Well, this is subtle!

Mayor Ed Murray and city council member Tom Rasmussen are introducing a new city ethics rule that bars elected officials from "engag[ing] in campaign activities at, or adjacent to, any official city public event that is organized by that elected official or any employee of the official’s office." The ban would apply both "during the event" and "at any time that attendees of the public event are present."

Sound familiar?

This came up late last month, when council members Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata hosted a housing affordability town hall in council chambers and, at the same event, Sawant's campaign was gathering signatures to get her on the ballot.

Soon after, council member Sally Bagshaw (who said the pro-rent-control event was actually a "political rally") and an anonymous tipster complained to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission that Sawant had violated city ethics rules against using city resources to campaign. Sawant's camp argued that since she herself wasn't collecting signatures, they were in the clear. We're still waiting to hear what the SEEC rules.

The city's rules currently say, basically, that elected officials can't use city resources for campaigning. That includes "stationery, postage, machines, and equipment... employees of the office or agency during working hours, vehicles, office space, publications of the office or agency, and clientele lists of persons served by the officer or agency."

Murray's new initiative would add the aforementioned language about campaigning at city events—"common sense legislation," according to Rasmussen, who's sponsoring it in the council.

“City Hall should be—and is—a forum for ideas and civic conversation," Murray said in a statement today. "But taxpayer-funded events should never supplement or support outside campaign activities. We need to ensure public resources are not being used for political purposes. Electioneering and fundraising have no place at, or during, city-sponsored events.”

This is a clear jab at Sawant, and things are bound to get chilly as the council considers and votes on the new rule, giving all the members another chance to criticize her for a perceived mingling of campaigning and governing.

Mostly, though, I can't wait to see what the Seattle Times editorial board has to say!

I have a request in for comment from Sawant and will update this post when I hear back.

UPDATE:

Here's what Sawant had to say by e-mail:

“Seattleites expect elected officials to be focusing on the housing crisis facing our city, as was seen by the huge turnout of 550 people at the April 23rd Affordable Housing Town Hall demanding rent control.

Instead, some politicians are prioritizing legislation to effectively silence free speech activity of volunteers in grassroots campaigns. These same politicians blocked campaign finance reform in 2014.

I also have serious concerns that this ill-conceived and politically motivated ordinance is an unconstitutional restriction of free speech of ordinary people, as distinct from the activities of elected officials and their staff, which is currently regulated.”