(The Center Square) – The chief media spokesman for Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is leaving in the latest staffing change in the seven-month administration.
Sage Wilson, no relation to Mayor Wilson, said in a letter to the mayor and colleagues that he was resigning effective Aug. 4.
In late June, the mayor’s Communications director Seferiana Day Hasegawa was let go.
That followed the late May departure of Jon Grant, a top administrator who was in charge of homeless policy.
Wilson also replaced her chief of staff, longtime friend Kate Brunette Kreuzer, in mid-May, appointing Esther Handy, a city hall veteran, as interim chief of staff.
Dawn Schellenberg, the mayor’s interim communications director, downplayed Sage Wilson’s departure in a statement to the Center Square Thursday.
“It is common for new administrations to have some turnover and restructuring during the early phase as staff settle into their roles and address the priorities voters elected them to do,” she said.
Schellenberg, a long-time Seattle Transportation Department spokeswoman, was named in an interim capacity after the departure of Day Hasegawa.
The staffing changes come as the mayor, who ran as a democratic socialist, has clashed with the business community on repeated occasions.
While conflicts may have been inevitable for Wilson, who supported more taxes on the wealthy and businesses during her campaign, they have also resulted in negative national press attention that caught her media team flatfooted.
As mayor-elect in November, she called on Seattle residents to boycott Seattle-headquartered Starbucks during a protest action by the Starbucks baristas’ union at a local shop.
She later walked back the comments after Starbucks announced in late April that it was opening a regional headquarters in Nashville and moving some Seattle jobs to the city.
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz labeled her “socialist rhetoric” hostile to business in a May op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, citing it as a driver behind corporate departures and a deteriorating local economy.
During Wilson’s first few months in office, Sage Wilson has been the mayor’s most visible media face, appearing at numerous events with the chief executive.
Sage Wilson wouldn’t discuss the reasons he was leaving with The Center Square.
Sage Wilson said in his resignation letter that he had sought out the communications role because he was “excited by the vision of what could be possible in Seattle with bold progressive leadership in City Hall ready to take on big challenges and do big things.”
“I’m heartened by the way the office has been evolving, and I feel very hopeful about where things are headed,” he wrote. “However, I have come to realize that personally, I’m better-suited to advance that vision from outside government.”
Before joining the Seattle mayor’s office, Sage Wilson worked in media relations for the labor advocacy group Working Washington and the progressive policy group Civic Ventures.
Schellenberg told the Center Square that the administration is working with the communications team “to ensure we have the best structure in place and have not decided if the role Sage currently fills will remain the same.”
She said the Wilson administration continues on track to advance its agenda.
“Our focus continues to remain on making real progress: expanding shelter, making our city more affordable, livable, and safe, creating irresistibly good transit, and building a more inclusive and accountable government,” she said.
Separately, she said, applications are still being accepted for the communications director’s job until July 28.
The job pays between $164,868.48 and $272,087.28 annually.
The job description paints an ambitious agenda by the mayor and the communications director who will be in charge of implementing it.
“A vision that we can tackle big challenges and carry out ambitious projects. That we can take on the affordability crisis, bring people inside, and make our city a great place to live, work, and raise a family,” it states.