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Tension brewing between city leaders before Seattle's biggest inauguration

SEATTLE — The stage is set and a record number of people are expected to witness the Monday inauguration of Seattle's first openly-gay mayor and the only socialist City Council member.

A push for a $15 minimum wage was at the center of Ed Murray and Kshama Sawant's campaigns. That fight, however, may be creating friction among the new leaders.

Murray announced an executive order to raise the minimum wage of city workers to $15 an hour.

The Seattle Times asked Sawant what she thought. She is quoted as saying Murray's move shows the Mayor's Office is "feeling the pressure from below to act on the rhetoric from the campaign," according to the Seattle Times.

That didn't sit well with Murray.

Before the pomp and circumstance gets underway in the lobby of Seattle City Hall, fireworks may be brewing among the city's newest leaders.

On Sunday, Murray took to social media to share an email he sent to Sawant, expressing his "disappointment" in her words to the Seattle Times.

Sawant got right to business Monday morning attending her first City Council briefing, where she spoke briefly.

"The mayor's income inequality advisory committee will be meeting this Wednesday," she told fellow council members.
The briefing was a preview of the first city council meeting scheduled later in the day.

Neither Sawant nor her staff member would answer any questions following the briefing.

She is expected to address the media after the inauguration at 3:30 p.m.

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