I have never lived in a city where the 'city council' (lower case intended) is a clique that blatantly elects one another as mayor and takes turns to perpetuate their corruption, incompetence and unprofessionalism. Working for the benefits of the city and its residents is the LAST thing on their minds! A tiny example to prove my case in point. I was in an awards ceremony once at the Kirkland Performance Ctr. when Ms. Walen was handing out awards to Kirkland artists and benefactors. In her super mini (as in SHORT) skirt, Ms. Walen came upon a name she couldn't pronounce! After staring at it and chuckling in embarrassment, she just handed out the award to the poor recipient who had guessed by then HE was the one. The list of names were printed ahead of time which Walen could've taken a minute to learn! Is THIS the type of mayor or 'professionalism' Kirkland wants to project? With international companies such as Google and IBM that have campuses here?! Please consider before you vote!