"McCaw, firefighters, builders, unions join together for Mallahan"

Bob Young (Politics Northwest-Seattle Times):

An interesting mix of donors -- firefighters, builders and Bruce McCaw -- has come together in a new independent expenditure committee to support Seattle mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan.

Called Working for Seattle, the group has collected $102,500, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission. The biggest contributor ($60,000) is the Seattle Firefighters Union Local 27.

The second biggest contributor is the Master Builders' Association of King and Snohomish Counties ($10,000 through its Affordable Housing Council PAC). Other donors -- in for $5,000 each -- include big GOP contributor Bruce McCaw of Bellevue, the carpenters' union; the state firefighters' union, the Washington Association of Realtors, and Builders United in Legislative Development.

You'd be hard-pressed to find another election committee that unites public employee unions, McCaw and builders' groups.

Kenny Stuart, Local 27 president, is spokesman for Working for Seattle. He said the group's sole purpose is to support Mallahan. Stuart said Seattle firefighters believe Mallahan is better than his opponent Mike McGinn on public safety issues and are trying to exert political leadership and are willing to partner with anyone in their pro-Mallahan effort.

"The bottom line is that a friend of Joe's is a friend of ours," Stuart said. "We asked anybody and everybody to contribute."

He said people and groups from all over the Puget Sound region have an interest in Seattle because of issues like the 520 bridge and Alaskan Way Viaduct.

The group has produced one mailer so far, Stuart said, and plans to spend all its money in the next eight days.