The other day, I was looking through some old columns, and I found this one. It features an interview I did with a guy who wanted to be mayor of Seattle about nine years ago.

He went on to become mayor, something that he did either incredibly well or very frustratingly, depending on who you are talking to.

Those who love the guy say he made great strides for our city nationally, knew the issues cold, and pushed through long over-due changes in areas that include global warming and transportation planning.

Those who are disappointed with him say he was arrogant and ran City Hall with a heavy hand.

Heck, maybe that's why we now have a Seattle mayor that no one knows, bringing along with him a staff of new faces and fresh ideas. Whether you like it or hate it, change is in store.

As for me, I am sentimental. Seems like yesterday I interviewed the guy in his King County Council office. I personally am going to miss having him around.

So I wanted to share with you, eight years later, the perspective of a parenting columnist who interviewed prospective Mayor Greg Nickels.

Good luck, your honor. I hope you didn't forget the wonder of it all.

I remember how excited I was when I went to work in the nation's Capitol.

I was a 25-year-old radio reporter from Seattle, off on a big adventure to a brand new world as a press secretary on Capitol Hill. It was a historic three-year journey; full of exciting sights and sounds, tours of civil war battlefields, and foods I had never tasted before.

It was history in the making, answering phones when Clarence Thomas battled Anita Hill. Watching rallies next to the Capitol when blood was shed in Tiananmen Square, and when the Berlin Wall fell.

It was a journey into the heart of politics, and it was where I met the man I would marry. I still think of it fondly, and with great sentimentality.

I remember riding in a taxi at night with the Congressman I worked for, and feeling awe-struck by the lit Capitol dome in the dark sky. I was a little embarrassed about how much it moved me.

And I'll never forget that he told me that was as it should be, and that the day you weren't moved by that sight was the day you should leave Washington.

I wonder if people in Washington feel that way anymore.

Now we live in an age of Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky, of knowing too much about our leaders, and of watching the spectacle of two presidential candidates fight tooth and nail for the highest office in the land.

And our kids are affected by that. And, we live in an age where kids want money fast, and want to retire with stock options at 30.
In an age such as this, how do we teach our children the value of government, and of public service? How do we show them public service is something to strive for, and something that should inspire us -- as it did me 10 years ago?

"We need to teach our kids that if they get involved in politics, they can ultimately change the world," said King County Councilman Greg Nickels.

Nickels has been involved in local politics most of his life. He began at 16, interning for U.S. Sen. Warren Magnuson. He says he remembers running the elevator in Capitol Hill as everyone was voting on the resignation of President Nixon. It was a historic time, and he was hooked.

Nickels says he has found that the place he can most make a difference is in local politics, which he got involved with at the age of 19.

He believes it's never too early to start teaching your kids about the value of local government, and about how they can get involved.

Nickels says he and his wife always involved their two kids in local government processes -- helping with their dad's campaign, going to the voting booth with their parents -- but never pushed them.

He says there is a great program at the West Seattle YMCA (the Youth in Government program) that kids can get involved with. Or, parents can encourage their kids to do public service through volunteering, helping the less fortunate, tutoring and more.

"I tried to give my kids the basic values, but give them room to decide what they wanted," he said. "They can use those values as a tool. You need to let them grow, and sometimes that is uncomfortable. They need to know that, whatever they choose, they can make a difference in their own neighborhood. And local change leads to regional change, which leads to national change," he said.

Nickels said it is difficult in this cynical age for people to not give up on Washington, D.C. He said he feels there is a disconnect between what the people want and what Washington, D.C. delivers.

"We need to start reconnecting with people," he said. "We can start right here. We can insist our government reflects our values. And kids will be our leaders someday, so they need to be involved in those discussions," he said.

He said last year he and his wife talked to their kids -- both in their late teens -- a lot about the WTO protests and what issues were important to the protesters. He said they also answered their kids' questions about Ralph Nader's recent run for the Presidency, and about the charges that he took the election from Al Gore.

"You have to vote your conscience," he said. "When I was 16, I decided to back Shirley Chisholm, who really didn't have a chance. But I expressed what I believed. I wasn't just looking at the practical ramifications. There's lots of time in a kid's life to be practical later on," he said.

Lauri Hennessey has written this column for a decade. You can reach her at lauri@hennesseypr.com.