How to Lose an Uncontested Election - Page 4
"Anonymous poster: Mayor Law is nothing more than a thug and a bully. He uses his insider status as a "newspaper man" to manipulate the local press into printing puff piece after puff piece and when an upstart like Renton Patch was actually covering this story he called them aside and let them know that their access to city hall was contingent on them getting things "right" (meaning they must be consistent with hizzonner's take on the story)."
"Anonymous poster: Mayor Law is running unopposed... because he has the local media as the press office for his campaign. His supporters will cut off advertising dollars to the Patch and they have made that known. He is on the payroll of the Renton Reporter."According to Renton Reporter Publisher Ellen Morrison, Mayor Law is not on the payroll and has no ownership interest in the paper. Ms. Morrison stated that while Mr. Law founded the paper, he sold it "seven or eight years ago." While that may be true, the Renton Reporter never seems to criticize or challenge Mr. Law. From the same article:
"For sure, the man has no ego, something that’s rare for politicians. He readily admits he doesn’t like the pomp and circumstance of the Mayor’s Office, something that feeds the ego of other politicians.
'I am not that way,' he said.
Occasionally, however, he needs a little coaxing.
'Sometimes, we have to literally push him out the door,' said Jay Covington, the city’s chief administrative officer, who for nearly 20 years has worked for four mayors, starting with Earl Clymer."
The Reporter presents a portrait of a humble and reticent man hiding in his office. Dozens of anonymous posters, however, describe Mayor Law having his personal vehicle outfitted with over $40,000 in lights, sirens, tactical and fire service gear on the taxpayers' dime.
Many posters state that the Renton Fire Department has someone assigned at each station on each shift to intercept Mayor Law and prevent him from assuming incident command — a role for which he is in no way qualified. This following an incident at a five-alarm fire where Mr. Law reportedly drove up in his personal vehicle using lights and sirens, dressed as a firefighter, and created havoc for trained emergency personnel.
If true, this is a highly unusual arrangement, and Mayor Law reportedly went to great lengths to make it happen. A document request on this subject is pending.
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