Mayor Ed Murray said today that he would not give Seattle City Light CEO Jorge Carrasco a raise. "It has become a political football," the mayor said. Carrasco's current $245,000 annual salary is the second highest of any Seattle city government employee (At $250,000 the new police chief's salary is slightly higher). The City Council recently voted to increase the salary range for Carrasco's post, which would've allowed his pay to rise up to $364,481 per year. The mayor had said that he backed raising the City Light chief's annual salary by about $60,000, to roughly $305,000. But around the time the pay-range increase was approved by the Council, The Seattle Times' Jim Brunner reported that City Light had hired a reputation management firm, Brand.com, to burnish Internet search results related to the utility and, specifically, Carrasco's name. Then, The Times reported on an incident that took place last year, in which Carrasco was snookered into giving apparent con men access to City Light's scrap copper. Most recently, Carrasco said in a KIRO Radio interview that he had not asked the mayor for a raise. But the Mayor's Office later confirmed that he had. The mayor said in a press conference today that Carrasco had also indicated that the he was considering other jobs.Murray plans to work with the City Council to come up with a new, independent process to determine the "appropriate salary" for the City Light post and other city government positions. "We need to pay public employees what they're worth," he said. He indicated that, if Carrasco leaves, the city would likely have to pay more than what the City Light executive is receiving now to find a well-qualified successor. Kshama Sawant, one of two council members to oppose the pay-range increase, said in a statement, "This striking reversal is the outcome of strong public pressure on the City's political establishment and a sign of the disgust working people feel about executive excess." — B.L. (This item has been updated to correct the salary ranking.)
No raise for City Light boss
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By Floyd McKay
Floyd J. McKay, professor of journalism emeritus at Western Washington University, was a print and broadcast journalist in Oregon for three decades. He is also a historian and his new book, "Reporting
Floyd J. McKay, professor of journalism emeritus at Western Washington University, was a print and broadcast journalist in Oregon for three decades. He is also a historian and his new book, "Reporting