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Washington - Meet Mike McGavick!

Submitted by grant on July 19, 2005 - 6:16pm.



Safeco Insurance CEO Mike McGavick resigned today, leaving behind a $7.3 million dollar salary, and putting his eye on the big prize: the U.S. Senate.

McGavick will be taking on Seattle's own Maria Cantwell who, reportedly, will face the full weight of the Republican party. Cantwell has been marked as one of the top targets for the GOP to topple. Everyone expects that this will be a dirty, dirty race, as any election that Hot Karl gets involved in always gets dirty (that is, unless Rove is in Jail at that point).

But, we all may be wrong. You see, McGavick has already said, in an address to the Greater Seattle Chamber annual meeting in September of 2002, that he hates dirty smear ads.

We clearly need to raise the level of civil discourse in our community. If I see one more of those negative 30-second ads, I'm going to throw up... don't we look to our public officials to have that highest level of public debate?

Great! I'll hold you to that comment, Mike.

Of course, since millions of dollars are probably going to flood into this race, McGavick will probably benefit from shady GOP financing- who knows what companies will be giving money to McGavick with the hope that he'll vote their way if he wins. But wait... in the same speech Mike states that he wants full disclosure!

Ever since Watergate, we've been trying to tell people how they can give money to the political process - rule after rule after rule after rule! And the special interests keep finding ways around the rules. It's not surprising ... This is a perversion of our political process. I would offer candidates a choice: You may receive - so long as you immediately disclose them - any amount of money from anybody you want because I think the public is smart enough to figure out if you're bought! But here's the hitch: If you don't play the current game of limited contributions from special interests - If you don't do that, every ad, every publication, everything you do for your campaign has to be in your own voice featuring you saying it. You can't hide behind those dirty little ads because those dirty little ads enable good people to do indecent things.

I tell 'ya, this address to the Chamber of Commerce is a gift that keeps on giving.

More great lines after the jump!

On those pesky environmental standards:

We're not known for sharing our natural bounty. We're known for our unwillingness to deal with the fact that it's re-generable and the fact that we're locked in a death struggle to use it or lose it! A false struggle if ever there was one...

You see, we should be chopping down our forests and sharing them with the rest of the country.. not hoarding them for ourselves and to the wildlife that live in them!

On gutting the state's infrastructure:

We shouldn't just freeze the level of people who are employed by the State so that we can employ more in the private sector. We should literally set a goal of reducing the number of people year by year by year as a way to force efficiency into the government.

When Mike's a U.S. Senator he'll cut our way into financial discipline... After all, he'd never raise the taxes on his CEO friends. That would be un-American. However, cutting veterans health care and port security? Totally cool.

And... Privatization of Higher Education.. Here We Come!

It is time to explore seriously whether over the next decade, we should either string the string or cut the cord and let the University of Washington and Washington State University operate more privately...

Thanks for the introduction, Mike. I'm sure you'll make a great first impression on the citizens of Washington.

Related Links:
Fulfilling our obligation - by Mike McGavick
Seattle Times - Safeco CEO looks set for race
Seattle PI - Safeco CEO quits: A run for Senate?
Posted in Elections | Elections | grant's blog
Email Campaign idea

Everybody in BetterDonkey writes McGavick an email that says:

We take you at your word Mr. McGavick. Negative ads have no place in serious politics, certainly falsely labeled negative ads have no place.

To that effect, we want a pledge from you that you will not engage in negative attack ads and you will not only disavow 3rd party attacks, but you will actively work to keep past bad actors like the Chamber of Commere from engaging in such "indecent" behavior.

thoughts?

Submitted by Benny G on July 19, 2005 - 3:32pm.
I love it.

"We're watching you Mr. McGavick. We can see you. We know everything you are doing and why...."

We should get this one together, yo.

Submitted by amy on July 20, 2005 - 6:07am.
Website

Looks like someone nabbed mikemcgavick.com (and a few other choice domains) and put up a "fan site". It's hillarous stuff - especially the page on Cantwell and "why she needs to be voted out of office".

And the slogan "Time for a Man to Represent Washington" is priceless.

Submitted by willisreed on July 20, 2005 - 1:36pm.
Check out this rundown

Of the wacky McGavick site from www.dailykos.com:

So only a day after Mike McGavick announces his exploratory committee for his "possible" run as the GOP opponent to Maria Cantwell, we see www.mikemcgavick.com up and running. Registered on July 8 to a Jerry Toomp in Spokane with the ominous email of domainpawn@hotmail.com, it's hard to tell if it's a serious website by a really stupid GOP activist or a brilliant spoof by an unknown player on our side. Several similar sites (mcgavick2006.com, mcgavickforsenate.com) point to the same place. The evidence is 50/50, and it wouldn't be unheard of for a GOP goon to hold the sites ransom from their own candidate.

If it isn't the official site, and I'm pretty sure it isn't, he'll have a tough time getting it back without paying. It's a tossup if he'd win a lawsuit; see www.gwbush.com as an example of what can happen when you don't secure your URL's early in the game and lose your cease'n'desist lawsuit.

If you go to the site check out the absolutely awful picture up front. And for my favorite bizarre quote from the site:

Mike, who has left his eight figure job in order to challenge the Democrat's notion that Socialism is the best strategy,...

Just so bizarre. I assume its a parody, but it doesn't seem to have any obvious tells. Its funny, when you think about it, it must be really hard to intentionally create a terrible site. Maybe you web-heads know more about taht.

Submitted by Benny G on July 20, 2005 - 2:26pm.
McGavick Bringing Insurance Experience to Washington?

I’ve often thought that what we need are more candidates committed to bringing the public spirit, efficency and customer service we all associate with the insurance industry to Washington, DC. So I’m glad to see Safeco executive Mike McGavick running for the Republican nomination for Maria Cantwell’s job. McGavick should be able to afford a strong campaign – he was paid $13.3 million last year funded from his policyholders’ deductibles, co-pays and exclusions. Here’s a question I hope Mr. McGavick will address: what are you going to do about the 47 million Americans without health insurance? And why, as the head of one of the largest insurers in the US, haven’t you already done anything?

Submitted by Mike Kelly (not verified) on October 29, 2005 - 6:22pm.
classic

"I’ve often thought that what we need are more candidates committed to bringing the public spirit, efficency and customer service we all associate with the insurance industry to Washington, DC"

classic

Submitted by grant on October 31, 2005 - 9:58am.
It is a shame that Maria

It is a shame that Maria Cant(do)well only accepts nickels and dimes from the masses she supposedly represents thought I doubt she would recognize one even if her chauffeur driven limo hit one of us. I highly doubt she would raise campaign money from corporations she belittles? Don’t you?

Submitted by Jan (not verified) on January 25, 2006 - 2:40pm.
yes, McGavick's just like you and me!

yes, McGavick's really a man of the people (**cough** $3 million in salary and bonuses, and another $4.3 million in restricted stock awards in 2004 **cough**)

the real question is, if McGavick ran over someone with his limo, would he stop if you didn't have Safeco Insurance?

(oh, and ever heard of Cantwell's fight with Enron over the electricity prices in Snohomish County? What about her fight over preventing Alaska's Sen Ted Steven's from allowing millions of gallons of oil into Puget Sound? What about her success in preventing ANWAR from being opened to drilling? Cantwell has done a hell of a lot more for the Safeco customers of this state (and everyone else) than McGavick ever has or ever will)

Submitted by grant on January 27, 2006 - 10:25am.
We're not known for sharing

We're not known for sharing our natural bounty. We're known for our unwillingness to deal with the fact that it's re-generable and the fact that we're locked in a death struggle to use it or lose it! A false struggle if ever there was one...

McGavick is aware, I hope, that oil, natural gas, extinct animals, and mined commodities are not renewable resources? Does he have some scheme for taking the mercury out of a fish, once it's in there, that the rest of us don't know about?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 22, 2006 - 3:13pm.

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