"Dwight Pelz endorses Joe Mallahan for Mayor of Seattle"

Mallahan for Mayor:

The Mallahan for Mayor Campaign is honored to announce the endorsement of Dwight Pelz, the former Democratic State Senator and King County Councilmember from South Seattle, and current Chair of the State Democratic Party. Pelz emphasized Mallahan's progressive Democratic values, his commitment to rebuilding Seattle's economy, and his get-things-done leadership style as reasons for his support.

"Joe Mallahan will be a great mayor of Seattle," Pelz said. "He has the experience and understanding of economic issues that our city needs now. Joe will make sure that we find sensible transportation solutions, invest in public safety, provide better services for seniors, and create more living-wage jobs."

"Joe is an idealist without illusions--he's a former Obama delegate and community organizer who benefits from two decades in the private sector creating jobs and finding creative solutions to complex problems, Pelz said. "Joe has vision and is a pragmatic leader driven by a social conscience. It's a rare leadership blend and one of the many reasons that I enthusiastically support Joe's election."

Pelz continued, "I've been disappointed time and again by Joe’s opponent, Mike McGinn. He’s a one-issue candidate, now a no issue candidate, who clearly doesn’t get our biggest issue ---Seattle’s flagging economy and loss of good, family wage jobs. I am confident that as Mayor Joe will take steps to put Seattle’s economy on the road to recovery."

Pelz's support comes on the heels of last week's endorsement by Governor Chris Gregoire. Mallahan is the only candidate to receive an "Outstanding" rating by the Municipal League. He's been endorsed by the King County Democrats, the King County Labor Council, Seattle Police and Firefighters, the Alki Foundation and Joe is the only candidate in this race to get five A’s, the highest possible rating, from SEAMEC.

"I'm delighted by Dwight's endorsement," Mallahan said. "We're both social justice Democrats and we both want to work together to ensure that all the citizens of Seattle, especially those on the margins, have an advocate in the mayor's office. I'm looking forward to working with Dwight and other progressive community leaders to move forward on building a better future for Seattle."

Pelz, a former community organizer, represented the 37th legislative district in the state senate for six years and served on the King County Council from 1997-2005, representing south Seattle. Pelz has been Chair of the State Democratic Party since January 2006.

Howie P.S.: Dominic Holden (SLOG), sounding a little desperate to discredit Pelz and to lower the net worth of his endorsement, has penned "Dwight Pelz: A Conservative Democrat." I'm confident that this is the first time Pelz has been tagged with that particular label. Even though I make no pretense of "objectivity" (whatever the hell that is) let the record reflect I was employed for a time by the organization Dwight helped to start (he was its first Executive Director), Washington Fair Share. This occurred some time ago, in the last part of the last century.