Only on SLOG: "McGinn Appoints Transition Staff"--"nightmarish socialist fantasyland" imminent?

Dominic Holden (SLOG):

Mayor-elect Mike McGinn has announced that Liz Birkholz, a landscape architect and open-space advocate, will serve as his transition program manager. Darryl Smith, a Windermere Realtor and former city council candidate, and Kip Tokuda, head of the human service's family and youth division and a former 37th District Representative, will serve as the mayor's "transition facilitators" to oversee outreach strategy (I reported on that strategy yesterday).

Meanwhile, McGinn has tapped David Postman, the former chief political reporter for the Seattle Times and current spokesman for Vulcan, to serve as an advisor to the transition team. "I am helping out a little bit trying to give some advice where I can to streamline their operation," he says.

Postman wouldn't comment on rumors floating around town about other candidates for the transition staff or jobs at City Hall. "The mayor-elect is not going to be announcing his staff that way," he says. McGinn also won't announce his staff like other campaigns have. In the past, mayoral transition staff have held a circuses in front of the media, trotting out local political leaders and a bloated committee for a photo op, and then released a blizzard of press releases. "Mike’s not going to do that. He didn't run that kind of campaign, and he is not going to run that kind of transition," says Postman.

Obviously, Team McGinn has been inundated with calls and emails in the last few days. They ask that queries and requests be routed to the following folks:

To submit your resume for consideration in the new administration, contact April Thomas.

To request a piece of McGinn's schedule, email Jen Nance. (Good luck.)

To ask a general question about the transition, get your email in front of April Thomas.

Howie P.S.: With tongue protruding from his (?) cheek, A. Birch Steen writes (in The Stranger!) about the possible demise of the Seattle Times (while eating breakfast with Ryan Blethen!) and "a sobering, saddening new era" where other media outlets (like The Stranger?) dominate. He warns of the possibility of a "nightmarish socialist fantasyland we will soon be residing in." Check the post for details. From your lips to God's ears, A. Birch!