1. Mayor Wilson’s communications office, which has seen a number of shakeups recently (including the recent firing of digital communications manager Amy Piñon and a series of temporary press secretaries), now has a permanent communications director for the first time since Wilson fired her original communications director, Seferiana Day, in June.
Wilson has also hired a new public safety advisor, South Seattle Emerald founder Marcus Harrison Green; Green will report to public safety director Alison Holcomb. (Green says he’s leaving journalism behind to take the gig.) And she has a new city council liaison, Amanda Pleasant-Brown, who was most recently the government relations supervisor for King County Metro.
The council relations position could be more crucial than the mundane title suggests. Wilson has struggled to build relationships with the legislative branch after a rocky start; as we’ve reported, the council felt sidelined and insulted when Wilson’s team failed to consult them on crucial shelter legislation and then tried to order them to pull the bills when they weren’t exactly what the mayor’s office wanted. The previous council liaison has been on extended medical leave since June.
Tara Lee, Wilson’s new communications director, most recently worked for Washington’s health insurance exchange and was previously the comms director for former Gov. Jay Inslee. Prior to that, she was the director of communications and outreach for the Washington Budget and Policy Center, the influential lefty economic think tank.
Wilson is also expected to announce a new press secretary soon. That person hasn’t signed a contract yet, so we’re not including their name here. We are nice, okay?
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2. Crystal Nicole Fincher, whose $58,000 strategic communications contract with the Wilson Administration wraps up this month, isn’t the only outside consultant Wilson has hired in recent months. And while the contracts themselves are all relatively small (especially compared to, say, the six-figure contract former mayor Harrell handed Tim Ceis to lobby Sound Transit before a crucial vote), their details reveal where the mayor and her team perceive gaps that her (until recently, fairly itinerant) staff can’t fill.
Robert Cruickshank, the Mariners-capped Instagram commentator and former Mike McGinn communications staffer, will receive $10,000 to write the mayor’s upcoming budget speech. along with “significant policy speeches on priority topics as assigned by the Communications Director,” according to his contract.
Another former mayoral staffer (for Greg Nickels), Marianne Bichsel, has a one-month contract “to provide strategic communications advice to City leadership and staff on emerging and sensitive issues.” The contract, for an initial $15,000 with a possible extension for $5,000 more, was signed on August 19 and was reportedly for crisis communications related to the fallout after the Bite of Seattle shooting. We’ve reached out to Bichsel and will update this post if we get any additional information.
As we’ve reported, local media and centrist political leaders have hammered at Wilson over her response to the shooting and decision to fire former police chief Shon Barnes, blaming her for decisions SPD made to withhold information from the public for hours after the shooting was over.
Oliver Miska, a political consultant and former campaign manager for 37th District state House candidate Jaelynn Scott, has reportedly also been hired to do social media work for the mayor’s office, although his firm does not appear to have an official contract yet.
The Management Action Center, a lefty leadership coaching firm based in Washington, D.C., has a $7,000 contract to “support a member(s) of the Mayor’s Office team in navigating leadership challenges, strengthening management skills, and developing practical strategies for real-time workplace situations” through biweekly coaching sessions.
The mayor’s office did not respond to our questions about her consultant roster or whether the mayor herself (or another staffer in her office) has been getting management lessons. We’ll update this post if we hear back.
