee has continued to raise money for a 2005 re-election bid. (Nickels has talked openly of being mayor for two or three terms.)

Many of his early contributions came from developers and business leaders who did not support him last year.

Through November, Nickels had raised more than $54,000.

For all the controversy his first year has evoked, Nickels said his re-establishment of the mayor's authority has city government operating with more purpose than it has in a while. In the end, he said, the public will benefit.

"I think things are working well. Instead of people bickering over whose fault it is, people are complaining about who's getting the credit, and that's a whole lot more positive than where the city was a year ago," Nickels said.

Seattle Times staff reporter Bob Young contributed to this report. Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com.