Dear Editor,

Joni Balter’s chagrin-laced treatise about what a sad day it is that certain “A-List” candidates didn’t run for mayor, and how the present field of candidates for mayor are so much mediocre election fodder is offensive and it is disrespectful to not just the present candidates for mayor, but also to candidates of all persuasion that do run for office.

This idea that there are these supposedly A-List people that were “candidates," that we should all mourn the fact that they didn’t run, and that they represented the best chance for our city is a bunch of baloney - for the mere fact that if they were so “A-List” they would have run.

Instead of running for office they hung back in the weeds, posturing for weeks and months on end, flirting and feigning concern and acting like they were so conflicted about running, while all the while I think enjoying the attention that their false reluctance to run for mayor was netting them. They so studiously drug their heels when asked about their intentions, acted out this big drama, that they had this important decision weighing on their minds and that it was requiring substantial soul searching for them to come to an answer.

However, in the end they chose not to run, not for their stated reasons, that they couldn’t win or that they wanted to pay attention to prior obligations, no, more likely they chose not to run because they did not believe enough in their own potential to contribute at this level to the city, because they lacked the conviction of their own beliefs and visions for Seattle, and because they lacked the intestinal fortitude to match wits and personality with Nickels and anyone else who might challenge them on the campaign trail.

It is easy to play the “what might have been” card and to retain this image of rectitude born out of untested and unchallenged posturing, but what is harder is to follow one’s beliefs, to invest and participate in the public marketplace of ideas and personality, to go out and risk being found wanting, or even found ready, willing, and able. Eight candidates for mayor have done that, and they should be more applauded and given wholesale credit for their contributions to the future of Seattle, then any of the fake “we were destined for greatness” A-Listers that Balter is hawking for.

Eight of us, myself included, believed enough in our potential to contribute to Seattle, believed enough in our abilities, had the courage of our convictions to stand for office. We put ourselves out into the public realm where we have had to stand up to the oftentimes harsh scrutiny that candidates are subjected to. We have been grilled, questioned, showcased, lampooned, harpooned, and in all respects tested as to our worthiness.

Only one will emerge from this foray, but each and every one of us will have made our contribution to Seattle’s future; in the next mayor our ideas and visions will live on in some way, small or large, and Seattle and Seattle-ites will be all the much better off for our contributions. That is more than Balter’s “it’s all about me” A-listers can say.

Rather than promoting this false legacy about the candidates that might have been, celebrate the reality, the legacy and contributions that we mayoral candidates are leaving to Seattle.

Elizabeth Campbell
Seattle