Urban League President Pamela Banks on Council Member Kshama Sawant: She can talk a good game about equity, but you can’t make an impact for the people of Seattle when you’re raising money in Manhattan.
Urban League President Pamela Banks on Council Member Kshama Sawant: She can talk a good game about equity, but you can’t make an impact for the people of Seattle when you’re raising money in Manhattan." Banks photo courtesy of campaign/Sawant photo by Kelly O

Socialist City Council Member Kshama Sawant was in New York City this weekend asking people for money for her reelection campaign.

"Please bring your checkbook and consider donating generously!" read the Facebook page for a fundraiser organized by the New York City chapter of Sawant's party, Socialist Alternative. "Solidarity!"

The timing was good for Sawant, coming during the same weekend as the Left Forum, where she spoke Saturday (and as her most formidable opponent, Urban League President Pamela Banks, is amassing a sizable war chest with help from real estate and landlord representatives while Sawant calls for rent control).

There was even a hashtag for the NYC fundraiser: #ReadyForKshama


But it was also the perfect moment for Banks to seize on to argue her case against Sawant—that Sawant's not accessible enough to the people of Seattle and not focused enough on the issues facing the district they're both fighting to represent (District 3, covering Capitol Hill and the Central District).

Here's the subject of a press release Banks and her campaign consultant (and Mayor Ed Murray ally) Christian Sinderman sent out today: "Sawant Skips City Council Hearing on Transportation Equity to Raise Campaign Cash in New York City."

The meeting she missed was about various aspects of the mayor's $930 million transportation levy, including an equity analysis presentation that compared levels of funding in the levy for certain parts of town to vulnerable populations in those areas. (Quick note for the nerds: The press release's reference to this as a "hearing" isn't exactly right. Some public testimony was taken at this meeting, as it is before all council committee meetings, but the actual public hearing for citizens to comment on the levy is tomorrow at 5:30 pm.)

Banks' press release calls the absence "a clear sign of Sawant’s true focus."

“Actions speak louder than words—even for someone who speaks as noisily as Sawant,” Banks says in the press release. “She can talk a good game about equity, but you can’t make an impact for the people of Seattle when you’re raising money in Manhattan... We need council members who are present, attentive, and dedicated to reading the fine print, not jet setting in search of campaign cash."

Expect to see Banks' camp continue hammering on this as they challenge Sawant, whose national celebrity is—depending on which side you ask—either a sign of how powerfully her message resonates with the working class or a sign of how disconnected she is from the city issues (especially street-level stuff like potholes and streetlights, which could dominate the city's new district elections system).

Looking at the numbers, both sides have a case. Of Sawant's roughly $82,000 raised, 37 percent of it has come from outside city limits (more than the 22 percent of Banks' $48,000) and 16 percent has come from the district (less than the 33 percent of Banks' money that came from the district). But Sawant's average contribution is smaller—$110 to Banks' $227—and 43 percent of Sawant's donations are under $25 compared to just 6 percent of Banks'. Just looking at their District 3 money, Banks' $16,000 from the district was donated by 49 people; Sawant's $13,000 came from 73 people.

The New York City event raised about $9,000, according to Philip Locker, Sawant's campaign manager.

Locker says the issues Sawant fights for, like the minimum wage increase and housing affordability, are strengthened when other cities—like New York—have movements fighting for them too.

And, he says, missing Friday's meeting was in no way an indication that she's "taking a pass on the [transportation] levy," to which she plans to propose amendments soon.

"We've had to clarify this before to our slower friends in the establishment," Locker says, "but Kshama can multitask."