Edmonds mayor: Nelson is no-nonsense, experienced

Published 1:30 am Sunday, November 5, 2023

Mike Rosen has been getting plenty of media attention for his aggressive challenge to incumbent Edmonds mayor Mike Nelson, who is seeking a second term. When I started in journalism back in the Age of Steam, wise old heads told beginners like me, “If your mother says she loves you, check it.’’

Nowhere is a healthy skepticism more needed than in politics, and not just for journalists but also voters. Rosen, a retired Seattle spin doctor and marketing executive who has never held elective office, makes many and varied claims on the campaign trail that don’t always hold up when you check them. They shouldn’t be taken at face value.

Rosen cites, for example, a Peabody Award, one of American broadcasting’s highest honors, for a documentary video about Lolita, the late, captive orca. Entitled “Lolita: Spirit in the Water,’’ the film was one of four documentaries that collectively won KOMO-TV a Peabody Institutional Award in 1996. Rosen worked on the video as film editor and one of its two photographers. Two senior KOMO producers wrote and guided the piece. Rosen’s contributions were real but limited.

The two mayoral candidates in Edmonds are near-opposites. Rosen is loquacious, performative, hyperbolic, well-funded. Much of his $83,000 in donations is drawn from bankers, builders and real estate interests. Nelson, with $25,000 from small donors, is no-nonsense, unpretentious, wise in the ways of government. He’s not a rookie who radiates hubris and expects to start at the top.

David Armstrong

Edmonds