Wow, what a-holes. I was wondering why even as a union member I have a negative association with organized labor, and here is my answer. It has been truly disheartening to see what could have been an actual campaign discussing conflicting ideas and directions for the city turned into schoolyard fight by people like Nicole Grant and David Rolf. They care only if "their" candidate wins, not whether policies that help their members get enacted. Not a single city in America has figured out how to handle this kind of housing crisis, the idea that "your" candidate has all the answers is not just foolish, it is suicidal.

Wow "sitting around being rich" and bringing up the "Chinese money" horseshit again? At least Moon and her campaign have some fucking class.

Thank you for making such a strong case for why Durkan should, and will be, the next mayor of Seattle.

"How do you do, fellow kids? Have you all heard about the gnarliest, to-the-max candidate around, Jenny Durkan? She's hangin' ten while *looks at paper* Cary Moon is just hanging around, being RICH!!! Isn't that rich, my duuudes? Up top my little bros and broettes, 'cuz our credentials are wicked hard core burns, lolz!"

- Nicole Grant and David Rolf, burning progressive bridges since 2017

Election season always tends to bring out jarring hypocrisy, but this is honestly one of the most shameful things I've read this year. Durkan subscribes to the Ed Murray method of labor politics - wait for grassroots effort to push the Overton window of an issue to the left, wait for the ball to start rolling, jump on the bandwagon at the last minute and then claim credit. Rolf and Grant and other labor leadership whose jobs rely on this sort of ring kissing and opportunism are telling us that the Chamber-endorsed candidate who just got $500,000 in campaign contributions from Amazon, etc. and has been equivocal and wishy-washy on pushing for a more progressive tax structure has the best interest of the working class at heart. This is why people distrust organized labor and don't stand up stronger when the right tries to undermine it.

Doh!

Oops. Dead link @6. Try this.

When the Seattle Police Department staff were found to be engaging in biased policing and unconstitutional use of force, Jenny Durkan stepped in, negotiating an agreement that let everyone involved off the hook: offenders, partners, supervisors, and those who covered up for all of them. There were zero repercussions for their actions--not a single officer was fired, reprimanded, or even publicly identified, for any of their malfeasance.

Heck of a job.

Durkan is a strong progressive and I am proud to vote for her. The rigid ideologues that are Bernie/ Moon Bros is laughable and hopefully they are in for a rude awakening on the 7th.

Way to fuck your base! No wonder the labor movement is a shriveled husk of its former self.

the office of labor standards just rolled on a payout, so so what if they're fully funded. diddlarians rolf and grant huff stagnation and call it pep, i get why they're hyping darkon, even a whole paragraph reiterating derkun's latest ad. european slugs. also, dirkin is some 143% richer than rich moon, and doesn't self-fund cause the chamber has decided it's their duty to support the grabby fund-shuffling hippy-hating robot-talk cop. also dwrkyn now favors looking into house buyers from out of the country; looks like these status schmoes are behind the times oops.

#12: Meds. No one deserves or needs to be as angry as you seem to so often be.

Durkan has been demonized in some pretty silly ways here, and I take no issue with any union that chooses to endorse her and make a case for her. The hackish attacks and characterizations of Moon's positions here are pretty disappointing, though. I wish Grant and Rolf respected their audience a bit more.

A shame what corporate sell-outs labor "leaders" have become.

Nicole Grant, I like you, but this is not good campaigning. You can make a legit case that Durkan has more experience and that matters, and I say this as someone who voted Moon. You don't need to slag Moon any more than the Stranger needs to slag Durkan.

It's pretty close to call this Murray / McGinn 2.0, except with the bonus of no child rapists we know about. I have opinions about those two (rape aside, even). But for heaven's sake.

Labor and the Chamber of Commerce are on the same page here. (And we wonder why labor unions continue to decline in membership and political power?)

That was unnecessary and low class. I agree with your points on experience and I'm voting for Durkan. But I don't think the pot shots at Moon are necessary or advisable. I think Moon has many good ideas and would be an excellent council candidate. Possibly Mayor later on. My patience is thin with political novices.

Everything else in this article is irrelevant except for this passage:

We’ve both worked with multiple mayors, with front row seats to see the sausage get made, and we know that creating positive progressive change is not easy. Mayor of Seattle is not an easy job, or an entry level position in government. Talk is cheap – it takes experience and political skills to build coalitions to create positive change.

Jenny Durkan has that experience and those skills.

While she is well-intentioned, it’s obvious to us that Cary Moon does not. Let’s get real about Moon: the truth is that unlike Seattle’s threatened working class families, Cary Moon has barely had an actual job, one where she worked for a living and drew a paycheck, in decades. While Jenny Durkan was in court fighting for workers with lung cancer who were exposed to workplace toxins, Cary Moon was hanging out and being rich.

Now, on a lark, Moon wants one of the toughest and most important jobs in Washington State, one that involves oversight of more than 10,000 employees in more than 30 departments?

Either this reality concerns you enough to vote for Durkan or it doesn't. I don't think that Moon is doing this on a lark. But when you drill down into her experience, it's pretty thin. She had her own urban planning shop that's been inactive since 2006 and she was executive director of a non-profit that she helped start, a group who's biggest claim to fame is failing to stop the deep bore tunnel.

Against this backdrop, you're either going to vote for Moon's ideas (and ideals), in spite of her considerable lack of experience, or you're going to take your chances on Durkan, hoping that she will deliver on at least some of her progressive platform, even though she is clearly the establishment candidate.

maybe this title should read:

Two Labor leaders fall into same old trap of endorsing the NeoLiberal and expecting different results...