It was with deep disappointment that I read of Martin Moore’s decision to switch parties and run against Rep. Carol Gregory.

Martin and I have known each other for years and for much of that time I considered him a friend — even to the point of helping him move. My previous support of Martin came with the hope that, in time, his seriousness about public service would match his intense ambition. Sadly that hope was never realized.

Martin ran for the City Council in 2013 and, after he asked me to, I wrote a letter to the Mirror in support of his candidacy. It was only after writing my letter did I find that one of Moore’s supposed accomplishments (working to make Steel Lake Park’s play equipment ADA-accessible as a Parks commissioner) was not spearheaded by him, as he claimed, but by another Parks commissioner, Dave Berger, as the Mirror has reported. Martin simply supported the work of others.

In his press release announcing his run, he stated a desire to be “an independent leader” for the 30th District. However, since he joined the Council I and others have noticed this same behavior of cheering on the work of others, but not doing much of his own.

After his election, I sat down with Martin at the Ram restaurant and worked with him on a short list of initiatives he could spearhead during his first year on the Council. It didn’t matter that most of the ideas were mine; I was simply glad to help the city progress. Unfortunately, he hasn’t taken the lead on any of those, or any others I’m aware of.

I ran into Martin on Aug. 2, 2014 while he was sign waving with Mark Miloscia and challenged Martin to start taking action as Bob Roegner had stated in a recent column. He promised to initiate a push for a plastic-bag ban in the coming months — something that several other local cities have done in recent years — to appease both environmentalists and Democrats. Yet, true to form, he’s done nothing.

Fellow Council members will say that he’s still “finding his way” and I’d add that he hasn’t yet found his own voice. During the Oct. 21, 2014 City Council meeting, I received a text from Martin at 7:44 p.m. (the City Council meeting started at 7 p.m.) asking what he should say about a possible sixth-month extension of the moratorium on recreational marijuana in Federal Way.

I texted him that this “has to be the last one and six months from now there has to be a finalized plan for instituting I-502.” Based on the reporting from the meeting in the Mirror, he parroted my thoughts to a tee.

Honestly, I don’t see much leadership or independence from Martin and, frankly, he hasn’t earned a promotion to the state Legislature. He still needs to do something on the City Council other than applaud what others are doing; that’s what we elected him to do 15 months ago.

Richard D. Champion, Federal Way