A voter’s opinion/analysis of mayor candidate answers to The Mirror’s question (June 19).
Job Position: Mayor of City of Federal Way. Salary: $112,000 plus benefits. Funding: City of Federal Way taxpayers (in perpetuity).
Quality of answers rating: Very strong; strong; average; weak; very weak
Mirror question #1: What is your vision/mission for Federal Way?
Quality of question: Average
Candidate responses broken down into the basics.
NOTE: The political buzz-word is “Vibrant.”
Candidate #1, Mike Park: Safety; strong economy; encourage community involvement.
Quality of answer: Very weak.
Candidate #2, Jim Ferrell: Safety; vibrant economy; eliminate wasteful spending.
Quality of answer: Very weak, but did mention eliminate wasteful spending (whatever that means).
Candidate #3, Linda Kochmar: Safety; vibrant urban city center (economic leader); improve roads; provide for attractive parks, recreation, cultural arts and public facilities.
Quality of answer: Very weak.
Candidate #4, Skip Priest: Vibrant local economy; safety; maintain parks; provide essential services; user friendly permitting process; maintain infrastructure.
Quality of answer: Very weak, but did mention permitting process.
Differences to date: Slim to none. From what I read, apparently no candidate has the vision/mission to: Reduce the size of city government, reduce taxes, reduce regulations, relieve traffic congestion, have the city stop competing with private businesses, remove illegal aliens, remove photo-cops, protect freedoms and liberties.
Salary deserved (adjusted for quality of answers): Not even enough to buy a cup of coffee.
Voters of Federal Way, with the help of our newspapers, we need to demand more than safe political answers. We need our candidates to clearly define Federal Way’s problems and provide position papers to the voters explaining how that candidate will solve those problems. Otherwise, this election will be nothing more than a popularity contest with the prize being a $112,000-a-year job, with benefits, paid for by our taxes, a salary many of us will never see in our lifetime.
Frank Comito, Federal Way
