SEATTLE SKETCHES - MR. SIMS GOES TO WASHINGTON

Seattle Skyline - photo by MS(R)M

Howdy, rowdies, from sunny Seattle. Nice to be able to say that after all this snow and ice we’ve had this winter. Hope the good weather lasts but Rainier Ralph, the beaver, (we don’t have groundhogs) saw his shadow Monday, so it looks like another six weeks of rain. Unless we get another earthquake like we had last week. Or the Lady Volcano decides to throw a hissy fit. I’ve been polling the locals and either is preferable to more wet stuff falling from the sky.

Which means we’ll probably get 42 straight days of liquid sunshine. Seattle’s like that. It’s built on seven hills in the shadow of a rain forest and enjoys about eight microclimates. The Emerald City has multiple personality disorder and that’s not surprising considering downtown had to be rebuilt on higher ground after the tides kept making the toilets back up. In winter, it’s a great place to live if you’re a duck. Or related to one. Some of us have been here so long, we’ve got webs between our fingers and toes. (Putting my hands in my pockets)

We’re also the fashion capital of the Pacific Northwest, which is to say that after grunge, we sort of slid further into the Land of Laid Back. So many of us are descended from Klondike claim jumpers that we don’t wear ties because it’s too convenient to hang us with them. We prefer Birkenstocks to boots, even in winter, because sandals and wool socks are easier to dry out than Gucci leather and somewhat kinder on the cow. As a general rule, we’re almost as polite as Canadians except when something happens far away that gives us an excuse to yell a lot in support of lofty causes. Once we get it out of our system, we retire to a neighborhood pub to quench our thirst with a politically correct microbrew.

It’s also a good place to be a woman or a minority in politics. Our governor, Christine Gregoire, is the second of her gender to hold that office in 40 years. Our two U.S. Senators are Maria Cantwell and Patti Murray. We’ve got a green mayor, Greg Nickels, who banned bottled water from city offices after piling up a month’s worth of empty plastic bottles on the steps of City Hall to make his point. Ron Sims, a black man, has been our county executive since 1996, when he took over from Gary Locke, who became our first Japanese American governor. Ron’s been appointed deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and will be in charge of HUD's day-to-day operations, a nearly $39 billion annual operating budget and 8,500 employees. He’s squeaky clean so his confirmation by the Senate is not expected to be a problem.

And he’s not likely to be the minor embarrassment Heath and Human Services Secretary nominee Tom Daschle has been over that $120,000 in taxes he said he forgot to pay. I just hope he keeps better track of our money than he did his own. It does bother me a little, though, that this is the second Obama appointee with a bad memory. But I guess if the guy who’s now running the IRS after disclosure of his tax-paying problems can get confirmed, we shouldn’t be too surprised if the individual responsible for the national health policies of America slides into the cabinet as well. I guess that’s why a surgeon never works alone in an operating room. I do wonder how many times we’re going to hear "oops" again though. After eight years of the Great Decider, I don’t imagine the national constituency is going to be quite as patient as they’ve been in times past.

I know I’m not. So good luck, Ron. Don’t let ‘em rub off on you.