While placard-carrying protesters are sure to converge outside the Washington Convention Center to heckle the corporate chieftains and heads of state at November's World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, WTO officials might also get an earful inside the meeting hall. Local corporate host Boeing, the $56 billion Seattle mega corporation, recently found itself on the losing side of a WTO ruling that foiled a tax break for U.S.-based corporations. The tax loophole, which allowed companies to exempt up to 15 percent of export earnings, helped Boeing save $130 million in 1998 -- more than any other U.S. company. JOSH FEIT
Kill Your Landlord
Urban populist dynamo and city council candidate Judy Nicastro is worried that her decision to hype renters' rights has pigeon-holed her as a one-issue candidate. She's also worried that the rhetoric may be scaring the hell out of the "Big Daddy Donors," as she calls them. Nicastro, however, isn't doing much to calm their fears. At a recent wine-tasting fundraiser at La Buca Restaurant, she provided little chocolate houses (eat the rich?) and little chocolate apartment buildings (eat your landlord?) as treats. "We were told you're supposed to eat chocolate with red wine," Nicastro's campaign manager Jill Berkey says. The event, which cost about $1,000, raised $4,000. JF
This Just In!
The white man posing as Jesus Christ for all these years is a guy named Cesare Borgia, the second son of Pope Alexander VI of Rome. This bit of info was revealed last week by House of Israel black militants, who were street-preaching for race war at Westlake Plaza. A leaflet handed out by the group explains Borgia's sinister significance: "He was originally painted by Leonardo da Vinci in 1492, the same year Christopher Columbus began the invasion of what became known as the Americas." JF
Kill Your Copy Machine
When the King County Democrats came out with their all-inclusive endorsements last week -- officially supporting as many as four candidates in one race -- the process seemed to lack meaning. However, there was one loud message to be gleaned. Position 1 candidate Daniel Norton, former chair of the King County Ds, failed to get his own group's nod.
The party was reportedly disappointed with Norton's fiduciary skills. Norton left the Ds with a $15,000 debt. As chair between December '96 and December '98, Norton says, "We were in better shape [when I left] than when I came in." He blames $5,000 of the final debt on a temperamental office copy machine which, due to poor service, he refused to pay for. JF
