Eastside Tacoma can rally behind this City Council candidate. Election choice clear to us
In 2017, this Editorial Board did not endorse Catherine Ushka in her first bid for Tacoma City Council. In 2021, we support her re-election to Position 4 without reservation.
In a year when three City Council members are either termed out or voluntarily bowing out, the only chance for Tacoma to secure a bit of battle-tested experience is by giving Ushka another four years to represent the Eastside. She’s earned it.
If reelected, Ushka will be a font of institutional knowledge and a model of hard work for newer council members.
Ushka, 53, has a leadership record as diverse as the district where she’s lived nearly half her life: former Tacoma School Board president, vice president of the Tacoma Charter Review Commission and Eastside Neighborhood Council chair, to name a few.
The public may not fully appreciate a role she deftly handled during the pandemic: presiding over the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Board, and helping lead the fight to stop a political takeover of the health department.
While Ushka has a heart for equity, police accountability and other progressive causes, she knows Eastside residents also rely on her for nitty-gritty concerns like trash and graffiti cleanup, connected bike paths and safe streets.
She favors consensus building among the council and mayor — “five is politics, nine is leadership,” she says — but isn’t afraid to break ranks; recently she was the sole vote against extending four-year-old “interim” regulations for industries on the Tideflats.
The other candidate we interviewed, Nolan Hibbard-Pelly, is an eager newcomer— a 21-year-old University of Washington Tacoma math major who moved to the district last year. He’s frustrated by the slow grind of City Hall making social-justice reforms and delivering public services. He’d like to see more apartment construction and a strong-mayor form of government.
The third candidate in this race is Israel James McKinney, who works for the state Department of Social and Health Services. He told a TNT reporter his love for his hometown, nurtured through service group involvement, led to his first run for office. We’d have liked to hear more, but he didn’t respond to multiple interview invitations.
Ushka has proven that we underestimated her four years ago. She is the best choice to represent District 4, hands down.
News Tribune election endorsements reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Misterek. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; Matt Driscoll, local columnist; Jim Walton, community representative; and Pamela Transue, a community representative who serves during election season. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom and does not influence the work of news reporting and editing staffs. Endorsements are merely recommendations based on candidate interviews, research and discussions among the board. We do not endorse any candidates who do not interview with us. For questions, email matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com