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Meeting Sally Clark
By Eileen Nicol

Sitting down with trim, fresh-faced Sally Clark mid-day, one isn’t surprised to learn that six hours prior she was rowing on Lake Washington. Seattle’s newest city councilmember looks the part of the quintessential Northwest woman, “dressed up” for the earlier council meeting in a black pantsuit over a kelly-green blouse. Rowing three mornings a week provides “mental health and exercise,” says Clark, who needs to compress both into a busy schedule in order to keep up with the demands of her 10-month appointment to the council, which began in January.

When asked how she chose public service, Clark laughs. “I think it chose me. It’s where I felt most comfortable and most well used.” She came to Seattle from Portland as a teen 22 years ago to attend the University of Washington. Her degrees are in political science and Spanish, but she hung out at the UW’s Daily newspaper, and worked as a print journalist after graduating, ending up in a yearlong stint as editor of Seattle Gay News. “I ended up moving more toward alternative journalism, and from there it isn’t that huge a jump to go into nonprofit.” In 1994, Clark began doing press releases and marketing work for Chicken Soup Brigade. She still serves as one of four executive directors of the Lifelong AIDS Alliance, which formed from the merger of Chicken Soup Brigade and Northwest AIDS Alliance. In 2002 she returned to the UW to finish a master’s degree in public administration.

From a list of 101 candidates, Clark’s appointment in January generated somewhat of a journalistic hubbub after the council hinted they would prefer a woman of color. Some pundits wondered if being lesbian made up for being white, although Clark is not the first or the only gay member of the council. Clark herself is philosophical about the selection process. “On any given day how you answer a question can make or break something. For whatever reason, I was the final one,” she says.

Perhaps part of what impressed the other council members was her behind-the-scenes political experience, which includes stints as an aide to City Councilwoman Tina Podlodowski and King County Councilman Bob Ferguson. She also worked for three years as a neighborhood development manager for Southeast Seattle, where she shares a home near Seward Park with her partner Liz, her dog Bill, and three cats.

Clark feels comfortable discussing the challenges facing the council. “More often than not it’s not an easy question where there’s an obvious right or wrong,” she says. “It’s a council of nine people so you need five friends together to make change.” Transportation, in general, and replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct, in particular, loom large on the council’s agenda. “It’s huge no matter what we do. It’s going to be a mess for a few years.” So far her own preference for a tunnel has not been swayed, although she concedes that the surface and transit option (i.e., tearing down the viaduct and not replacing it) is “emotionally attractive. But there are 4,500 truck trips (on the viaduct) every day, and I-5 just doesn’t have the capacity for them.” Clark says the issue may be on the ballot in November for the voters to decide, depending on the council’s review of state-commissioned technical reports due in September.

The City of Seattle participates in our region’s “Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness,” although in a nod to the complexity of the issue, Clark jokes that it should probably be called “the Ten-Year Plan to Really Scale Back Homelessness.” With federal funding decreasing, Clark sees a combination of local tax incentives and subsidies as crucial to getting developers to build affordable units. “At some point we need to have enough transitional housing units in the pipeline so that we can actually move people off the street.” As vice-chair of the Housing and Human Services Committee, Clark is glad to be part of decisions about how to shift priorities to decrease homelessness.

On another hot topic -- the Sonics possibly leaving Seattle – Clark’s view is typically thoughtful. “Yeah, I care,” she says. “I think they do have a positive impact in the community. But it is hard for me to think about going to voters and saying I’d like for you to dip into your pockets for the basketball franchise before we figure out how to fund some of these basic services that constituents are telling me we’re behind on.”

Clark meets the hurdles of political life with wry humor. “Had I known that I’d be where I am now, I’d have started stockpiling money a couple years ago. Because of the (election) rules, the winner of the who-gets-to-replace-Jim-Compton contest has to run in the next general election in order to keep the seat for a year. Then, Jim’s term would have ended in 2007, so if I still want to keep the seat, I would have to run again in the fall of 2007.” That’s a lot of campaigning, and a lot of money. “It means that even as a brand-new person on the council, I’m trying to come up to speed on issues, trying to engage and be a productive member of those discussions, and I also have to cut out of the office a couple times a week to go be on the phones or go to a fundraiser.” Still, she says she’s meeting great people, and she’s not afraid to ask for advice.

Clark demurs when asked whether our Northwest tendency toward consensus in government gets in the way of results. “Everyone says, ‘oh if this was Chicago, we would have made a decision and it (the viaduct replacement) would be built!’ You know the grass is always greener someplace else.” She smiles and continues. “It’s hardly ever starkly black or white. That’s what I think is not remembered by folks who aren’t regular watchers of the Seattle channel.”

Obviously, the council members felt Sally Clark would fit in with their deliberating style. Come November, Seattle voters will decide how green our grass is, and whether to confirm the council’s choice by electing Sally Clark.

Eileen Nicol is a frequent contributor to Seattle Woman.

©2006 Caliope Publishing Company