Seattle Human Rights Commission Calls For Mayor Durkan To Resign

SEATTLE — The Seattle Human Rights Commission has issued an open letter to Mayor Jenny Durkan, demanding she resign, and calling on City Council to remove Durkan should she not step down.

In the letter, the commission says Durkan has "failed to uphold her duty to serve and protect the rights of Seattle citizens" and lists several longstanding concerns. Chief among them, the commission alleges that Durkan violated constitutional and human rights in her responses to police brutality and the homelessness crisis.

The issues with Durkan's leadership cited in the letter include:

• The mayor's response to police brutality
  • The continued use of tear gas against protesters and journalists despite a tear gas moratorium.
  • The mayor's continued pushback against police budget cuts, including her veto of the council's proposed police cuts in August.
• Seattle's growing homelessness crisis
  • Commissioners cite a 2019 report showing that 47 percent of Seattle's 11,000+ residents experiencing homelessness were unsheltered. In July, a snapshot count of homelessness found the number of people experiencing homelessness in Seattle and King County increased by 5 percent this year.
  • Growing income inequality, and a lack of progressive revenue streams, further exacerbating the homelessness crisis.

The letter ends by calling Durkan's response to protests and the call to defund SPD a "failure to lead" and a "violation of her legal duty" as the head of the city, finally calling for her to end her term:

"It is our belief that we cannot wait until November of 2021 to remove Mayor Durkan from office and replace her with a servant-leader who will uphold their duty to protect the rights of all citizens, to hold their humanity above all else, and to live up to Seattle's designation as a Human Rights city.

We call on Mayor Durkan to immediately resign, and in the absence of her resignation, we call on the City Council to begin removal proceedings for willful violation of duty according to the points previously mentioned."

The letter is far from the first attempt to oust Durkan this year. An ongoing petition to recall the mayor has gathered several thousand votes and has until January to collect 54,000 and end up on the ballot. Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant also called on Durkan to resign in early June.

Despite calling for her resignation, the letter from the Seattle Human Rights Commission has no legal authority to compel Durkan to step down. The commission only serves an advisory role to the mayor and City Council when dealing with matters of human rights. A fully-staffed commission would have 21 representatives, eight appointed by the mayor, eight by City Council, four selected by the commission itself and one through the Get Engaged leadership program for young adults. Currently, there are 15 commissioners on staff, four of whom were appointed by the mayor.

Read the full letter from the Seattle Human Rights Commission.