Outside of Seattle, many people viewed his victory over the recallers as standing up against “narrow vindictiveness on the part of some city employees who want a larger share of available city funds,” as a Spokane Spokesman-Review editorial put it. In the 1970s, popular anger threatened to topple Mayor Wes Uhlman — not once, but three times.Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman speaks with reporters at Pike Place Market during an event celebrating the 69th annniversary of the market. The tragedy filled Seattle’s streets and freeways with demonstrators, and some veterans groups viewed Uhlman's flag move as a symbolic and illegal way to “placate” demonstrators. Durkan isn’t the first: The history of Seattle mayoral recalls.
In 1972, Vickery retired from the Seattle Fire Department, but Uhlman immediately appointed him to lead City Light to shake the place up.
Recall petitioners said Uhlman had hired and refused to remove an incompetent Vickery, who was driving the utility into the ground through “managerial incompetence.” Vickery had gotten crosswise with the utility workers and their unions by using outside contract employees in apparent violation of the city charter and civil service rules.
1 and 4, Washington Constitution, Art. On that strength, he decided to run for governor in 1976. V, Sec. Uhlman survived the third recall, but he was not going to grow up to be governor, let alone president.Uhlman is now 85 and lives in the Queen Anne neighborhood. 3-5, when she failed to institute new polices and safety measures for the Seattle Police Department when using crowd control measures during a public health emergency.”The other six charges were dismissed as being insufficient for a recall election. The clock on that recall effort had run out.Voters attempted to recall Wes Uhlman three times. Of the 66 officials whose recalls made it to the ballot, 34 were recalled for a rate of 52%.
The Boeing recession — at the time, the worst downturn in the city since the Great Depression, with double-digit unemployment and massive layoffs — kicked off as Uhlman entered office. He won almost every county in the state, but he lost Pierce, Ray’s home county, and, due to some very hard feelings, ran third in King County, behind Ray and Marvin Durning. All Rights Reserved.By subscribing, you agree to receive occasional membership emails from Crosscut/Cascade Public Media.Why WA leaders aren't rushing to address state's budget shortfallEditor’s Notebook: How bonsai trees tell stories of Japanese incarceration, resilienceRecent protests revive push for WA to speed up police reformHere’s what pregnant orcas are up against in Puget SoundThe federal government abandoned us on coronavirus relief. Richards had tried to go around Uhlman to get budget support from the city council, infuriating the mayor.The post-recession city was hurting for revenue, and Uhlman was looking to cut expenses. “The basic issue,” Uhlman declared in early 1975, “is whether the city employees are going to run the city government for their own sake and their own interests — the bureaucracy for its own perpetuation — or whether elected officials and the public are going to be served by the city bureaucracy.” In other words, the recall was reframed as nothing but a power-grab by unelected public employees.
Contact us at editor@ballotpedia.org. It looked like the mayor was in a politically weak position, especially with his lackluster re-election numbers.But Uhlman — aided by political operators like his former deputy mayor, Bob Gogerty — went into full campaign mode and switched the messaging. During the dispute, Vickery’s home and car were vandalized.
Hundley, who came to Seattle for a church job, had a degree from the Yale Divinity School, but the criticisms ignored his relevant Model Cities work and his time as executive director of the While the white rank-and-file firefighters supported the recall, 35 Black firefighters in the local unit withdrew their support of the effort; other members of the Black community voiced support for the mayor as well.
The recall was organized by disgruntled employees at Seattle City Light who did not like Uhlman’s pick to head the utility, Vickery was an old bureaucratic warhorse, the longtime fire chief noted for his longevity, experience and success launching the innovative Medic One program.
With a first term marked by unrest and recession, Uhlman eked out a narrow reelection win in 1973, but his margin over his opponent, Seattle City Councilmember Liem Tuai, amounted to only 5,000 votes, a far cry from the more than 40,000-vote margin he secured to win his first term.The second recall effort came on the heels of Uhlman’s reelection. (Seattle Municipal Archives)Despite numerous threats over the years, Seattle has only twice recalled a mayor. A petition to that effect was submitted by a citizen, Richard Schultz, but it was rejected by the City Law Department because such a flag order was not “malfeasance or misfeasance.” Lowering the flag had not been illegal or a violation of Uhlman’s oath, so it did not meet the requirements justifying a recall.Still, the discontent of one citizen reflected greater unhappiness among people who believed that the city was not taking a harder line on anti-war and civil rights activists. He replaced him as fire chief with his own pick, Jack Richards. By Associated Press, Wire Service Content Feb. 8, 2020, at 10:10 a.m. Observers claimed he had a local image problem and was “too slick” an operator. He was a Black civil rights leader who had made a name for himself running a highly regarded Seattle Model Cities program. Seattle Magazine put the mayor on its cover and wondered whether he would “grow up to be president.” Rarely have such aspirations been publicly voiced for a Seattle mayor.He entered office during “a dramatic transitional period in Seattle’s history,” wrote Seattle Times political reporter Ross Anderson, in assessing Uhlman’s tenure. In their view, they were running a referendum on Uhlman.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is facing a recall effort over actions by the Seattle Police Department during protests following the death of George Floyd.