⢠State senator Ed Murray and Seattle City Council member Bruce Harrellâboth running for mayorâeach released TV ads last week, talking up their stories as political leaders and portraying the current mayor as an ineffective failure. But the ads lacked any mention of how Murray and Harrell would govern differently. For his part, McGinn released his own ad, promoting his successes, including programs to augment public-school funding and promote better attendance. On substance, McGinn wins this round.
⢠Charlie Staadecker, the bow-tie-wearing businessman currently running for mayor, says he refuses to participate in Candidate Survivor, a lighthearted candidate forum on July 16 at Showbox at the Market geared toward young voters (cosponsored by Washington Bus and The Stranger). Staadecker has instead invited all eight other candidates to his own forum that night, on the topic of homelessness, because "he believes Survivor is an insult to the office of the mayor," according to a source.
⢠Speaking of insults to the office of the mayor, Staadecker released his own TV ad in which he parodies a commercial for Dos Equis beer.
⢠Two-thirds of Seattle employers were not complying with the city's paid sick leave law when it went into effect last September, according to a University of Washington study released July 8. The law, which applies to more than 11,000 local businesses, encourages employees to stay home when sick (up to nine days a year). The study, which randomly surveyed 1,400 Seattle employers, also notes, "Among employers who know about the Ordinance and do not currently offer paid leave, only four in ten plan to change their policies."
⢠At a Seattle City Council discussion on the gender wage gap in Seattle, which was found by a recent study to be the worst in the nation's big cities, there was lots of talk of the city's own report on gender pay equity. But while Council Member Harrell and Mayor McGinn both seem keen to see the study, it hasn't yet been released.
⢠A coalition led by the League of Women Voters, El Centro de la Raza, and the Washington Education Association filed a lawsuit on July 3 to invalidate last year's charter schools initiative. The plaintiffs persuasively argue that because charter schools are not controlled by school districts, they do not qualify as "common schools" under the law.
