DORI MONSON

Only in Seattle: Mayor Ed Murray pardons a tofu turkey

Nov 24, 2014, 12:12 PM | Updated: 1:19 pm

On Friday, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray pardoned a tofu turkey. KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson says this...

On Friday, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray pardoned a tofu turkey. KIRO Radio's Dori Monson says this would only happen in Seattle. (City of Seattle image)

(City of Seattle image)

Taken from Monday’s edition of KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show.

I hate certain stories that the media feels it has to cover every year. I don’t understand why each year we have to carry the story of the President of the United States pardoning a turkey. It’s a ridiculous story. But now Seattle has amped up the ridiculousness a billion-fold because Mayor Ed Murray pardoned – I’m not making this up – a tofu turkey.

According to a City Hall press release:

“Today Mayor Murray pardoned Braeburn the Tofurky and challenged the Seattle City Council to a food drive.

“I, Mayor Murray, pardon Braeburn the Tofurky,” the mayor proclaimed in the atrium of Seattle City Hall.

Braeburn the Tofurky will live out its natural life at the Rainier Valley Food Bank, the beneficiary of the food drive between Seattle City Council and the Mayor’s Office. Braeburn will be joined by his understudy, Honeycrisp.

The Mayor’s and City Council’s offices have until December 12, 2014 to collect non-perishable donations. The team that collects the most food shall have doughnuts delivered by the losing team by either Mayor Murray or Council President Tim Burgess.

Braeburn and Honeycrisp were named after popular Washington State apples.”

It’s like they have become such parodies of themselves. The mayor was doing it in jest, but he also was just wasting a boatload of time for himself and all those staffers that he had lined up behind him.

Mayor Murray’s spokesman, Jason Kelly, told The Seattle Times: “The mayor has a sense of humor,” Kelly said. “He wanted to do something that would attract attention.”

He continued: “He was also poking fun at himself as a public official. Seattle has a reputation around the country for being a little bit ‘granola.'”

Would you have an extra hour to grab a bunch of coworkers so you could make a little stupid joke at yourself or at your city?

“An extra hour? Are you kidding?” asked Dori’s producer Jake. “You know what a scramble it is to get the show ready every day. I haven’t eaten lunch in 8 years.”

But, evidently, the mayor has time to pardon a tofu turkey in Seattle. Only in Seattle, where the joke is on all of the voters.

Taken from Monday’s edition of KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show.

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