Channeling Holden Caulfield

Political consultant Cathy Allen is a phony. She's one of those women who talks a bunch about empowering other women, only she runs political campaigns for old men like Richard McIver and Jim Compton. That drives me crazy, if you want to know the truth.

Then when young female politicians like Judy Nicastro and Heidi Wills come along looking for campaign advice, Cathy Allen discourages them. I mean, some help to women--trying to sweet-talk Heidi out of $10,000 to run a focus group, after telling Heidi she only had a slim chance of winning. A goddam focus group. Phony stuff like that kills me. And she told Judy to wear more makeup. She really did. Neither Judy nor Heidi worked with Cathy Allen after that, and they both won anyway.

I'm telling you all this because last week, the city council--starring old McIver and Compton--spent $6,000 for a Cathy Allen media seminar. ["Payback Time," Josh Feit, Jan 31]. And get this: Cathy Allen--the vice president of the goddam National Women's Political Caucus--hired three men to present. Despite the fact that there are plenty of female reporters in town, old Allen brought in former Seattle Weekly scribe James Bush, KIRO radio host Dave Ross, and former KIRO TV news editor Rick Shenkman.

Old Cathy Allen isn't too good at media relations in the first place, if you want to know the truth. If she's so smart about the media, how come she couldn't see the council was going to get trashed by the media for paying her to run a lousy seminar?

If Cathy Allen knew anything about the council's crumby media relations, she would have told them one thing and one thing only: Fix Barbara Hadley--the city council's administrative manager. Hadley has the knack for annoying the hell out of city hall reporters like me. She really does. For example, when I called old Hadley about the Cathy Allen seminar, to ask if it was open to the public, do you know what Hadley said? All mocking, she said: "Well, we can't throw you out." That was her only answer. "Well, we can't throw you out." Right off the bat, she makes you hate the goddam council. She has crummy manners, if you ask me.

Barbara Hadley is the same woman who only gave me half of the documents I asked for when I made a public records request last October. And she said I had no business requesting the lousy documents anyway. Isn't that why they have public records laws? I wonder if Council President Peter Steinbrueck knows what Hadley's up to. Boy, someone ought to tell him about old Hadley. Someone really should.

josh@thestranger.com