Seattle mayoral candidate Ed Murray accepted free meals from lobbying firms who work with Comcast on 12 occasions over the first four months of this year—with a total estimated benefit of $250.
Murray has been working to distance himself from Comcast in the last few days amid scrutiny of thousands of dollars the company and its officials have given to Murray's campaign and groups supporting his candidacy. The Democratic state senator called a news conference on Friday evening to address the issue.
Mayor Mike McGinn has questioned Murray's ties to Comcast, noting that the support comes at a time that the city is moving ahead with a public-private broadband network being developed in conjunction with Gigabit Squared. Murray has said he wouldn't disrupt the Gigabit project.
Murray says the meetings with Comcast earlier this year were related to a bill that protected state revenues.
