From the Jun 17 – Jun 23, 2004 issue

News

Dirty Tricks

Heavy Hitters Use Misleading Tactics to Boost Anti-Monorail Campaign

by Erica C. Barnett

It's easy to assume, as Seattle Times editorialists and some monorail opponents have, that a widely distributed letter by four ex-mayors expressing serious concerns about the monorail amounted to a call to kill the project. The letter, signed by former Mayors Norm Rice, Charles Royer, Wes Uhlman, and Paul Schell, has been used as ammunition by a growing number of groups that are angling to slow down or stop the project, from the Second Avenue property owners behind OnTrack to the Hummer-driving West Seattleites backing the Monorail Recall campaign. In reality, however, the mayors' letter amounts to little more than a fairly measured request to "consider [the monorail] carefully" before signing off on the project--something city council members say they are doing already. And at least one of the four former mayors who signed the letter says he's unhappy with the way it's now being used--as fodder for the forces that want to kill the project.

The connection between the mayors' letter and the anti-monorail forces is no coincidence. The letter, down to the wording and the timing of its release, was orchestrated by a powerful PR firm working for OnTrack, which is trying to put the brakes on the project. (Second Avenue property owners believe the project will decrease their property values and block their views.) Gogerty Stark Marriott Inc., the firm that drafted the letter, has long ties to light rail agency Sound Transit and provided meeting space for anti-monorail forces during the 2002 campaign; principal Bob Gogerty was deputy mayor under former Mayor Uhlman.

Because committees that aren't involved in an ongoing election don't have to file campaign-finance disclosure reports, there's no way to know how much OnTrack is spending and on what. In a phone conversation Monday, Don Stark, a principal in the PR powerhouse, acknowledged an ongoing relationship with OnTrack, but wouldn't say how much the firm was being paid. "We don't have to disclose that because we're not a campaign," Stark said. In a brief conversation at city hall on Monday, OnTrack rep Henry Aronson denied flatly that Gogerty Stark Marriott was being compensated for its efforts.

Stark says he doesn't recall telling Schell or the other mayors that OnTrack had solicited the letter. "I just called them and talked to them about their concerns. I didn't tell them [that I was working for OnTrack]," Stark says.

That information would have made a crucial difference to former Mayor Schell, who says he wouldn't have signed off on the letter if he'd known it was part of "an effort to kill the monorail."

"I don't like the way the letter's being used," Schell says. "The monorail ought to be given a shot... rather than this sabotage." Schell's suggestion for monorail opponents: "Keep your pants on until the [project] bids come in." (Engineer Jon Magnusson, who held a press conference denouncing the monorail three weeks ago, has also been seen brandishing the mayors' letter. He says he was given a copy of the letter by architect and monorail opponent Jud Marquardt, and says he has no idea who wrote it.) Even cosigner Royer, a leader of the anti-monorail campaign, says he didn't intend to lend support to the Monorail Recall campaign, which has posted the letter prominently on its website. "I don't like these kind of ping-pong, back-and-forth fights" in which citizens try to undo citizen initiatives, Royer says. "I'm going to wait and see what the council does."

Stark says his only intention in distributing the letter was to caution council members to "hold [the monorail agency] to the promises it made before the election," and adds that his firm, unlike Monorail Recall, isn't trying to kill the project. "I respect the [2002] vote," Stark says. "But I want to make absolutely sure that whatever promises were made, we hold [the monorail agency] to them."

Does getting that assurance necessitate dirty tricks like using an ex-mayor's signature to further a cause--the anti-monorail campaign--that he doesn't support? Stark says what the anti-monorail groups do with the mayors' letter is their own business: "Once it becomes a matter of public record, it can be used by other groups," such as Monorail Recall.

The free ammunition has only helped Monorail Recall's flailing campaign, which recently hired paid signature gatherers to bolster its petition drive. Although pros like Stark pooh-pooh Monorail Recall ("I'm not impressed so far," the longtime operative opines), the group is backed by heavy hitters that rival OnTrack's Second Avenue supporters. Backer No. 1: real-estate developer Martin Selig, who's donated $9,000--nearly half of Monorail Recall's contributions. Selig, who is also a member of OnTrack, owns an office building on Second Avenue worth $80 million. And his personal attorney, William McInerney (whose office is in Selig's Second Avenue building), recently took over as the attorney for Monorail Recall in a ballot-title challenge filed by monorail proponents. "I've represented Martin for years," McInerney says. "Certainly" the connection with Selig was the reason he was retained as Monorail Recall's attorney, McInerney says. That case goes before a judge on Friday, June 17.

The growing opposition to the monorail didn't stop the city council from approving the monorail alignment on Monday; if anything, the anti-monorail rumblings only strengthened the resolve of those who may have been sitting on the fence, like Council Member Peter Steinbrueck, who vociferously opposed the council's chosen route through Seattle Center. Ultimately, the decision--which came after hours of discussion, spiked amendments, and hand-wringing by all nine council members--was almost anticlimactic: The council passed the monorail alignment in a surprisingly lopsided 8-1 vote, with Richard Conlin casting the lone vote against.

barnett@thestranger.com