Tim Burgess | |
|---|---|
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| 55th Mayor of Seattle | |
| In office September 18, 2017 – November 28, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Bruce Harrell |
| Succeeded by | Jenny Durkan |
| Member of theSeattle City Council | |
| In office January 3, 2016 – September 18, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Mike O'Brien |
| Succeeded by | Kirsten Harris-Talley |
| Constituency | District 8 |
| In office January 3, 2008 – January 3, 2016 | |
| Preceded by | David Della |
| Succeeded by | Sally Bagshaw |
| Constituency | District 7 |
| President of theSeattle City Council | |
| In office January 3, 2014 – January 3, 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Sally J. Clark |
| Succeeded by | Bruce Harrell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1949-03-18)March 18, 1949 (age 76) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic Party (2016–present) Republican Party (1999–2016) |
| Spouse | Joleen Burgess |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence(s) | Queen Anne, Seattle, Washington |
| Education | University of Washington (BA) |
| Occupation | Radio journalist,police officer |
Timothy L. Burgess (born March 18, 1949) is an American journalist and politician fromSeattle, Washington. He was a member of theSeattle City Council from 2007 to 2017, and served asMayor of Seattle for 71 days in late 2017. Prior to his political career, Burgess was a radiojournalist andSeattle Police Department (SPD) officer.[1]
Burgess was appointed mayor by the city council on September 18, 2017, to serve the remaining term ofEd Murray, who resigned amid a sexual abuse scandal. Burgess replaced the acting mayor, Council PresidentBruce Harrell, and served as mayor until the2017 mayoral election results were certified on November 28.[2]
Burgess was first elected to the city council in November 2007[3] with 64% of the vote. He was re-elected with 83% of the vote to a second four-year term in November 2011.[4] Burgess chaired the City Council's Education and Governance Committee and was vice-chair of the Planning, Land Use and Sustainability Committee. He was elected Council President by his colleagues for 2014–2015 and was also co-chair of the City's Family and Education Levy Oversight Committee.[5] Prior to his election to the City Council, Burgess chaired his neighborhood community council and served 12 years on Seattle's Ethics and Elections Commission.
Burgess was born to a working class, Christian family in Seattle'sCapitol Hill neighborhood, the youngest of three brothers.[6] He described his family as "very poor", and their home was foreclosed when Burgess was 12 years old, moving into a rented home inEastlake. Burgess graduated fromLincoln High School inWallingford in 1967 and attended classes atNorth Seattle Community College before transferring to theUniversity of Washington.[7][8][9] He volunteered for Republican presidential candidateBarry Goldwater during his youth, and was part of his middle school's Republican club.[9]
Burgess joined radio stationKJR in the news department while in college, covering issues related to theSeattle Police Department, including corruption trials in county courts. He worked alongside future councilmember and mayorNorm Rice and covered future county councilmemberLarry Gossett during his time with the localBlack Panthers.[7][8] After the election of mayorWes Uhlman in 1970, Burgess left radio journalism and joined the Seattle Police Department as a police officer, seeking to be part of Uhlman's plans for reform. He dropped out of the University of Washington, eight credits short of a bachelor's degree in political science, due to a shift change.[8][9] Burgess patrolled in theHigh Point neighborhood ofWest Seattle for two years,[8] in what he described as an "eye-opening" experience seeing "the effects of violence, injustice, [and] poverty".[6][7] He moved to the police department's public relations arm in 1972, eventually serving as the press aide to Police Chief Robert Hanson from 1974 to 1978.[10][11] While with the police department, Burgess also served as a burglarydetective.[12]
Burgess left the police department in 1978 forWorld Concern, a Seattle-based Christian humanitarian organization working on anti-poverty initiatives, to work as a communications and public relations manager.[8][12] Burgess returned to Seattle in 1985 and started anadvertising agency, Seattle, Burgess & Associates (later, The Domain Group), which he ran until selling the agency to Merkle in 2005.[8] The company had an annual revenue of $70 million and more than 200 employees at the time of its sale.[13]
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Burgess chaired the Queen Anne Community Council in the 1990s and served on the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission from 1989 to 2001, chairing the commission for five years.[14][15] Burgess publicly criticized city councilmembers for their ties to organized crime and campaign-finance violations during theStrippergate scandal of 2003,[16] taking a leading role in calling for accountability in his position as former ethics commissioner.[17][18]
Burgess began considering a run for the Seattle City Council in late 2006, while on a bike trip in Italy during his retirement.[8] He announced his candidacy in January 2007, intending to run against one-term incumbentDavid Della.[19] Burgess was the only challenger to Della, advancing automatically to the November general election.[20] Burgess was criticized by Della for his advertisement agency's work for a conservative Christian group that opposes abortion and gay marriage, despite Burgess's personal beliefs.[9][21] Burgess received the endorsement ofThe Seattle Times, along with several state and local politicians, and ultimately won in the election with 64 percent of votes.[9][22] The race for Position 8 was the most expensive in city council history,[9][23] with Burgess raising $64,000 of his $293,000 using his own money.[24]
Burgess was sworn in as a new councilmember in January 2008 and was elected to chair the Public Safety, Human Services and Education Committee.[25]
Burgess was re-elected by 83 percent of voters in the November 2011 election, defeating architect David Schraer.[26]
Burgess ran for mayor in the2013 mayoral election, looking to unseat incumbentMike McGinn, but dropped out before the primary filing deadline.[27] He endorsedEd Murray,[28] who later was elected mayor. Burgess was named Council President from 2014 to 2015.[29] He was elected to a third term in 2015, defeating Jon Grant with over 60 percent of votes.[30] Burgess announced that he would not seek re-election in 2017, as he was one of the most senior councilmembers and sought to step aside and "move on".[31]
After the resignation of MayorEd Murray on September 13, 2017, Burgess was named as a leading candidate to become interim mayor until November. Council President and acting mayorBruce Harrell declined to continue the term, and Burgess was elected to the role of mayor in a 5–1 vote of the city council on September 18, 2017.[1] His 71-day term as mayor, which he described as "accidental", included the signing of the 2018 budget.[32] After the certification of the2017 mayoral election results on November 28, 2017,Jenny Durkan became mayor.
Burgess rejoined the city government in 2022 as the Director of Strategic Initiatives under mayor Bruce Harrell.[33] He was nameddeputy mayor in June 2023 following the resignation of Monisha Harrell.[34][35]
Burgess married his wife Joleen, a former editor at theSeattle Post-Intelligencer, in 1979. They have three daughters and live onQueen Anne Hill in Seattle.[8]
Burgess is a Christian and attends church at aPresbyterian church on Queen Anne Hill on a weekly basis.[8] He described his faith in 2012 toThe Stranger as being "absolutely anchored to forgiveness and grace".[8] He identified as a Republican early in his life, but later became a Democrat over his personal values.[8]