Democracts endorse socialists: The 43rd Legislative District Democrats (Capitol Hill, U-District, Walingford, SLU, Fremont, environs) made history this week by endorsing two socialists: District 3 city council incumbent Kshama Sawant and District 4 candidate Shaun Scott. Scott Alspach, chair of the district party, said: “With the vote tonight our membership made it very clear that we care more about the values a candidate holds than the labels they use.” Alspach said Sawant is a “strong advocate for workers, renter, and marginalized communities” and that Scott has “the clearest vision and strongest plans for addressing both housing affordability and climate change.”
The 43rd Dems also endorsed: District 6 candidate Dan Strauss and District 7 candidate Andrew Lewis.
What are the other Democratic district parties doing? I put all seven of Seattle’s legislative district party endorsements in one table. Each legislative district includes different council and county seats, which is why each district party doesn’t endorse in all of the city and county council positions.
Meanwhile, labor dithers: MLK Labor Council, the most powerful coalition of union groups in the county, declined to endorse in District 3 or in District 4 this week, according to a dispatch from Rich Smith. Neither Sawant nor Amazon-approved candidate Egan Orion could earn enough votes for an endorsement.
And the MLK Labor Council didn’t even hold a vote: On the race in District 4 between anti-Sound Transit 3 candidate Alex Pedersen and pro-Sound Transit 3 socialist Shaun Scott. Rich has some ideas about why labor is dithering on endorsing the two socialists (Sawant and Scott), and I have to agree: Labor’s arguments are absurd. Meanwhile, labor is giving a hall pass to the Amazon-backed candidates Alex Pedersen and Egan Orion by not campaigning for the clear progressives in those races.
MLK Labor Council is coming out of a bruising primary election: Remember what happened? They were unable to influence the three most contentious council districts. Their candidates in District 3 and District 4 (Zachary DeWolf and Emily Myers) failed to advance to the general election, and the labor council decided to not make a decision in the crowded District 6 race. Perhaps Seattle’s labor movement, which was once so strong it launched a general strike that caught international attention, is no longer the political beast it once was.
Meanwhile, Shaun Scott’s campaign unionizes:
It’s official!
I’m proud to work with the 1st ever unionized campaign staff in the history of Seattle elections.
The contract my campaign’s workers negotiated should set a standard for the protections campaign workers everywhere need.
This is what true labor power looks like. https://t.co/Zkzf84qLrg
— Shaun Scott for District 4✊🏾🏙 (@ElectScott2019) September 20, 2019
This is fucked up: The city of Seattle’s pension fund, called the Seattle City Employees Retirement System, owns over $800,000 in private prison stock, according to the Seattle Globalist. The fund includes stock of the company that owns the Northwest Detention Center, the Tacoma jail used by ICE.
Ann Davison Sattler thinks you should… thank your landlord? While Seattle’s renters deal with a housing crisis and price-gauging landlords, District 5 candidate Ann Davison Sattler has an interesting solution: say thank you.
Asked how she would help renters, Sattler says we should “be thankful for the landlords who are taking care of their tenants. I hear from lots of people who are tenants who are thankful for their landlords.”
— Erica C. Barnett (@ericacbarnett) September 20, 2019
As a renter living in Sattler’s district, I can confirm that I will never be thankful for the capitalist scum who own my house. And I doubt a thank you note will stop them from sending 10 percent rent increases every. Fucking. Year.
King County Council candidate thinks she can make transit free(ish) in King County: King County Council candidate Abigail Doerr released a plan this week to change how the county pays for and operates transit. Doerr wants to (1) Reduce the cost of transit by forcing employers to pay for transit passes and “prioritize our investments” to get transit passes to everyone else [although she doesn’t get too specific with how this would work]; (2) make Seattle’s Transportation Benefit District, which raises $20 through annual vehicle licensing fees for transit projects, countywide; (3) fund transit with a progressive business tax instead of the county’s current use of the sales tax; and (4) change fare enforcement uniforms so they are “more like Mr. Rogers and less like the paramilitary—fare enforcement are not trained to keep us safe, they are trained to collect fares.”
Mark Solomon says we should “think twice” about bike lanes: District 2 candidates Mark Solomon and Tammy Morales faced off at a debate on Tuesday. You can watch the entire video below, but one exchange, highlighted by Daniel Beekman of the Times, sums up how different the two world views of the candidates are:
During one rapid exchange, Solomon said, “What I’m saying is there has to be balance, not that we don’t need bike lanes.”
Morales replied, “There is no balance right now. It’s all about cars.”
Democracy levels are at an all-time high: Eight of the city council’s 14 city council candidates have hit the $150,000 maximum in Democracy Vouchers, meaning Seattle residents can’t send them any more of the city’s public financing vouchers. Those candidates include: Lisa Herbold (D1), Tammy Morales (D2), Egan Orion (D3), Alex Pedersen (D4), Shaun Scott (D4), Dan Strauss (D6), Heidi Wills (D6), and Jim Pugel (D7).
