Comments

1
Dirty, dirty politics. I wonder if Mallahan will make a statement? Good example of why we need public campaign financing (and why I don't want Mallahan as mayor - I don't like the people who feel they will benefit with him in office.)
2
Yeah, but, like, they aren't related to him! So it's okay!

Rules only apply to The Stranger and Mike McGinn.
3
There's a new McGinn anti-Malahan ad on TV today that links overspending on the tunnel with light rail and Brightwater!

Amazing, as that's the first time I've heard any Seattle politician make the linkage.

The accusation was the Mallahan will directly pocket money from the tunnel -- they actually said that in the ad! Then they said that cost overruns would bilk the average household for $14,000!

Dam, the ins are chewing each other up!
4
Man, I'll bet we all wish each of us had $15,000 per family to pay for the cost overruns on the Billionaires' Tunnel.

Cause that's how much it will cost us.

Three times the fine they gave Mallahan.

Each.
5
Wow- fined 5k for failing to disclose 100k. That'll stop'em in the future.
6
so that leaves them with only 95K in unreported contributions. TAKE THAT!
7
$5k on a $100k+ violation? And only $2,500 if they don't commit another violation in the next two years (as in the next council race).

So that's a 2% cost of doing business. The Ethics chief said it was the most serious violation in the last five years. And yet the commission said today PACs can pay 2% more to simply not follow the law.

What a total and complete joke.

Why don't they just disband the whole thing and save us from the charade?

By the way, here are the members of the "ethics commission":

Robert Mahon, Chair, is a partner at Perkins Coie LLP, where he practices in the area of state and local taxation. He is currently the chair of the Washington State Bar Association's State and Local Tax Committee and teaches state and local tax as an adjunct professor at the University of Washington School of Law. Mr. Mahon earned his B.A. from Grinnell College, his J.D. from the University of Iowa, and his LL.M. in Taxation from the University of Washington. In June 2004, the City Council appointed Mr. Mahon to the Commission. He has been reappointed and is serving a term that expires December 31, 2010.

Tarik Burney, Vice Chair, is a 1995 graduate of the University of Washington School of Law, and graduated from Brown University in 1990. He has worked in Washington State politics in a variety of positions including as the Political Director for the Washington State Democrats, the Assistant to the Political Director of the Washington State Labor Council (AFL-CIO) and as a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Mr. Burney is also part-owner of European Vine Selections, a local wine store in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Mr. Burney is an avid tennis player and competes in regional tournaments, coaching kids (especially his two boys) and adults (sometimes his wife and mixed doubles partner) throughout the year. Mr. Burney is in his first term as a mayoral appointee. His term expires December 31, 2009.

Ed Carr oversees the corporate ethics and compliance program at Avanade, Inc. where he is responsible for cultivating company values, developing training and awareness programs, and investigating allegations. He previously was the Director of Ethics and Business Conduct for The Boeing Company, where he managed a global team of ethics advisors and developed a comprehensive enterprise level compliance program. He is a member of the Northwest Ethics Network and the organizing committee for the national intercollegiate ethics bowl and chairs the Northwest regional intercollegiate ethics bowl. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and a Master’s of Science in Finance, both from Seattle University. He completed an Executive Leadership Program at the University of Notre Dame in 2002, and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Carr was appointed by the other six Commissioners and confirmed by the City Council in January, 2008. His term expires December 31, 2009.

Lynne Iglitzin earned her Ph.D. at Bryn Mawr College in Political Science, her master's degree in Political Science at the University of Minnesota and her undergraduate degree at Barnard College. She has previously served on the Office of Professional Accountability Review Board and is a former chair of the Seattle Human Rights Commission. She has also served on the Youth in Focus board, the Northwest Women's Law Center board and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington State board. Her professional experience includes mediation, research and academia. Ms. Iglitzin was appointed to the Commission by the City Council and confirmed by the Council on March 12, 2007 to a term that expires December 31, 2009.

Nancy Bickford Miller is a lawyer with the Washington State Bar Association's Office of Disciplinary Counsel, which investigates alleged violations of ethical rules by lawyers. She was previously a partner with the Stoel Rives law firm. Past community service positions include: President of the Mountaineers Foundation; President of the League of Women Voters of Seattle; and Board Chair of REI. She is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Washington School of Law. In May of 2005, the City Council appointed Ms. Miller to the Commission. She has been reappointed and is serving a term that expires December 31, 2010.

Michele Radosevich is a partner in the firm of Davis Wright Tremaine, where she practices in the areas of commercial litigation, lobbying and campaign finance regulatory compliance. Prior to joining the firm in 1995, Ms. Radosevich was Director of Government Relations for the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, Assistant Director of the Washington Department of Revenue, and Director of Government Relations for the Washington Education Association. Before coming to Seattle, Ms. Radosevich was a State Senator for the State of Wisconsin. Ms. Radosevich was first appointed by the Mayor in February 2003 to a term that expired December 31, 2005. She was reappointed by the Mayor to a term that expired December 31, 2008. (See below.)

Bill Sherman is a partner at Sherman & Leary PLLC, where he practices in the areas of civil litigation, government relations, political compliance, and legislative analysis. Previously, he served as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for King County, and as an associate at Davis Wright Tremaine LLC. Mr. Sherman earned his B.A. from Wesleyan University, and his J.D. from the University of Michigan, where he was editor-in-chief of the Michigan Law Review. He was appointed by the Mayor in 2009, and is serving a term that expires December 31, 2011.

8
i'm so bored with politics.
9
@3: That's not a super new ad, it's been running for at least a week or so.
10
Before everyone starts hyperventalating, the finances WERE disclosed to the State Public Disclosure commission. For reasons that surpass understanding, the City of Seattle maintains at is own, parallel, and some would redundant, disclosure office called SEEC, with virtually the same reporting rules, and even using the same reporting software. It's quite imaginable that whoever was doing their PDC filing was unaware that they needed to file a duplicate record with Seattle's own commission, and apparently Seattle's commission agreed that the failure to file a duplicate was inadvertent, overruling Director Barrett and lowering their fine.

Barrett's comment that the SEEC disclosure site is somehow easier to use is kinda pathetic and definitely a matter of opinion. It's like he feels the need to justify his office's existence or something.
11
OH GOD - we must stop the totally corrupt fire fighters league at all cost!!!

IF this is worst, we are in good shape by a factor of 1000 compared to other places.

VERY distinguished volunteer commission. Real talent. Impressed by the number of advanced degrees.

ALL the fuss is silly. Voters could give a shit about such a minor infraction by the - OH MY GOD FIRE FIGHTERS - only the most respected people in our society.

Mc Ginn people are having mental breakdowns. Sad. They need to spend the weekend binge drinking very cheap booze, like the Stranger staff. Find some of that Mexican weed that has been sprayed and gives you horrid head aches the day after ... by Tuesday you will care about nothing and that will keep the pain at bay.

Good luck Joe. Welcome to the snake pit aka. the Mayor's Office.

12
Seems like we need to adjust how the fines are set: that fine should have been more like $50,000.
13
What we need are jail terms.

I suggest the City Attorney stop wasting our tax dollars on prosecuting MJ and get back to work jailing these guys instead.
14
No, Roddy @10, it's not "quite imaginable" that somebody at the Firefighters union didn't know about the City's reporting requirement. Of all the unions involved in City politics, the Firefighters are the most sophisticated. That their president didn't know about the City reporting requirement is impossible to imagine.

And the McGinn ad with the $15,000 overrun cost for the Alaskan Way tunnel bypass to each Seattleite -- that's bogus too. The state law the tries to impose cost overruns onto Seattle says they apply to property owners benefitted by the tunnel -- not ALL Seattle taxpayers. Sheesh.

Day after the primary I became a McGinn supporter, but I'm voting for Mallahan.
15
The fine should be $100 (or whatever the total raised was) and go to fund the election watchdog groups.
16
Sorry, that's "should be $100K".
17
Will: Are you suggesting we imprison our firefighters for not knowing reporting rules... what happens if the jail catches on fire?
18
I didn't know the firefighters supported Mallahan. But it makes since. They are one group who truly cares about Seattle. Now I KNOW I'll vote for Mallahan.
19
@13

SEEC yesterday fined City Attorney Tom Carr for not reporting hundreds of dollars in donations from the lawyer for Rick's strip club/Colacurcios.

What kind of city attorney can't follow the rules?

Oh wait, he explained what kind...the kind who says his job is to represents the officials at city hall (himself) not us, the people.

I guess this is why Carr hasn't even issued a public statement on this ethics violation, at least I haven't seen any.

Given that Rosellini is all over his website, it's hard to imagine he didn't know who the attorney was months ago when he got the donation. You have to presume he's writing thank you notes.

So to get to your question, no it's unlikely Tom Carr will favor jail terms for people who violate the SEEC rules.

And this won't be one area where he "sees a problem" and takes leadership to suggest changing the law, duh!

And to the folks whining that firefighters shouldn't be penalized for breaking the rules: they guy resonsible is the HEAD of the firefighters the HEAD of a HUGE lobbying group and YES if he breaks the city's basic ethics rules he SHOULD BE FIRED FROM HIS CITY JOB.

Good god if you at work broke rules like that leading your company to be fined, or leading you to be fined $5000 YOU WOULD BE FIRED.

Let's how long it takes for Tom Carr to explain to us why this guy should be fired...oh wait, Carr already explained it, his job is to represent officialdom, not to represent us, the people.
20
@14

you can argue it benefits us all.

also taking your point, that would mean a smaller subset of property owners such as "all property onwers by the portals (Vulcan) all along hte wtaerfront and all folks downtown and in lower Quenn Ann" would bear the overruns alone, so you would see a $300,000 hit on some condo owner downtown, that's so ridiculous it's not going to happen but this just shows the whole tunnel plan is a sham. There is no plan and it's not moving forward and everyone supporting it knows that and is lying to us.
21
@10 you are so right, officials like wayne barnett should just ignore their responsibility, and they shouldn't enforce the laws they are supposed to enforce. we shouldn't expect the head of the whole firefigher's political group to know the rules, and if he breaks the most simple rule of all that everyone in politics knows (you report to SEEC too) then we should assume it was an oversight and he should get no penalty. All the officials involved who broke the rules should face no sanction, but the ones who obeyed the rules (Barnett) should be criticized.

You know, you're right that IS the AIG "business model" that Mallahan would implement. The ones imposing cost risks on others don't need to follow the rules and the regulators should back off.

You show complete cognitive harmony.
22
@14: Looks like you don't know how an LID works.

For a project of this magnitude, you won't get property owner consensus. You just won't. The number of protests will stop funding dead.

This would require a flat levy, so good luck with that.
23
@22 The tunnel is entirely paid for by State transportation funds, the City money is for non-tunnel issues. You are ignoring the fact that even McGinn & Tonic will have to come up with money for the seawall and utility relocation. Issuing a policy paper and having a town hall can only go so far, especially when you consider about 6 people usually attend, all of them groupies that follow him to every event. Cult worship isn't a funding source for city infrastructure.
24
"ALL the fuss is silly. Voters could give a shit about such a minor infraction by the - OH MY GOD FIRE FIGHTERS - only the most respected people in our society."

If they want to be respected they need to follow the same rules that all other people in society follow.
25
Read the article. It wasn't the firefighters. It was ANOTHER PAC, set up by the guy who runs the firefighters PAC.

I believe Kenny Stuart when he says he made an honest mistake. And you know what? The SEEC agrees.

The fine amount is small, but the damage to the firefighters reputation and Kenny Stuart's reputation isn't.

The firefighters have tried very hard for the past couple years to have a say in how our city is run. They want nothing more than to be listened to and to have their opinions respected.

Maybe we should ask why they feel they have to spend money to that end. Shouldn't the public and the city listen to them without the need for so much politics?

Rest assured. Fine or no fine, Stuart will never make this mistake again.
26
Until next election.
27
I'm with @15. It should be a dollar-for-dollar fine, otherwise where's the deterrent? Frankly, if it's Republicans it should be a $3 fine for each $1 raised. Just because.

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