Look, if the Seattle Times Editorial Board wants to sycophantically cosplay as a PR firm for Mayor Bruce Harrell and call it “opinion,” that’s their kink. But when the future of the city is on the line, we should at least expect them to deal in facts.
Case in point: Sunday’s most recent Harrell fan-fiction. Written by Carlton Winfrey, who serves on the paper’s editorial board, the piece tries to make the case that Harrell is a man of the people, eager to listen to his constituents, no matter who they are or how deep their pockets are. He doesn’t pack debates with supporters, Winfrey writes, not because he’s unpopular, but because he wants to hear from his dissenters. He touts an ordinary campaign stop at Pike Place Market as a sign he’s engaging with the public. And he points to a video he made with TikToker Chappin Eze, conveniently leaving out that it was part of a series with both candidates.
And then there’s the section on race in the mayoral campaign. If you truly expected a nuanced excavation of how race, class, gender, and political ideology both collide and coexist in this race, well, I envy your meds. Instead, the piece treats race like a stage prop, dusted off just long enough to imply Katie Wilson’s campaign had gone full John McCain circa 2008 presidential election against Barack Obama, in darkening the skin of her mixed race opponent. And there, the Times dutifully reprints the mayor’s claims that a “mailer” from Common Power supporting Katie Wilson “darkened” the mayor’s skin, and the group’s director apologized. Cute story. Except, plot twist, none of that happened…