News Nov 20, 2013 at 4:00 am

Will It Also Be Her Demise?

Comments

1
Dominic, if this is "bullshit" as you acknowledge, then why contribute to that narrative? Sawant is one of nine councilmembers. If she can't get her agenda through, the responsibility lies with the other eight for saying no. When it comes to substantial economic policy, you can't just get things through by playing nice and talking to people in back rooms. Power doesn't concede that easily.

What you're doing here is handing power over her future to a City Council that will almost certainly work to undermine her at every turn. You're making it easier to undermine her by arguing, even though you realize it's a bullshit argument, that she has to play and win a game rigged against her by people who oppose everything you (Dominic) stand for. The question here isn't what Sawant will do, it's whether we will let the Council use this bullshit "play nice with us or else" narrative to get away with policies that undermine the working class.
2
No mention of her deleted Twitter statement? I wouldn't necessarily classify her "big loser" statement as offensive, but it's definitely divisive. Further, it's not questionable to criticize someone for being aggressive, regardless of gender, when she was, as she should have been, aggressively propagating her message.
3
When she announced I was SO pessimistic about her campaign's sincerity, but have been hugely pleasantly surprised, and am really looking forward to seeing how she chooses to pursue her agenda given the deadly dull daily work before the council. Will she work with her colleagues one-on-one to get the votes she wants, or rouse the public to her side and pressure the votes that way? I suppose a little of both as needed.

As a sidebar, I keep wondering if she hadn't run, would more McGinn voters have decided to stick with him? An awful lot of people who lionized him at first wound up wishing he'd been more who he seemed in the beginning. For them Sawant was a substitute champion, a fresh face (not to mention one who railed against McGinn and Murray both). Rhetoric aside, did Sawant give us Murray?

But that's enough meandering from me. There's a reason my wisdom is comment-level only.
4
Rock the boat Kshama. Hopefully it just smells bad on the outside...
5
Sawant is the left wing equivalent of a tea partier. She says things that excite the liberal base, she won't compromise, is up against "establishment" democrats. Maybe if she works really hard she can find a way to cause a Seattle city government shutdown over her principals.
6
@1. It had to be said. It's true. It's the mechanics of the whole thing and to try and ignore it is... Bullshit.
7
I will summarize this article more succinctly: "Checks and balances are only for bad guys! Kshama Sawant is a good guy! Her agenda should be fast tracked, not stymied! It's bullshit! BULLSHIT!"
8
So far she is doing a great job of cutting herself off at the knees with talk of taking over Boeing, etc. And not even in office yet.
9
@5 How would we even know that she shut it down? It is about as useless as tits on a boar as it is.
10
The logic is simple: if I personally dislike a politician, they are divisive. See, because they have divided me from themselves by being so unlikable.
11
Amazing how we already are predicting how she will perform while on the council. Maybe she'll surprise us and be able to get five votes to accomplish some big things. Will she get a $15.00 minimum wage in her first year? Not all at once. I'd like to think she would agree to phase it in over a two or three year period the $15.00 an hour. But my gut is telling me she's one who won't compromise an inch. She'll throw the very people under the bus that she's trying to help.

But I could be wrong.....

12
One person on a board of nine is not enough. Once 5 of 9 (new) council members join a coalition, can the agenda Kshama is proposing really get moving.

So, there is a lot of work to do in other districts, and this is just the beginning.

Our children will thank us if we do it.
13
She's like Occupy Wall Street, angry and instantly distrustful of ...

1) The Press

2) Politicians

3) Corporations

4) Anyone who doesn't agree with their ideology.

At least with Republicans and Democrats, you can find some common ground, compromise can be achieved.
14
@5, it definitely has the potential to turn out that way. Her style of rhetoric sounds like the tea party, but it's yet to be seen if she'll play that way. Seattle government wasn't really broken, and I hope it doesn't become dysfunctional because of her bellicose manner. She is a narcissist, like most politicians, but I'm not sure she's self aware enough to see it or just doesn't care that others do.

Proclaiming the "I can't do anything because I'm being undermined" trope before you've actually been undermined is the voice of a big ego (oh, plus the "I did that before it was cool" thing), and doesn't sound like someone who will work for compromise. I hope her tenure doesn't turn out to be as interesting as it could be, since successful governing is boring ('we' rather than 'I') stuff. Big personalities are very demanding, though.
15
When Ed Murray, a candidate the Stranger relentlessly trashed, acts "aggressively," it's "playing dirty" against poor defenseless lil Mike McGinn. When Kshama Sawant, a candidate the Stranger breathlessly supported, talks the same way about her future colleagues, she's "at risk of being attacked" by the meanies on the council. Also, it's genuinely sexist--as opposed to the hypothetical sexists calling her "aggressive" in this article--to take away Sawant's agency and paint her as a helpless victim in the face of an army of powerful opponents. She's a grownup, just like them. It's her choice how she wants to operate and whether she wants to get things done.
16
It is NOT bullshit. Of course she has to reach out to the other members, the new mayor, etc if she ever wants to get a majority vote.

It is bullshit to say it's bullshit - I can just see it now if she loses in two years - that narrative will be "See? We told you. She never had a chance because Seattle Nice, et al, all set out to stymy and undermine her."

No - she's responsible for how effective she will be. Period.
17
Dominic.

I don't think that you can accuse other politicians of undermining her -- she is doing it by herself. I was surpassed that Conlin didn't simply quote from own words on her own election site to show how foolish she is.

The question is whether an "intervention" is possible? The Stranger created Sawant.* Can you influence her to be smarter? To get her to realize that standing on a barricade with a red scarf trailing behind her for a TIME magazine photo shoot is not the way to influence her fellow politicians. Can you give her a reality check?

* I believe that The Stranger was the margin of difference to put Sawant into office.
18
Yeah, yeah. Good grief, at least give her the time to get sworn in before the various unwitting corporate tools go after her.
19
@ 12 Our children will thank us if we keep the socialists out.
20
"But if Sawant can't sit on human rights or budgetary committees, she may be unable to introduce a wage ordinance within two years."

Why not? Any Councilmember can introduce any legislation, even if it goes to a committee on which he/she does not sit. Would it be wise? Without support from at least one member of that committee, probably not. It would be modified in committee. It could even die in committee. But none of this prevents it from being introduced.
21
It's not about the "Seattle Nice" narrative. So tired, put it to bed.

It's about efficacy. I don't care if Council members are all sunshine and lollipops and weave each other friendship bracelets. I care that they're smart enough and efficient enough to get the job done. This article seems to be telegraphing that perhaps Sawant will not be efficient because SHE'S A REBEL, DAMMNIT!, a preemptive strike for potential critics.

I hope that she proves to be a good Council member, efficient at working at City Hall and efficient at pushing her agenda. I'm far less invested in seeing her change the Seattle political landscape, the abiding hope of Dominic & Goldy. We shall see.

Also "Everything I have written so far is sort of true, but it's also bullshit." Sadly, more the norm than the exception.
23
#19: "Blah blah evil socialists..." STFU.
25
It's interesting that a lot of Sawant's campaign supporters voted for her because of the novelty of her being a socialist and the sort of cred that progressives get for voting that way, but now that she's actually in office many of them seem like they'd prefer her to function more as a liberal Democrat and quietly drop the socialist ideology. Sure, she shouldn't be some totally uncompromising firebrand of ineffectual justice; but she shouldn't drop her ideology and start toting the generic Democrat line either.
27
The seattle.gov site is worth looking over – for the obvious reason that if you wish to know what Seattle City Council members actually do, you can reconcile that with whatever ideological convictions incoming members bring to the table.

If you thumb through the links below it will become quite clear that the Council’s work is technical and mundane. Their scope is the nuts and bolts of running a city: regulations, zoning, personnel, and budgets.

You can call Sawant an ideologue and that would not be incorrect, but the Council is circumscribed procedurally, jurisdictionally, and operationally.

So… Mr. Connelly, et al: take a deep breath and chill?

Recent legislation for introduction and referral:
http://clerk.seattle.gov/~public/referra…

Legislation introduced in the last six weeks:
http://clerk.seattle.gov/~scripts/nph-br…

Seattle City Council ordinances, 2012 (281 of them)
http://clerk.seattle.gov/~scripts/nph-br…
28
Sawant can introduce any ordinance she wants, no matter which committees she is on. The chair of the committee her ordinance is assigned to can just sit on it, but that's a different thing.
29
@20, 28: Crap! TJ beat me by eight comments on that one. But still...
30
This article fails to acknowledge one critical fact: Sawant is a socialist. The other eight council members, and the mayor, are Democrats. Two different parties.

We've had one-party rule for some three decades in Seattle. Everyone's forgotten what it means to have anybody sitting across the aisle. When the ruling party holds a supermajority, the minority party doesn't bear a burden to so much as introduce a single measure. Supposedly the council seats are nonpartisan, but then the that horse has left the barn: Seattle's supermajority walks, talks, eats, sleeps, breathes and pays the bills as Democrats. All of a sudden they're going to turn around and cry that we're all nonpartisan here? That's a laugh.

Sawant's job is to be the loyal opposition, plain and simple. The idea that voters have to expect her to come back in two years with a list of legislative victories is absurd. One seat out of nine? It doesn't work that way. Sawant doesn't even have the filibuster power that of the Senate minority.

In two years, it's the supermajority party, those eight Democrats and the Democratic Mayor, that will have explaining to do. Why didn't they move on the minimum wage? Why didn't they move on tax reform? Why didn't they consider rent control? The other party had a list of solutions. Where are the majority's counter proposals? They're the ones who have to be on the defensive because they hold all the cards.

It is true that they will try to fool voters into thinking Sawant is the one to blame for whatever does or doesn't get done. But that creates a perfect opening for Sawant to campaign on their cowardly shirking of responsibility.
31
A balanced piece of writing. Good work.
32
@13 lol You have got to be kidding. The two parties are destroying the American dream. Almost nine billion in tax breaks and Boeing slaps Inslee and the workers in the face. That's outrageous. And Republicans are all about keeping money in the hands of their rich pals. Even if the rest of us end up homeless and starving to do it.
33
@1 No, what he's doing is beginning his process of running against her for the next District 3 election.
34
@6 I agree that it can’t merely be ignored, but Dominic doesn’t need to reinforce it. This “you have to work with us” bullshit is a primary reason why progressive policies get stalled in Seattle.

@8 She’s a Socialist. Why are people surprised when she calls for Socialist policies? Nationalizing industries is a core Socialist principle.

@21 Here’s the point, Michael: The Council will undermine her effectiveness and block her, no matter what she does, no matter how well she tries to play it, and one of the tools they have at their disposal is the “bullshit” that Dominic rightly called out. I know you want good governance. This Council will let their petty politics get in its way.

@33 That is precisely what is going on and I would hope Dominic would see that for what it is.
35
Actually, let me amend my reply above to @6. Of course she needs to make the effort to work with others and I have to assume she'll do that. But we should not let the City Council define what success at that looks like. They have a political interest in defining it in ways that are rigged to make her look bad. Dominic gets that, but then he winds up reinforcing the "bullshit" and that is unfortunate.
36
Sawant will need help to get things done at City Hall on a much more mundane level -- things like helping constituents negotiate the bureaucracy.

If she or her staff are not able to establish cordial relations, then she is going to be in big trouble. If they don't like her, no one will help her or her staff to find out who is really the right division head to talk to or which budget category can be accessed. It's a large human system and it takes personal skills.

Sawant can disagree as much as she wants but she cannot be disagreeable.

It's not easy (for anyone) but she will have to learn how to differ on policy matters without attacking her Council colleagues or the Mayor as capitalist tools of the city-destroying billionaires or running dog lackeys of the capitalist ruling class.

So yes, to some degree Sawant is going to have to be "Nice" or else she will not be able to serve her longer term interests.
37
Let's all hope Sawant gets a seat on the Council's Civil Rights Committee, regardless of what other Committee she gets.
38
@32 ... and Occupy destroyed itself under the crushing weight of their own BS. They didn't even last half a year before people left in frustration.
39
Welcome, Sarah Palin of the left. Loud-mouthed, obnoxious, long on fiery slogans and short on ability to create consensus. I hope she'll also get bored and quit quickly, too.
40
Sawant has already cooked her goose. The Boeing comments prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she has zero clue what the city of Seattle is or how things get done here. If there's a minimum wage bill, for instance, it's going to come about despite her, not because of her. She can go outside and march around with her supporters carrying signs, but no one inside the building is ever going to talk to her. What on earth would they talk about?

In the meantime, one of the best voices on issues that actually matter to Seattle, like density, development, and transit, is gone. Good going.

You've just managed to elect Sam Bellomio in a different body. Congratulations.
41
@38 Or you know, not wanting to freeze their collective asses off in the winter cold.
42
@40

People do have the capacity to and for change.
That includes Sawant. I hope.

43
At some point, Fnarf, an elected official is going to have to "talk" to Boeing in such a manner.
44
@40

If Conlin was all that, how come he just lost to somebody who, according do you, is as incompetent and mental as Sam Bellomio? If Conlin was so in touch with the things that actually matter to Seattle, how come Seattle didn't vote for him? Conlin had all the money he needed to make sure the voters were aware of all the good he'd done for them. You mock Sawant marching around with signs, but that seems to have been quite good enough to kick your guy's ass.

Because Sally Bagshaw (not the sharpest too in the shed, amiright?) defeated Sam Bellomio (in his actual body) by 70 points. If Seattle voters are so stupid, why didn't Bellomio do better? Or Fruit? Or Shen? You can't have it both ways all the way around. At least one of your premises precludes the others.

Your Seattle Democratic party fucked up, Fnarf. Your party lost a seat because they fucked up. The only kind of candidate your Democrats can knock off is a kook. All it takes is a real opponent with some chops and your party stalwarts fall right over.

And now, your solution for all that is more arrogance? More condescension? More bullying the minority into kowtowing to the majority? That crap is how your party just lost this seat. Keep it up and you guys will lose more.

The crowning irony would be if Democrats like these go on insulting the voters on the far left so badly that they leave an opening for a freaking Republican to pick up a seat. Some day the Democrats could end up a minority and we can all smugly lecture them that they'll have to kiss the other party's ass if they "want to be effective."

45
Fnarf, every time I read an article I look for your comment just so I can relish in what a total dirtbag you are. Fnarf: right-wing goon who likes to posture as a voice of reason.
46
@45

So does that mean that you don't agree with Fnarf?
47
@42

The concern troll du jour is "Sawant needs to do just what Richard Conlin would have done for her and her party's own good." Give everything the Democrats would have gotten from their guy Conlin and she and the socialists will be just fine. Honest.

Even if that were true (spoiler: they'll kneecap her no matter what she does), what would be the point for the socialists to replace Conlin if all that accomplishes is to have their candidate become a Conlin doppelganger? Why bother?

Sawant is damned to be called an inflexible, divisive ideologue if she does and damned if she doesn't. There's no pleasing the Seattle Times on that score. The only question is whether she will represent the people who elected her or try to placate the people who never wanted her to begin with.

You ask her to change, but changing is a betrayal of the only people who are on her side in order to win over those who will never accept her. Where's the sense in that? You got to dance with them what brung you.
48
I am told Sawant is a good organizer. I am told the meetings for Socialist Alternative are well run and gender balanced. It is music to the ears of many to see that grassroots organizing, under funded and over zealous can run a successful city wide campaign. She won. I predict future success and perfectly boring city council meetings. At times. Already O'Brien and his underwriters are keen on her.

Political office is a perfect place for a brash woman. The public likes brash women. The establishment does not. I am sure they are worried that she is serious about her ambitions. These same ambitions created a revolution in American politics. And right now the progressives in Seattle pretty much have that revolution under control.

Where can I get tickets to the first city council meeting?
50
@49

Thank you, whoever you are.
51
@44, I agree: the Democrats fucked up. Conlin fucked up. He ran a terrible campaign. It's a truism that when you don't face any meaningful opposition for a long time you lose your edge; the only surprise is that it came from where it did.

Very few Sawant voters have a real understanding of what kind of bullshit she actually believes. That's Conlin's fault, full stop.

This is what has always been wrong with the Democratic Party: an inability to see their own interests. Seattle Democrats are soft because they haven't been challenged. Conlin has been a competent worker on behalf of the city but he's a boob of a politician. It's a shame. A lot of that shame belongs with the hoodwinked voters, though.

What I'm saying is, it doesn't matter what Sawant does or doesn't do, says or doesn't say. She's already blown it.

And Boeing is going to be emboldened by her words. Watch for it. She's done huge damage to the Boeing workers who want a better contract -- which is stupid, because (a) it's not her constituency, and (b) the last thing the machinists actually want to do is take over the frigging factory. If I was the biggest asshole in Boeing management, I wouldn't DREAM of being so lucky as to have her come along. It was a brain-damaged thing to say.
52
I absolutely believe that Kshama Sawant will overcome the inevitable obstructionist behavior her constituents will no doubt place upon her.

Their feelings are going to get hurt. Good! They need to be hurt. It makes absolutely no sense to head into this with anything less than the passion and tenacity she brought to her successful campaign.

People wrote off her ability to get elected and so will they bring the same attitude towards her ability to implement her platform.

This is the process. The antiquated, anachronistic approach to the issues of the day just don't work in this current society. The incumbents resent even the slightest implication that they haven't performed their jobs in a way that benefits the society that elected them.

You just go ahead and ruffle some feathers Kshama. I am behind you all the way. The two party system is a dying proposition and it's time to shake it up. Kshama Sawant is the best person to instigate this and just as she became successful in her campaign she will be successful in doing what she showed up to do.

If people don't like it they can suck on her victory...
53
I think this whole thread is, a few comments excluded, a classic example of why Seattle is never able to move beyond crappy, weak, ineffective Democrats. We truly don't want anything else. A different kind of politics requires more confrontation, some chaos, and yes, some radical notions. We see that kind of stuff all over the country and it works out just fine. Or, if someone goes too far, then voters react. But only in Seattle, unique among all other American cities, do we judge politicians not on their values or their actions, but on how polite to each other they are. The Seattle Democrats that @51 rightly calls "soft" will never be challenged because, at the end of the day, nobody here is actually willing to tolerate what it takes to mount a successful challenge. We have exactly the kind of ineffective, failed politics we desperately seek but will never admit to wanting.
54
I could fill the Library of Congress with what Fnarf doesn't know about the Democratic Party. Go home, Fnarf, you're drunk. You're blowing hot air about things you know nothing about, and you're melting the fucking polar ice cap.
55
#53, you're just Fnarf from the other end, and just as stupid as he is.
56
@51...Really?...Your point that Kshama Sawant won only because the Dems are "Fucked up" and that Conlin "ran a terrible campaign" is absurdly ridiculous...Really?

You clearly just don't get it. You are a classic example of just how misguided the status quo is.

..."What I'm saying is, it doesn't matter what Sawant does or doesn't do, says or doesn't say. She's already blown it."...Absolutely laughable.

You talk about the voters being "hoodwinked"...I think you are trying to perpetuate the hoodwinking.

If you haven't noticed, Boeing isn't the only game in town anymore. Those jobs have been flying out of town for years now. Boeing isn't even headquartered out of Seattle anymore and they are currently getting hammered by Airbus. Read the news much?

Folks had better get used to it. Kshama Sawant isn't going anywhere,...however the old way of doing business is.

Kshama Sawant hasn't "already blown it"...She's blown it up! Big difference.

57
A new world is possible; a new world is necessary.

Guess many of the folks at Slog like the mess we're in.

Well, the rest of us don't and we voted.
58
@56, your username is very apropos.

What you folks don't get is that Sawant's statement is the left equivalent of "Obama was born in Kenya". And the right is going to hammer every Democrat with it, and you're going to find out who the real bad guys are. It's not the "socialists" who will be coming, either. How would you like a Republican legislature? Governor? Senator? Prez?
59
I am not here to play identity politics and I do not identify myself as any particular party. I support Kshama Sawant because she has faced arrest to stand up to the banking corruption in fraudulent foreclosures and modclosures that led her brother Nick Licata to note that the actions of Bank of America are "criminal" in the Jane Mair modclosure debacle. And she showed up to the underwater homes/foreclosure forum as well, emceed by Stranger writer Ansel Herz. As someone with experience as a closing attorney that stance is enough for me alone, although I am certain she will make many valuable contributions. All of those issues are discussed at my Mortgage Movies website; my most recent video with her from her acceptance speech is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fTVU_7V…
Peace and Best Wishes to her and all proactive council members.
60
@58....Was that a response?...and for the record,..my username is tantamount to my taking myself seriously,...Your response is so totally baseless that I wonder if you're even cognizant. Your response was a rambling babble that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. In the future you might want to take my points and counterpoint them accordingly,...otherwise, you just might come off as a complete dumbass...Do you stand for anything?,..Are are you capable of standing at all?" Have you ever read one of your posts?

I already know who the "bad guys are"...So does Kshama Sawant. I'm of a hunch that you are one of those people.

And hey,..while were dissing others usernames,..yours sounds like a disgusting bodily function which is pretty much in line with what you preach. Have a nice day Fnarf.
61
When you live on a dying war torn planet, its good to find strong alternatives to the existing leadership. Politeness could in fact simply be suicidal.
Go Kshama!
62
In the future [present], wealthy industrialists rule the vast city of Metropolis [Seattle] from high-rise tower complexes, while a lower class of underground-dwelling workers toil constantly to operate the machines that provide its power. The Master of Metropolis is the ruthless Joh Fredersen (Alfred Abel) [Richard Conlin], whose son [well, just a young guy that hates him] Freder (Gustav Fröhlich) [Dominic Holden] idles away his time in a pleasure garden [smoking pot] with the other children of the rich [on Capital Hill, bitching about street cars]. Freder is interrupted by the arrival of a young woman named Maria (Brigitte Helm) [Sawant], who has brought a group of workers' children to see the privileged lifestyle led by the rich. Maria and the children are quickly ushered away, but Freder [Dominic] is fascinated by Maria [ and her $15 dollar an hour minimum wage proposal] and descends to the workers' city in an attempt to find her.
…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_…

Stay tuned for more plot lined as this obvious story develops.
63
Fnarf is right. Have you read The Stranger's coverage of Sawant before the election? Goldy basically framed Sawant as a socialist, but you know, not one of those socialists. Even in this piece he tries to frame her view that capitalism has failed as outside her core values. I bet a lot of voters bought into this, that they thought they where voting a) against the status quo and b) for someone who will repair the system. But it's becoming clear and clear that she thinks the whole system broken and can't be repaired, but needs to be replaced (although this was clear if you read her website, although I doubt many people did judging by all the comments on slog in the last two weeks that where "She's never said she wanted to take over companies"). Personally I would love it if Sawant could get a 15 dollar min wage and rent control (It's possible, look outside of the USA, Ontario has gov't regulations on how much rent can be raised each year), but ever since I read her AMA and website I've worried that she's the wrong person due to her very strong belief that the system needs to be replaced, not repaired.

And here's the quote from Goldy's piece that was "Common on guys, she's not for anything that crazy" :

The truth is, despite her "Socialist Alternative" label and her unapologetically lefty perspective, there is nothing particularly radical when it comes to the core of Sawant's councilmanic agenda. Sawant was advocating for a $15-an-hour minimum wage a year ago, back before it was cool, before it was widely embraced by mainstream Democrats like US representative Adam Smith. As for the rest of her platform, at the risk of offending her, it is reasonable to say that on transit expansion, on building more affordable housing, on taxing the rich, on blocking coal trains, on expanding paid sick leave, on increasing civilian oversight of the police, and on many other issues, most of Sawant's policy positions fit comfortably within the mainstream of Seattle's progressive values.

Sure, if you really push her on the subject, she'll make a cogent economic argument for, say, collectivizing Amazon, so I guess there's that. But she's not running on it, and she freely acknowledges that it's not going to happen, so it's not like "seizing control of the means of production" makes Sawant's list of legislative priorities.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-c…
64
And Brooklyn Reader was 100% correct in another thread with his/her statement that the problem is voters have allowed democrats to move to the right and need to start voting in more left wing democrats (I'm horribly paraphrase his/her point).
65
@51, siding with the Boeing workers that live here as apposed to sucking up to the Chicago based company is absolutely not a mistake.
At some point, on some level, somebody should take their side. She did.

I didn't hear too many politicians side with their citizens. Shame on them.

I voted for Sawant. I know what she stands for, and that she will very likely be out on her ass in 2015. The elites really are afraid that their playground/battleground where some rich person is going to win, some rich person is going to lose, the the rest of us get milked like cows for tax money to beatify corporate development in a city that is every increasingly difficult for people that work for a living to actually live.

At no point was that bubblehead Conlin going to do anything of use to correct an absurdly out of balance city legislation that always tipped toward creating bubble equity in the hands a few, while purpitrating the charade that there isn't enough housing. They lock these parcels in, negotiate a little game where everybody hands each other a $20 bill from taxes, and call it "progressive"
The music stopped, no chair for Conlin.
The next version of Sawant will, without question, figure out that money comes from consumers, and that if their citizens are in better positions to not have basic infrastructure cost so much, and that their wages keep pace with the benefit people making money off this city's worked get.

It's not fucking rocket science. It's the most retail of retail politics. The pet dinosaurs on the second floor need to adapt or die, they have 2 years to live in denial, or hope they are one of the least distasteful 2 to run at-large campaigns.

Why do you think Conlin was going to give it up in two years anyway, looking at Godden it's hard to imaging it's an age issue, it was the ugly campaign politics of having to listen to a group of oeople that are not your fleece vested fans and having actually try to make their lives a tiny bit miserable.
It's been much easier to suckle at the corporate teet, and champion things like chickens, and community gardens. Yay, isn't it great that citizens can bring food stamps to Farmers Markets.
The working poor, let them eat kale.
66
Also these Sawant threads remind me of the Occupy threads. Where a bunch of reasonable people would agree that Occupy had some valid points, and yes there has been way too much corporate welfare and not enough regulation put in place after 2008. BUT Occupy had a lot of crazy elements in it that made reasonable people doubt what it could do. This point was often meant with "FUCK OFF, YOU'RE THE MAN, POWER TO THE PEOPLE" type responses.

Even The Stranger had three stages with Occupy, 1) outright love and devotion coupled with bashing anyone who dare point out Occupies flaws.
2) support but some critical thinking
3) outright disgust

I suspect Sawant time on council will be the personification of the Occupy movement. Although I'd love to be proved wrong (i.e. Seattle actually does get more left wing policies past). I think Dominic has a point that Sawant has a huge handicap with the 2 year term.
67
@58 We are already headed for a Republican legislature and a Republican governor, but that's because of the stunning ineptitude of Washington Democrats, who have ceded the state to the right out of what appears to be sheer laziness. Sawant will have hardly any role to play in this at all. If Dems, including Seattle Dems, don't get their act together then we are totally fucked.
68
I wish what happened in Seattle stayed in Seattle.
#BoeingBoeingGone
69
#67: Yet another "the Dems are fucked" rant from an ignoramus who supported McGinn. Answer me one question, smart guy: Who do you think elected Sawant if not "the Dems?" I don't mean the "official" party. I mean individuals who identify as Democrats. The earlier commenter had you pegged. You're just Fnarf from the other end.
71
@50

Bernie Sanders has done what for socialism? We live in a country today where most people can't even tell the difference between real socialism and Barack Obama's moderate, market-based policies. Where was Berine Sanders during all this?

If you mean he's harmless and ineffectual, just like the Democrats and Republicans like it, well, yes, that's the concern troll you've been pushing. You want Sawant harmless and marginalized and you'd like her to do the work for you.
74
Congrats, Sonics dreamers, for voting for Sawant. Let's see how much arena money she takes in the next 2 years.
75
Curry favor. Nice, Dominic.
76
With my first-hand experience of socialism and communism societies ran by mediocrities:
characters like comrade Savant (if not they are not shot in the first act) will hang and shoot class enemies in the second act.

Just read history books of any Eastern European country.

77
I'm pretty far left (I think, given today's low market wages, government ought to buy the labor power of math tutors, Spanish or Chinese language tutors and piano or guitar tutors for all high school students; ESL tutors for all non N.Amero immigrant; CNA training for parents below poverty line; daycare for all kids) but I never would have volunteered for Sawant if I thought she could contest developers' zeal in building urban housing, one of the few theaters of investment in which capital remains eager to make itself useful. She can't, imo, and so her victory announces the desire for statutory improvement of the wages.

I confess that I am bothered, a bit, by the prospect that such a large improvement of wages might reduce the transfer of wealth into Seattle by feds' issuance of food stamps and AFDC. Imo wage laws should be designed to extract a local max without reducing feds' contribution

Manufacturing firms are mobile. Kshama did not create this problem. The machinists decided to rebuke the lowball before the news paid any attention to her comments.
78
Give me a break! If you are reading these post and agree with this woman Please do us all a huge favour and go to Sea Tac get on the next plane to India and stay there.
80
I support Kshama Sawant because no one else on the local political scene can illustrate so dramatically and well the bankrupt and tired cliché of actual 1960's socialism.

This woman is an idiot, her supporters are idiots, and their efforts will be for naught when she is thrown out of office two years hence, having accomplished nothing.

I support her like I support Ed Murray. Both of them are now in positions where they can do little harm to others outside the bubble of cluelessness that is Seattle.

82
"It's also questionable to criticize a woman politician for being aggressive—men don't generally get that treatment (McGinn notwithstanding)."

Remember a guy named Nickels?
83
Oh and Ze Trap has shut on the unsuspecting flies,

How heavenly is the song of the Siren,

How ultimate is its grasp?
84
I think Kshama would like the spotlight to be less on her and more on the platform that drew people to vote for her. Don't expect her to pick a fight with any council members. But when it comes to representing those who put her into office she will not yield. Remember it was frustration with the establishment and the hope for change that catapulted her ahead of Conlin. And that hope will not be betrayed.Those who worked her campaign are not your typical political operatives. They are people fighting for democracy as it should be in our Country. Their motives are for a community united against the powers of corporate interests who bring nothing to the table but their own selfish wants. They know Kshama is an intelligent, articulate woman who will bring a much needed presence to the council. But they are not naive enough to believe that she alone will bring about the change we need. The victory of her campaign was hand delivered by an engaged electorate finally beginning to understand the strength they can muster to fight back against the powers that be. In the type of democracy that candidates like Kshama propose it is not enough to win the day. Every day that follows is another challenge. The old guard political party's and moneyed interests are plotting against her before she has even logged her first day in office.The challenges and attacks that will be mounted against Kshama will succeed without the ongoing support of the working men and women of Seattle. Her term is much more about them then it is about Kshama. So continue paying attention, stay involved and make Kshama's proposals and arguments in the council be the ones you echo on the street. All we have is our voice and we need to spread it around till it is a thunderous roar that cannot be ignored. Remember, no one said democracy was easy but it is worth it!!!
85
This Article was written with a Bias agenda, The Media needs to get back to finding the actual truth and reporting that. As For This Lady who go elected, Her involvement in occupy, comments on Boeing and her seemingly massive ego will make her a failure. Our government was built on the idea that it should give the individual the rights and liberties to succeed. I agree that raising the minimum wage is a good idea but $15 is a ridiculous idea, Giving everyone $15 an hour will cause instant inflation and businesses to flee the area. Which will undoubtedly damage the local economy terribly. The Idea that successful people and corporations are the enemy is a huge fallacy the country has become to believe. What use to make the country great is people wanted to work hard to be those people, not stand there with your hand out and complain about all the privileged people who somehow hold you down. When I see a successful person I wonder how they got there, most likely hard work. We need to get back to work , give the social entitlement benefits to truly deserve them and stop voting for politicians that Pander to the Middle and lower class with Handouts disguised as social Justice.

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