Election Best Of
Biggest Non-Issue Issue: Judy Nicastro, Heidi Wills were 100 percent right to join the five-vote majority giving Frank Colacurcio Jr. use of eight parking spaces (on his property) in exchange for requiring the spots to be used for Rick's employees, requiring a security attendant to be present on the lot, and requiring a maximum height barrier and a landscaped buffer between the lot and the adjacent property.
Worst Double Standard: The Seattle Times wants readers to believe its strip club scandal coverage was about a larger issue: the corrupting influence of campaign cash. If the Times were actually serious about that, why endorse Jim Compton? Compton's support for Paul Allen's agenda (correlating to $13K in contributions to Compton this year) shows that--as opposed to the Times' rezone punching bag, Judy Nicastro--Compton is really the council member for sale.
Nicastro, on the other hand, flips the bird to her donors regularly. Nicastro "rewarded" her housing-community supporters with a fuck-you on the housing levy; she "rewarded" labor donors by voting against them on Richard Hedreen's hotel expansion; and she voted down key biotech South Lake Union giveaways to Vulcan and Vulcan associates like Schnitzer Northwest LLC (despite corresponding donations). If money in politics was the issue--as the Times led its readers to believe--they oughta go to the videotape.
Meanwhile the Times criticized Nicastro for doing her constituents' bidding--her "flirtation with rent control." What the fuck? Fighting rising rents is exactly what Nicastro ran on in 1999. She won and did exactly what her renter constituents--not her big donors--asked her to.
Stupidest Decision: Given the current focus on campaign finance, it's frustrating that a federal court decision undermining campaign finance reform was issued during this election. Western Washington U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik ruled that Freedom Socialist candidate Linda Averill could conceal names of contributors--agreeing that socialists are "subject to threats, harassment, or reprisals." Does Lasnik live in Seattle, where Lenin statues outnumber Republicans one to nothing?
Thanks to Averill, Paul Allen and his development associates now have a potential legal precedent for concealing donations.
Most Desperate Plea for Attention: In a ploy to make itself newsworthy, the fading Seattle Post-Intelligencer endorsed fringe candidate Christal Wood. By calling the obviously erratic and inexperienced Wood "disciplined," the P-I emphasized its own shortcomings, making it plain that the ed board has not been paying attention to this year's races.
Biggest Miscalculation: Standout candidate Darryl Smith should have run against status quo incumbents like Compton. He would have won. Everyone knows it.
