Most everybody hereabouts…

…has weighed in on Joel Connelly's tut-tutting about the "Vilification of McGavick, the most talented Senate candidate recruited by Republicans in 2006…" in the P.I.. Like most observers, I agree that the ad hominem aimed at Goldy (with a 'y') was off-target, irrelevant and below the standards we've come to expect of the dean of northwest political reporting.

The notion that McGavick's poltical skirts are clean is readily dismissed by Darryl, and Joel must know better. Mike!'s self-righteousness is betrayed by his history, and since Joel was here, he should know better.

Poor, poor pitiful Mike! is a lousy story line.

Actually, the main thing I took from the piece is this...

He sees nothing wrong with exercising more than $20 million in stock options upon leaving Safeco to run.

"The thing all people object to is corporate CEOs making more money while their corporations are failing," he argued.

All people, of course, don't object to any such a thing. The practice is common enough that at least a good number corporate CEOs and Directors don't have any problem with it at all. Most folks do object to excessive reward for failure, though, I'm sure.

What McGavick doesn't get is that a whole bunch of us have a major problem with the whole subject of executive compensation, though, which has spiraled upward while income levels have been flat for workers in general. It's one more factor in the concentration of wealth that is eroding the middle class. McGavick walked away from a job with about $28 million in his pocket. He thinks that's fair compensation for the job he did, but, damn, what kind of job could possibly command such a reward. I work hard 40+ hours a week and make a decent living. A lot of folks work harder and longer for less. My whole family and most all my friends altogether will probably never make $28 million in wages between us in our collective lives.

Executive compensation in the US is economically insane, and Mike! is nuts if he thinks 'I deserved it' is going to sell to Washington workers.