John Goodman is a wealthy real estate mogul who owns a sprawling car garage full of classic Ferraris and Corvettes. He owns a yacht marina, according to KIRO. He's also investing in defeating Jonathan Grant, a longtime champion of affordable housing and critic of developers who's running against City Council President Tim Burgess.
Who is he and why should you care?
According to a 2009 promo video for his company, Goodman Real Estate, Goodman has founded or invested in businesses that hold $20 billion in assets between them.
One of those is Triad Development, which Goodman co-founded (he's also an investor in its assets). That company is in the headlines right now because Brett Allen, an executive, was apparently stupid enough to threaten Grant and make a record of it in text messages sent to former mayor Mike McGinn. Allen said he could make a new anti-Grant independent expenditure (IE) "go away," as long as Grant got the Tenants Union of Washington, which he is the former director of, to drop a lawsuit against the company. After Allen's texts were exposed, the company severed ties with him. Although there is no direct link between Goodman and the texts, it's apparent that Goodman is not a fan of Grant. Today, Grant filed a complaint with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission requesting an investigation into the IE.
The anti-Grant IE planned on raising $200,000 in order to attack Grant over his opposition, as director of the Tenants Union, to a deal last year between Goodman Real Estate and Volunteers of America, a veterans group, involving the purchase of an affordable housing complex called the Theodora. The Tenants Union organized protests against the deal, arguing that the building should have been kept in nonprofit hands.
The company specializes in buying up "distressed" properties—as it did with the Theodora—and "harvesting the gains," according to its promo video. It boasts, for example, of earning a 68 percent internal rate of return on the Madrona Pointe Apartments in Tacoma. Yelp users have given the apartment complex a 1.5 out of 5 stars rating.
PACs and candidates are legally barred from "coordinating" with one another—but this is a ridiculous, unenforceable law that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have made endless fun of. Allen's actions probably would have amounted to your standard issue "he said/she said" blip in local political news if it wasn't for the texts proving that he made the threats.
Goodman refused to talk to me directly, instead only answering emailed questions through his public relations consultant. He denied knowing anything about Allen's attempts at political blackmail, and said he hasn't donated to the anti-Grant IE or to the pro-Tim Burgess PAC, United for Tim. He has, however, donated the maximum amount, $700, to Burgess' campaign.
And as PubliCola notes, Goodman has "contributed handsomely to United for Tim’s backers at the chamber and Realtors PAC." On October 8, Goodman and Goodman Real Estate president George Petrie each donated $5,000 to the Seattle Chamber of Commerce's PAC, which has endorsed Burgess. Josh Obendorf, Goodman Real Estate's asset manager, also donated $700—the maximum allowed—to Tim Burgess.
It's also worth looking at who else Goodman and his company's executives have showered with campaign cash. At the national level, Goodman donated $2,000 to George W. Bush in 2003, $500 to Mitt Romney in 2012, and $2,000 to Alaskan Republican Senator Ted Stevens in 2002.
Petrie donated a combined $3,300 to far-right Republicans Mike Huckabee and Paul Ryan, as well as $500 to the "National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee" in 2013. Obendorf donated $250 to Mitt Romney in 2012.
At the state level, Goodman donated $1,900 to Republican Port Commissioner turned gubernatorial candidate Bill Bryant in 2015, $1,800 to his predecessor Rob McKenna in 2012, and $2,500 to the 2010 campaign to prevent the creation of a desperately needed income tax. In 2008, he donated $5,000 to the Washington Republican party.
At the local level this year, Goodman also donated $1,200 to Pamela Banks, $700 to Rob Johnson, and $700 to Shannon Braddock. In past years, he's given to Sally Bagshaw, Richard Conlin, Jean Godden, and Bruce Harrell. At the county level, he's donated hundreds to King County Council Republican Reagan Dunn.
Through his spokesperson, Goodman said he thinks the Grand Bargain on affordable housing reached by the mayor's housing committee is a "big step in the right direction" and said he supports new legislation from Nick Licata and Kshama Sawant to make rent hikes illegal in units with housing code violations.
But Grant is calling on Burgess to reject the contributions from Goodman and his company, whose business model, he says, "is to buy out affordable rental apartments and then flip them for maximum profit." Herbold is making the same demand of Shannon Braddock—her opponent in the District 1 race.
Last year, Goodman Real Estate purchased the Lockhaven Apartments in Ballard—where tenants paid between $650 and $1,050 a month—and hiked rents to between $1,700 and $1,900.
This post has been updated.
