“Regular Joe” Mallahan’s Stuck in the Bike Lane

Phyllis Lamphere showed an impressive command of the candidates and their pet issues at a recent mayoral forum at Horizon House. She directed questions about transportation at tunnel opponent Mike McGinn and city-legislation questions to current city council member Jan Drago. She even knew that fringe candidate Kwame Garrett has made overhauling school curricula part of his platform. Then someone in the audience asked a question about the environment.

"Let's go over to...," she said, pausing at the grey-haired man in a pink button-down.

"Mallahan," the man in pink said, identifying himself. "Joe Mallahan."

Mallahan made a splash last May when he jumped into the mayor's race and immediately wrote himself a $200,000 check to level the fundraising field with Mayor Nickels. The T-Mobile executive had a story about how he managed to keep people's phones working when Hurricane Gustav hit the gulf coast in 2008. At the outset, he had support from well-known Democratic Party insiders, including Obama whiz-kid Rory Steele. But since then, Mallahan's flattened: A recent Survey USA poll has him tied for fourth place in the race to unseat Nickels this fall.

Long before Mallahan created waves with his cash-laden entrance into the race, he was looking for a way to get into politics. Steele, who orchestrated the ground game for Obama's Iowa win in 2008, gave a seminar on campaign management during last year's state Democratic convention. Mallahan was one of about 100 people in the class. Some time later, when Mallahan started looking into making his own run for public office, he tracked Steele down and the two met for coffee.

Steele says he was impressed by Mallahan. Nonetheless, "There's some small gaps in his knowledge about how the city works, actually," Steele says—but Mallahan struck him as someone smart enough to fill them. Steele agreed to work for him.

Mallahan impressed other Democratic insiders as well. Since announcing his intention to run, he's picked up endorsements from two different legislative district Democratic parties and the Metropolitan Democratic Club. And he was the only candidate to get an "outstanding" rating from the Municipal League of King County.

King County Democrats Endorsement Chair Dean Willard, who works with Mallahan at T-Mobile, is also a fan. The countywide organization has put off any official endorsements in the mayor's race until after the August primary, but Willard says, "I think that the people that know Joe the best have always seen Joe's potential as a public official."

Mallahan's first criticism of Nickels is his response to the snowstorm of last December. But he also faults the mayor for the rise of gang violence after Nickels cut the gang-unit budget in 2002. Furthermore, he's been critical of the mayor's transportation projects, including the South Lake Union Streetcar and the proposed Mercer Street expansion. "All those funds could have been applied elsewhere," says Mallahan.

He says he would improve basic city services, like fixing sidewalks, and funnel more money to community and senior centers. His campaign spokesperson, Charla Neuman, says that those kinds of projects can be funded without cuts by making government more efficient. When pressed as to where those inefficiencies lie, Neuman says Mallahan won't know until he gets into office.

But Mallahan might have trouble getting into that office. Despite the early support from people like Willard and Steele, and enough personal cash to take on Nickels, his campaign just can't seem to get any traction.

Mallahan worked for Washington, D.C., attorney Erich Eiselt after earning a degree in American politics from Catholic University of America, also in D.C. "People think of him as a business guy, which kind of cracks me up," Eiselt says. "I don't think of him as a business guy. It doesn't surprise me at all that he's running for office; I would have expected him to do it earlier."

The mayoral aspirant also spent time as a legislative aide to then-congressman Al Swift—as well as to Republican Sen. Slade Gorton, something he doesn't readily volunteer in righty-phobic Seattle. According to Mallahan, Swift suggested business school rather than law, just to have different credentials. But Swift says he doesn't really remember Mallahan. "I don't want this to look badly for him; I've just got a rotten memory," Swift says.

After a stop in Seattle to earn a master's degree in East Asian Studies at UW, Mallahan attended the University of Chicago. He got his MBA in 1993 and stayed in the Windy City, working with an auditing firm. He then worked for Century Tile, a flooring company, where Chief Financial Officer Phil Spiewak says they were so impressed with Mallahan's suggestions for improving efficiency that in 1995 they named him president. The first thing Mallahan did was work the graveyard shift for a few weeks, just to get a handle on how the business operated. "To have a president go in and run the third shift is pretty bizarre, but he really felt it was important," Spiewak says.

After leaving Century in 1997, Mallahan went to work for the Illinois offices of Voicestream, a Bellevue-based cell-phone service provider, which was eventually purchased by T-Mobile. In 2000, Mallahan moved back to Seattle, and is currently Vice President of Operations Strategy.