Think McGinn is a bad mayor? He has nothing on this guy.Mike McGinn isn’t getting a lot of love these days. Although he’s still a champion to the handful of Seattle eco-nuts who are still angry over that whole Industrial Revolution thing, the Mayor has managed to piss-off everyone else, including the Governor, the Legislature, the business community, the media, the Port of Seattle, the city council, unions and probably the ghost of Arthur Denny if anyone bothered to ask. If you believe in the veracity of polling, two-thirds of Seattle voters say that he’s doing a “poor to fair” job, whatever that means.In the early days of Seattle’s existence, being the Mayor was more of a ceremonial job with the town fathers taking turns every year. So it wasn’t that big of a loss when, in 1873 Mayor Corliss Stone skipped town, taking $15,000 he had embezzled from his business partners along with another man’s wife to San Francisco. In the understated words of a later biography, “Due to an unexpected personal problem Stone removed the partnerships liquid assets and visited San Francisco.” Stone Way and Corliss Avenue Two months ago we had a nice communal cry. Local politicians – mostly good supporters of labor unions – commemorated the 125th anniversary of Seattle’s Anti-Chinese riots by trotting out press releases from the Wing Luke Museum. On February 7, 1886 a mob forcibly ejected Seattle’s Chinese population from the city at the threat of violence. Conveniently overlooked was the fact that the riot, and similar ones across the state, were instigated by early unions such as the Knights of Labor. The issue split the town in half, between establishment Republicans – who wanted to use the Chinese as strike breakers and cheap labor – and workers (including Native Americans) demanding better pay. Five months later, voters chose anti-Chinese “People’s Party” candidate William Shoudy (by a mere 44 votes) who legitimized the illegal actions of his fellow rioters.Harry WhiteAlthough not the worst mayor by any means, Frank Black’s tenure was certainly the briefest. He resigned after just three weeks. Attorney William Wood was appointed to fill out the remainder of his term. And no doubt he would have were it not for the temptation of the Klondike Gold Rush. Wood served notice of his resignation by jumping on the first schooner north, along with the Police and Fire Departments and half of the population of Seattle. The other half of the population hung around, of course, and struck it rich outfitting miners.”Honest” Thomas HumesSeattle’s founding fathers were a pragmatic lot, good businessmen and good Republicans. And just so long as politics didn’t get in the way of making money, everyone was happy. That certainly was the philosophy – hypocritical as it was – behind Mayor Thomas Humes and his seven years in office. “Honest” Tom was a county judge before being appointed the departed Mayor Wood. Seattle had always been a rough and tumble town, catering to the baser instincts of loggers and coal miners wanting to Hi GillThe Golden Potlatch was a precursor to today’s Seafair celebration. And anyone familiar how rowdy Seafair George Cotterill Frank Edwards