Washington State House candidate and We Heart Seattle Executive Director Andrea Suarez is running in one of bluest, queerest districts in the state, yet she could not or would not answer the Stranger Election Control Board’s (SECB) basic questions about police union bargaining and transgender health care for minors.
In an endorsement meeting last month, The Stranger asked 43rd Legislative District candidates if they “would support a bill that makes it against state law for officers to bargain over accountability issues” and if “transgender children had the right to make medical decisions with consultation from their doctors.”
Statewide Poverty Action Network lobbyist Shaun Scott answered yes to both questions. With some prodding, so did Qualtrics technical account manager Daniel Carusello. (Scott and Carusello were later endorsed by the SECB and the Seattle Times Editorial Board, respectively. Suarez has received few endorsements, but she has put down a lot of yard signs in the 43rd and has raised a lot of money.)
The Stranger tried to reach Suarez for an interview multiple times, but she dodged and asked for one to two weeks to prepare her answers and added that a “trans friend” on her campaign was “educating” her. As of press time, she still hasn’t given an answer to either question.
Taking Accountability Measures Off the Bargaining Table
In our meeting last month, The Stranger asked all candidates, “Would you support a bill that makes it against state law for officers to bargain over accountability issues?”
Carusello, who answered first, said he would.
Suarez couldn’t answer, seemed baffled by the premise of the question, and then asked if we were talking about whether police should have unions at all.
When the SECB restated the question and she still seemed confused, we explained that when officers are bargaining for their contract, they’re allowed to squabble with the City over accountability measures.
“I don’t think I’m really clear, so I’m just not going to answer the question,” Suarez said.
Not every candidate is an expert on every issue, but police bargaining is not an arcane topic, especially for a candidate running to represent voters in a district that was a seat of protest against racist policing after Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in 2020.
According to police reform advocates, including the ACLU of Washington, police collective bargaining agreements have historically been a major obstacle to the police accountability measures desperately needed in places like Seattle. Under the City’s latest contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild, which was signed in May, officers received a 24% raise with few accountability strings attached.
In the meeting, Scott said he would support the legislation and took the opportunity to snipe at Suarez. He said it was “unconscionable” that somebody could live in Seattle for the last four years and not have an understanding of, or opinion on, the issue.
“We’ve lived through the largest civil rights uprising in American history that took place here,” Scott said. “Our district was the epicenter of it. You would be a tremendous disappointment to our constituents were you to voice the opinion that you just voiced and not know about the issues. There were so many who were in the 43rd that were on the streets, that were protesting, that understand that this is a life or death question.”
As he spoke, Suarez hummed agreeably before defending herself.
“I’m just trying to catch up,” Suarez said. “I am a political outsider. I am very strong on some certain issues. The reason why I’m not taking a position is because we are down in our agency and I think we need to recruit police, whether they’re a civilized, a non-badge, non-gun version.”
As for the police union, it has hampered that non-badge, non-gun option.
Trans Rights
During the meeting, The Stranger also asked, “Do transgender children have the right to make medical decisions with consultation from their doctors?”
Scott answered that he did support transgender children making these medical decisions with their doctors. After a clarifying question about age, Carusello said he also supported those decisions.
Saurez said she did not have enough “information” to answer the question, but that she had heard “controversies” about gender-affirming care for minors, and that clinics around the world were “actually being shut down” over the practice.
Again, she didn’t seem to understand what we were asking.
In a later text, Suarez implied our question was about giving trans youth at any age access to gender-affirming care without parental involvement, but that is not what The Stranger asked. (In Washington, gender-affirming care generally requires the consent of a parent or guardian, and certain procedures are only available to adults; before puberty, international standards dictate that treatment is limited to social support and changes like names, pronouns, and clothes.)
It is straightforwardly true that clinics are closing or reducing their medical services for transgender children, but the reason they’re doing that is crucial.
Providers are not responding to a significant change in scientific evidence, which overwhelmingly supports transgender health care for children and adults as necessary and beneficial to the well-being of their patients. They’re not deviating from the medical establishment, either, where there is widespread consensus in favor of gender-affirming care for minors from more than 60 major medical groups.
They’re responding to a hostile political climate that has produced 1,200 anti-trans bills from Republican-controlled state legislatures in two years, as well as rulings from politically appointed regulatory bodies in states like Florida. As it stands, almost half of all US states have passed laws to ban–and in some cases criminalize–this care.
Suarez, herself a staunch abortion advocate who supports changing the state constitution to enshrine that right, should know how politics can stand in the way of choice.
“…Again, she didn’t seem to understand what we were asking.
In a later text, Suarez implied our question was about giving trans youth at any age access to gender-affirming care without parental involvement, but that is not what The Stranger asked.”
She didn’t understand it because it’s deliberately broad and leading, and you didn’t explain what the difference was.
“Our district was the epicenter of it.”
Shaun Scott needs to get out more. The West Seattle (Alaska) Junction hosted daily BLM events, and protesters shut down the entire length of California Ave SW on at least one occasion. No violence was reported at any of these events.
Here’s a suggestion: Try being a real journalist (instead of a lefty whackjob) and ask clear and concise questions. What you were trying to do is ask a “gotcha” question so you could pump up your new favorite socialist, Shaun Scott.
Nice try, Viv.
Folks, here is a great example of nutpicking for the cause. The reality is that she has NOT gotten an endorsement from anyone of importance and will not get anywhere. But by pretending she is still a real candidate, the activists at the Stranger can push perennial failed candidate and local gadfly Scott. Clowning this is a race between him and this person who’s already dead in the water. It’s an old trick of activists pretending to be journalists, and it’s great that The Stranger is giving us a free lesson on the technique. You can expect this game to continue through the primary when she loses, in the desperate hope of driving up Scott’s number AND hers. Last thing the wacktivists that run The Stranger nowadays want is the boring normie Carusello in the general, as Scott will lose embarrassingly again.
You have to laugh at Scott burbling his memories of how important and meaningful it was when we tried to start a new country at the Cal Anderson bathroom whose sole state project appeared to be getting black teenagers shot and killed
Suarez compared herself to Jesus when picking up what she deemed to be garbage. She’s awful.
“In an endorsement meeting last month, The Stranger asked 43rd Legislative District candidates if they “would support a bill that makes it against state law for officers to bargain over accountability issues” and if “transgender children had the right to make medical decisions with consultation from their doctors.”
These are poorly worded questions. I’m not surprised there was confusion.
“In a later text, Suarez implied our question was about giving trans youth at any age access to gender-affirming care without parental involvement, but that is not what The Stranger asked.”
That’s how I interpreted the question as well. Did the Stranger provide any clarification? Seems like that would be the reasonable thing to do, at least if you wanted to provide objective reporting on candidates’ positions.
@4: Fact is, the nutjob Suarez has raised the most money in the race. She’s the darling of the NextDoor/Seattle Is Dying crowd. She’s a terrible person, but if you think she’s not a “real candidate” you are sadly mistaken.
@Aramis: It looks like it is hard for you to acknowledge that Suarez is a real candidate, doing real campaigning and working hard to improve the city and the world, with compassion, caring and action. She is a serious candidate who is relatively new to electoral politics and puts her mission and concerns about our region ahead of rhetoric.
She is wicked smart, listens and sees. She will represent the region well in the state if elected and will collaborate with all of her colleagues effectively because she is a nice person as well. She is not an ideologue. She is practical and focused on positive change, not talk and Socialist ideology.
Her main opponent Shaun Scott is Sawant lite. A declared Socialist whose party platform can be read here:
https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/
Read it carefully.
It is bemusing that Scott’s campaign and supporters say that Suarez is not a Democrat when he is clearly not. And that the 43rd district Dems and a number of electeds endorse him is indicative of a problem that needs correction, not doubling down on.
Many votes have been cast. There are 3 candidates. We will know very soon, 8 days, which of them will advance to the general. A run off between Suarez and Scott will give 2 clear choices to the voters. I would not be surprised if Suarez actually gets more votes in the primary.
Those in the vast middle who are using their eyes and seeing the progressive failures of the last decade in Seattle are actively responding in words, deeds and votes to reverse some of the disasters that have continued to damage the city at large along with the individuals who such policies have purported to help, while the reality is that these policies are helping to kill the addicted and those taken down by bullets.
@9 “She is wicked smart, listens and sees.”
She either wasn’t smart enough or didn’t listen and see enough to be able to take a position on some fairly pressing issues. In particular not knowing anything about police union bargaining, in a moment when “public safety” is top of mind for the electorate, is borderline disqualifying.
And to everyone complaining about the questions: if they were so bad how’d the other candidates manage to come up with answers? Suarez is a joke.
@4 “perennial failed candidate”
Scott has run for office exactly one time previously what are you even talking about
It was also funny to circuitously use “Should [X] be allowed to talk to [X]” as the framing device for both questions
@9: Suarez knocked on my door, so I give her credit for grassroots campaigning. However, she asked me zero questions about what issues were important to me, and basically used the moment to tell me HOW MUCH OF A DEMOCRAT she was (protest too much, Andrea?).
She strikes me as a loose cannon, unwilling to listen to opposing viewpoints. And comparing herself to Jesus was a dealbreaker.
I think there might have been a larger “civil rights uprising in American history“ in , maybe, somewhere around the mid-1960s? Just feel like I read about something like that once.
Researching an issue for follow up is a legitimate response to a nuanced policy question.
@8 @9 are perfect examples of this phenomenon from both sides. Note the lack of mention of boring normie Carusello, who has the ST endorsement among others. Much like MTK/Davison, Scott and Suarez need to generate the illusion of this being a two-person race, because only if that is the case do either win the general. Had Holmes passed the bar, he would have beaten NTK or Davison. They needed each other to win, just like Scott and Suarez do. This is why you will see The Stranger and the Nutty Right push this narrative as partners.
Enjoy the view behind the curtain of campaigns.
@15 the meeting was last month, the primary is next week, and she still hasn’t provided answers
@16 Fair comment re Carusello. He is making his mark on politics at age 26 and has earned respect for entering the race. We have likely not heard the last of him. Realistically he is unlikely to be in the top two based upon his low visibility and many declared fans of Suarez and Scott.
@13 – I seriously doubt Suarez sees herself as Jesus. Rather she was taunted at her lack of “credentials” to case work, and remarked that Jesus did not have credentials in his work among the poor. The reality is that indeed there are no requirements by the state to help others, and I would eat my shirt if the majority if any of those employed by the homeless-industrial complex have any state certification/licensure. Likewise those engaged in so called “mutual aid”, who only help themselves feel virtuous and redouble the despair on the streets with their tents,, needles and sandwiches.
@18: She wasn’t “taunted.” She was asked a question. And that’s her problem—she doesn’t like being questioned.
@18 “We have likely not heard the last of him. Realistically he is unlikely to be in the top two”
If that’s the case he’ll lose @4/16’s support since, according to them, one defeat makes someone a “perennial failed candidate”
“The reality is that indeed there are no requirements by the state to help others, and I would eat my shirt if the majority if any of those employed by the homeless-industrial complex have any state certification/licensure”
You don’t know what you’re talking about about. The State has clearly articulated requirements for licensure as a social worker or mental health counselor which can be found in RCW 18.225.090, and the Jesus quote was a direct response to her being questioned by news media whether she has any such license.
https://mynorthwest.com/3956330/in-plain-sight-critics-claim-we-heart-seattle-violates-homeless-peoples-rights/
“When asked by KIRO Newsradio if she had any official licensing from the state or anywhere else, her response shifted the conversation in a different direction. “I don’t know, did Jesus Christ have a license?” Suarez said.”
so
JC’s
Back?
resurectted
Just in time for
bibi’s genocide* to
go fool-on Nukular?
turn the mid-east
to glass omfg
w/Apologies to the
Grammar nazis who know Genocide
ain’t Genocide it’s simplyy a mass murder massacre
oh
& damn all them
women & children
they shouldda Never
voted for Hamas in 2007
*when they See it
@21*
apologies!
*w/Apologies to the
Grammar nazis who know Genocide
ain’t Genocide it’s simplyy a mass murder massacre
one per
customer
apparently
Suarez’s commitment and action to improve the suffering of our homeless community is extraordinary.
Scott’s word salad progressive blathering and inaction has been tried for the last 10 years by Sawant, Morales, and Mosqueda, and what did we get? High rents, dangerous public transportation, tripling of uber/lyft prices, skyrocketing homelessness, and #1 in the nation for drug overdoses.
It’s time for someone with a proven ability to improve Seattle–especially our most vulnerable: VOTE IN ANDREA SUAREZ
15: Yes, especially in medical matters.
@23 “Suarez’s commitment and action to improve the suffering of our homeless community is extraordinary”
I suspect this was just clumsy wording on your part, but Merriam-Webster defines ‘improve’ as “to enhance in value or quality” and I’m confident the majority of the homeless community and their advocates and allies would certainly agree that Suarez has enhanced that community’s suffering in extraordinary fashion.
“The beatings will continue until morale improves.”
–A. SUAREZ
@25: No wonder the Stranger doesn’t like Suarez! It’s the job of the Stranger, and of Seattle’s Homeless Industrial Complex, to “improve the suffering of our homeless community,” and they’re doing a tremendous job of it. Record numbers of homeless persons in Seattle are now living in filth, then dying of overdoses, and both the Stranger and Seattle’s Homeless Industrial Complex deserve huge amounts of recognition for creating, nurturing, and maintaining this ocean of needless human suffering and death. Suarez should not be trying to muscle in on their hard-won territory!