But this year's widespread anti-Pageler sentiment among the Democratic Party faithful is something new. Back in 1999, five of the seven Seattle Democratic districts supported Pageler, as did the King County Young Democrats, the Washington Conservation Voters, and the King County Democrats. This year, none of those groups gave Pageler the nod.
Last Tuesday, the 43rd District Democrats issued a tepid non-endorsement in a three-way ballot between Pageler, mainstream Dem Tom Rasmussen and long-shot opponent Dick Falkenbury. "Margaret was creamed," 43rd District chair Richard Kelley says.
Even that blunt assessment is putting it kindly: Pageler picked up just 38 percent of the district's votes; the majority, 55 percent, went to bland city bureaucrat Rasmussen, who's won sole endorsements (which usually require a two-thirds majority) from three of the six current Seattle Democratic groups.
Why the turnaround? Two reasons. First, Pageler, seeking her fourth council term, has a viable (if milquetoasty) opponent for the first time in years: A poll by Evans/McDonough, commissioned by Rasmussen's campaign, said 36 percent of respondents would vote for anyone other than Pageler. Second, after Pageler's 12 years on the council, her spotty record is starting to push many Dems into the anyone-but-Margaret camp. According to Kelley, Pageler lost her shot at his district's endorsement when she authorized the sale of Seattle's share of the dirty, coal-fired Centralia generating plant without locking in fixed-priced replacement power, exposing City Light to the unstable energy market. "A lot of the management decisions at City Light that have since come back to haunt them were set in motion by Margaret," who chaired the council's energy committee during the electricity crisis, Kelley says. Pageler was also a staunch proponent of logging in the Cedar River watershed, which provides Seattle's drinking water.
Pageler's conservative record isn't limited to environmental issues. She's been the council's most outspoken supporter of the so-called Sidran laws, including the car-impound ordinance (which allows cops to confiscate cars for unpaid parking tickets) the (since-overturned) poster ban, the parks-exclusion law, and the Teen Dance Ordinance (TDO). "We're totally against the civility laws" in Southeast Seattle, says 37th District chair Dian Ferguson, whose members dual-endorsed Pageler and Rasmussen. "I think Margaret makes the least credible case that she's a progressive council member," adds political consultant John Wyble, who has no candidates in Pageler's race. Pageler also looked for another job while she was serving on the council, applying (unsuccessfully) at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce (a story The Stranger broke in February 2002. It was a move that for many confirmed Pageler's lack of commitment to her council position.
Still, Pageler has one thing going for her: Long-term incumbents rarely lose in Seattle. And in an election that's focused on the council's alleged need for "maturity"--code for upholding the council's pro-business status quo--it remains Pageler's race to lose. Last week, despite mainstream Democrats' queasiness about supporting the three-term council member, the Seattle Times gave her its effusive endorsement.
