Jan Drago is running for Mayor of Seattle.

See her:

• official campaign website
• Facebook
• Twitter
• campaign-finance disclosure reports with the Seattle Ethics & Elections Commission

   

Table of Contents

• Discussion forum on the candidates for Mayor of Seattle
• Video of Mayoral Candidate Forum on July 13
• Analysis by Friends of Seattle
• Jan Drago's Interview Videos and Questionnaire Responses (NONE)

Analysis

Jan Drago has served on the City Council for nearly 16 years and is deeply knowledgeable about the issues. Most recently she served as Transportation Chair, and in that role she helped design the Bridging the Gap tax package to improve Seattle’s transportation infrastructure, and she also pushed the Seattle Department of Transportation to start developing plans to expand the streetcar network into neighborhoods beyond South Lake Union.

Yet in this election year, we are not convinced that she has different enough skills or policy positions from a successful incumbent to justify dislodging him. Councilmember Drago is more responsible than anyone for the $4.2 billion plan to replace the Viaduct with a tunnel---an extravagant capital project that will hang from Seattle taxpayers like a noose for decades, while Seattle struggles to find the money for clean, green transportation. Of course, Councilmember Drago blames Mayor Nickels for many failures. But we’re skeptical that she would have fared much better with the Legislature.

Also, we are looking for more leadership and political courage than what Councilmember Drago appears ready to provide. For instance, at our July candidate forum, Councilmember Drago responded to an audience member's quesiton by saying, "as a voice of experience, I can tell you it's darn hard to do anything in single family neighborhoods, so if you think we're going to stick density in single family neighborhoods it's probably not in our lifetime." That is the sort of defeatism that is holding Seattle back. Many light-rail and bus-rapid-transit stops are surrounded by single-family zones. To maximize our infrastructure investments and grow responsibly, we should be zoning for transit-oriented development, not throwing up our hands and giving up when the going gets tough.

On the other hand, Councilmember Drago understands many of the challenges we face as a city, and she has some good ideas (at our candidate forum, she spoke about the need for corridor tolling as we shift away from the gas tax). She can also point to a solid record from her 16-year political career.

While her experience on Seattle City Council makes it more likely that she would have a smooth transition to the mayor office, she would not bring change to City Hall. We do not recommend voting for Councilmember Drago.

Interview and Questionnaire

Jan Drago initially told us that she would be participating in the Friends of Seattle endorsements process, but she later withdrew without submitting a questionnaire response or scheduling an interview. She did, however, participate in our mayoral candidate forum, and you can see the video here.