Kudos to Ed Murray

State Sen. Ed Murray deserves a pat on the back for refusing to run a write-in campaign for mayor of Seattle.

Since the primary results knocked current Mayor Greg Nickels out of the running for another term, local Democrats and the business community have been in a panic. Neither of the two candidates on the ballot for November—Joe Mallahan, a Comcast executive, and Mike McGuinn, an environmentalist who wants to stop construction of the downtown traffic tunnel—have any prior experience in political office. Neither of them owes any favors to party bosses or major donors (McGuinn’s donations come primarily from individuals who support his environmental views and Mallahan has funded his campaign mostly out of his own deep pockets). Hence the pressure from the party for Democrat Ed Murray to run a write-in campaign.

But today Murray declined to run, saying he wanted to focus his efforts on a far more important goal: making sure the backers of Referendum 71 wouldn’t sink a new law that extends equal rights to gay couples in Washington State. He deserves a big “thank you” from all of Seattle’s citizens.

Today I listened to Murray say point-blank, on KUOW, that his energy would be better spent on the Ref. 71 struggle. Any self-serving politician might have argued the opposite: that he would be more effective in influencing the course of gay rights by becoming Seattle’s first openly gay mayor. But Murray showed a selfless restraint and respect for reality that is missing in so many politicians these days.

Thanks, Ed. And you’ll have my vote this November… to support gay rights in Washington State.