Jamie Durkan, Hired By Kent, Puts On Political-Consultant Hat

-- MAPLE VALLEY The first week after he was hired to represent Kent before the King County Council, Martin "Jamie" Durkan Jr. said opponents referred to him interchangeably as a developer, a lawyer and a lobbyist.

"They sure know how to hurt a guy," said Durkan, 36, a garbage-can inventor, duck hunter and baseball-cap collector, who is trying to sell the County Council on a proposed road project favored by Kent officials.

Durkan says he prefers to call himself a "political consultant."

He said his job is not to wine, dine and wheedle as popular conception might have it, but to sort out the complexities of the political system for those who don't have the time.

"If I do my job right I don't have to ask anyone for anything," he said. "A good lobbyist never asks."

Politics comes naturally to the Issaquah native, now a Maple Valley resident. His father, Martin Durkan Sr., is a former state senator and now a top-grossing lobbyist in state government.

The younger Durkan took his time in following his father's political path.

Just before entering college, Durkan got a job making duck decoys from molded plastic in a company he would eventually own.

Though he went on to major in political science and history at Seattle University, it didn't take Durkan long to determine his future was in plastics.

In 1977, he came up with the Durkan Dura-Kan, or the wheeled green and brown plastic recycling bins now common on Seattle streets.

The Dura-kan was a windfall for Durkan. His company, Dye Plastics, made thousands of them - even a few in bright red for the Oregon followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

Durkan wouldn't say how much money he makes from his land investments - which include the site of a future shopping mall near Lake Wilderness - his Dura-Kan royalties, and his consulting business, which includes contracts with the Tobacco Institute, Philip Morris USA and Waste Management Inc.

"It's not a million - yet," he said, with a grin.

Durkan is a self-described Jeffersonian Democrat who sports a gold watch and bracelet. He believes in individual rights, and he said with patience and imagination, anyone can make money.

But he said his true love is politics. To pursue that vocation, he got out of plastics and now works full time as a consultant from his home.

His most recent challenge is to persuade the County Council to move forward on the 277th corridor arterial project, which Kent officials say would divert east-west traffic from the city's crowded streets.

Residents of East Hill have strongly opposed the road, which they say would ruin the rural environment of the area, and the county has said more study is needed before construction begins.

Durkan said one of his first acts as Kent's consultant was to meet with members of a citizens group that opposes the road, hear their concerns and respond. He said he believes the opposition to the project is dwindling as a result.

But John Kiefer of the citizens group said he still feels threatened by Durkan's entrance in the Southeast 277th debate.

"He puts us at a disadvantage. We are just volunteers, but he's a professional," Kiefer said. "Lobbyist, consultant - either way, the end result is the same."

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