Richard McIver

Richard McIver (June 14, 1941 – March 9, 2013) was a member of the Seattle City Council. He was selected from 114 applicants to fill a vacancy on the Council in January 1997 after John E. Manning resigned due to a domestic violence arrest. McIver then ran for the seat vacated by Cheryl Chow, who ran for mayor, and was elected in November 1997 and was reelected in 2001 and 2005.

Biography McIver was born June 14, 1941, to Mildred Artis-McIver and William McIver II in Seattle, Washington. At six, his family moved to Kodiak, Alaska where his father worked as a civilian heavy-equipment mechanic for the U.S. Navy. He graduated from Garfield High School in 1959, and received a bachelor's degree in Community Development from Western Washington University.

After college, McIver served 16 years with the City of Seattle in the Office of Urban Renewal and the Department of Community Development. In January 1997, McIver was selected out of 114 candidates to fill the remaining two years of Manning's term. In June 1997, he announced he would run for a full term to the council in Position 8 after Cheryl Chow announced she would run for mayor.

McIver ran for reelection in 2001, and in the September primary, he came in first with 49% of the vote. He advanced to the general election with Grant Cogswell, a music critic and Seattle Center Monorail booster, who earned 26% of the vote. In the general election, McIver defeated Cogswell, 54% to 46%. On election day, McIver drove Cogswell and his girlfriend to the polls because they did to have a car, and had a drink after the election.

McIver faced two challengers in his 2005 reelection bid, King County Councilman Dwight Pelz and real estate broker Robert Rosencrantz. In the September primary, McIver came in first with 39% of the vote and advanced to the general election with Pelz who earned 33%. In the general election, Pelz accused McIver of ducking tough issues, neglecting schools and bowing to Mayor Greg Nickels while McIver accused Pelz of being ineffective, hypocritical and too combative to work with the council. In the November general election, McIver defeated Pelz, 53% to 47%.

Domestic violence charges and ethics violation On October 10, 2007, McIver was arrested at his South Seattle home on domestic violence charges following an altercation that occurred with his wife early that morning. Charges were subsequently dropped as his wife refused to testify.

In May 2008, Seattle's Ethics office accused McIver of violating the city's conflict-of-interest law by awarding a $37,000 no-bid contract to a company affiliated with a longtime friend who has hosted the council member's annual vacations to a Virgin Islands condominium. McIver stated that he had "declined to pay a settlement penalty presented by the Ethics and Elections Commission executive director, and [he] intend[ed] to vigorously challenge these baseless charges." McIver paid the $1,000 fine using tax dollars.

Post-council McIver died on March 9, 2013, at the age of 71 in Seattle.