The Mayor's Selective Hatchet
A critical look at Mayor Ronald’s inconsistent logic in his attempt to fire board members over the city's tunnel sewer project.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Mayor Ronald displayed some peculiar methods of reasoning in his recent assault upon the board of public works. When he filed charges against Messrs. Heilbron and Rinehart, the Republican members, he declared he could not file charges against Jesse Cochran, the Democratic member, because the official record presented no vulnerable point. However, in his official findings against Mr. Heilbron, the Mayor emphasized the failure and high costs of the sewer tunnel project from Lake Union to Elliott Bay—a project overseen by the entire board. During this entire time, Mr. Cochran was the chairman of the board and bore the greatest share of responsibility. If the Mayor’s assessment of the tunnel’s engineering failures and the loss of life is correct, then Commissioner Cochran is either incompetent or negligent. Yet, Mayor Ronald could find nothing to allege against Mr. Cochran, leading one to conclude that the Mayor is developing many of the characteristics of a humbug.
“If the mayor is right Cochran is wrong, and no amount of sophistry can get around that stubborn fact.”
Political maneuvering around public works projects in Seattle—especially those involving ballooning costs and engineering challenges—remains a staple of local civic discourse. The Mayor's tactical use of 'accountability' to purge the Board of Public Works highlights a long-standing tension between municipal administration and political loyalty.
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