The numbers now suggest we can probably assume that Mike McGinn will be Seattle’s new mayor. I offer my sincere congratulations to Mike for a well run, grassroots, passionate, engaged, low budget and focused campaign.

I came to know Mike a bit last year during my own campaign for the Legislature when we would spend time together at the Ballard Farmer’s Market each Sunday–me holding a yellow Carlyle sign and he campaigning for the parks levy. We joked that campaigns in Seattle are won or lost at farmer’s markets, and we both remarked “either you get that or you don’t.” Our kids are friends in the same public middle school.

I find most of his unorthodox, even ideological positions to be insightful and purposeful. His aggressive support for forced congestion gives me a case of indigestion. Still, he backs up his case with the data and rhetoric of a good litigator.

A few weeks ago, days prior to Mike’s dramatic announcement that he would accept the will of the council and move forward on the tunnel regardless of his personal opinion, I decided to back Joe Mallahan. I was frankly concerned that Mike would use every elbow and legal tactic in the book to try and halt the tunnel at every stage–and that relations between Seattle and Olympia would virtually implode.

Then, candidly (at the risk of being labeled a Monday morning quarterback) I thought Mike’s public statements about his tunnel position were nuanced, authentic and sincere, not the “flip flop” that the media tried to portray. The public–in an educated city– clearly agreed that he was being consistent in his opposition to the tunnel but dealing with political reality (being mayorial) given the city council’s 9-0 vote to move forward with the tunnel. We share a serious perspective about the need for the tunnel to be delivered on time, on budget, and it’s a central priority for me in the years to come.

It’s time to move forward with the issues facing our city in 2010 and beyond. There are many more issues than the tunnel upon which we agree and all of us in public service need to engage together–city, county and state–to build our quality of life. Jobs, education, health care, affordable housing and more require a coordinated, strategic approach. I hope Joe Mallahan will stay engaged in the civic and political challenges facing our community and lend a hand on the issues that inspire him. We need his time and drive.

My hope is that we can build a new relationship between Seattle and Olympia based upon respect and recognition of the vital roles both play; that we can engage in bold systems thinking about what level of government should provide which type of public service; that we can be a laboratory for innovation in education, technology, clean energy and transportation. We have hundreds of thousands of new people moving to Seattle in the years to come. We’re not ready. But we can be with a genuine strategy.

Mike is passionate, engaged and aggressive about issues that motivate him to believe in a bright future. I know a certain unnamed citizen legislator who has been similarly accused.

Together we can do all those things we cannot do alone.

Your partner in service,

Reuven.