The Nose: Time for the Sniff’s annual naughty and nice stocking stuffers!

In keeping with the season, it’s time for Sniff Nick’s annual tradition—stocking stuffers for the naughty and nice denizens of Tacoma and Pierceland!

Oh, OK — to appease those annoying fact-checkers, this is the first iteration of said annual tradition, but it should have been established a long time ago. Remember, you’re supposed to take these things seriously, not literally. Or is it literally, not seriously? Who can remember? Either way, time to get on with emptying those socks!

Coal: This one goes to County Councilwoman Joyce McDonald, soon to be (again) state Rep. Joyce McDonald. She’s a proud standard-bearer of local tradition that requires revolving-door officeholders to flit from seat to seat.

McDonald was the deciding vote against a proposed mental-health tax that crashed and burned unexpectedly Dec. 13. The idea, long wrangled, had majority support — just not supermajority support, because McDonald, to the surprise of fellow council members, flipped, or seemed to flip, according to her fellow members.

Joyce gets a lump of coal, but not because she voted against the tax. It’s the way she voted against it, with a crocodile-tear statement about being broken-hearted that set new standards for insincerity.

“Right now is a bad time. Maybe it would have been better if we had been able to get to this way before the election,” she said, as though backers hadn’t been dragging the idea uphill way before the election, hindered in part by McDonald herself.

One of her longstanding arguments on the issue of local mental-health services holds that such stuff is a state responsibility. Well, when January rolls around, that’s where McDonald will be, casting votes in Olympia instead of County Council chambers. Cheer up, Joyce — maybe you can earn a candy cane next year!

Candy: A swirl of peppermint goodness for Tacoma City Councilman Marty Campbell, aka The Scarlet Sweater, who sensed a certain lack of enthusiasm for The Methanol Plant That Nearly Ate Tacoma earlier this year.

It feels like ancient history now, but at the beginning of the year, most city and business leaders were cheering the jobs the proposed plant was supposed to bring, and raining we-know-best skepticism on noisy activists who argued the thing might be unsafe.

At the time, Tacoma Mayor Marilyn “Khaleesi” Strickland urged City Council members to stay mum on the topic, because the city had a role to play in environmental assessments, and a studied neutrality was the proper attitude.

Campbell followed the edict — orally. But he showed up in City Council chambers wearing a bright red sweater: the color adopted by activists opposing the plant. The sartorial statement was unmistakable.

Things fell apart after that. A promotional video emerged, made by plant proponents long before the debate heated up, featuring Strickland looking like an enthusiastic backer, which forced an apology.

Facing stout opposition, proponents abandoned the project altogether. Campbell didn’t kill it — the proponents’ wounds were largely self-inflicted — but he came out of the debate without the associated ick, and a new reputation as a fashion plate. When will The Scarlet Sweater strike next?

Candy: Back in October, state Republican party chairwoman Susan Hutchison looked like a surefire coal recipient. Not now — the Hutch is holding a full box of sweets.

At the Republican National Convention, she faced off with Ted Cruz, who made a show of failing to endorse presidential nominee Donald Trump in an odd speech. The Hutch called Cruz a traitor.

In October, when news of Trump’s recorded statements about women dominated the campaign news cycles, Hutch cranked out a statement saying the nominee was a Democrat when he said that awful stuff. A round of recrimination followed, including calls for her resignation.

Needless to say, the election and the Hutch’s fortunes turned out differently than pundits predicted (Sniff slaps self repeatedly). Instead of her party imploding, it’s the opposition that can’t stop eating itself.

To top it off, the Hutch recently met with someone in D.C. — either random strangers or the president-elect’s peeps, she wouldn’t say which — but she hinted that she was “being considered for a role” in the Trump administration. You don’t hear anyone calling for her resignation these days. Enjoy those sweets, Hutch!

Coal: OK, 2016, you get a big lump. You’ve been very, very bad. You took Muhammad Ali and Willy Wonka, knocked off Abe Vigoda for real this time, killed Severus Snape and Carol Brady, silenced Merle Haggard and David Bowie, and all sorts of non-famous people in all sorts of places — and you couldn’t leave Prince alone for a while longer? Sniff. Nick doesn’t like greedy children! Go to your room and don’t come out until you know how to be nice!

This story was originally published December 21, 2016 at 4:47 PM with the headline "The Nose: Time for the Sniff’s annual naughty and nice stocking stuffers!."