Mallahan Victim of Vulcan Mind-Meld?

You haven't read much here about Joe Mallahan, Seattle's other mayoral candidate, and that's because Mallahan has seemingly adopted a "loose lips sink ships" policy to this point. While Mallahan never misses a chance to tout his "progressive values," his demeanor is archetypically conservative. He projects himself as an authority, and bridles at being asked to go into detail. If he says he'll do it, he'll do it.

But the Seattle Times reports that Mallahan is now searching for ways to fund the $191 million dollar Mercer Street redevelopment, after coming out strongly against the project in the primary. The Times quotes Mallahan as saying earlier that the project was "stealing" from Seattle's neighborhoods.

The new Mallahan says things like: "I think the Mercer Street project is a very good neighborhood development project and it will do great things for South Lake Union. If it were properly financed, I would be in favor of it."

Vulcan, South Lake Union's 800-lb. gorilla, would very much like Mallahan to reconsider his opposition, and suggested as much by paying for anti-Mallahan phone calls during the primary.

Today, the Times also says, Mallahan will announce his Coalition of the Willing, a team of a dozen or so advisers, including the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce's Tayloe Washburn. Washburn has no love but Mallahan in the mayoral race, given Mike McGinn's opposition to the deep-bore tunnel, which Washburn believes is the answer to Seattle's Viaduct conundrum.

The shift in his Mercer stance makes Mallahan the fiscal conservative who is advocating spending a $191 million on Mercer and $4.2 billion on a deep-bore tunnel (with Seattle responsible for cost overruns)--and is critical of "the cost of building light rail to the rest of the city's high-density neighborhoods."

You can't say the mayoral race doesn't offer you a choice.