City Council’s Governance, Accountability and Economic Development Committee approved Council President Sara Nelson’s bill to tighten restrictions on political consultants working in City Hall.

If it’s passed by the whole council, political consultants could not contract with the city and work on political campaigns at the same time. And to do city-contracted work, they’d have to be at least one year out from any campaign work. 

Modeled after what Nelson describes as similar laws in Portland and San Francisco, her bill will prevent “backroom wheeling and dealing,” she says. But as The Stranger reported last week, politicos suspect another motivation. Just a month ago, Nelson told the Seattle Times she drafted the bill because political consultant Christian Sinderman was working for Mayor Bruce Harrell while also running the campaign for Dionne Foster, Nelson’s opponent who she lost to. But last week, Nelson did a 180, claiming it wasn’t about Sinderman at all. 

Consultants didn’t buy it and say her bill was rushed. They say the broad language could’ve swept unpaid volunteers into the definition of “political consultant.” Volunteers don’t have anywhere near the power, access, or leverage of political consultants. 

On Thursday, Nelson reintroduced an amended version of her bill with significant tweaks.

Her new bill excludes volunteers from the definition of “political consultant” and defines political consultant work as compensated city campaign management or political strategy services, like polling, voter contact, advertisement, and more. It also excludes city employees, accountants, attorneys, pollsters, professional fundraisers (who only provide accounting, legal, polling, or fundraising services), and vendors or sub-vendors who supply services other than political consulting services for an election campaign. 

Though volunteers and city employees are now explicitly exempt, lower-level political workers who provide services like voter contact strategy, media strategy, messaging, policy training, and speech writing are not.

Additionally, Nelson threw out the registration requirements in her original bill. Political consultants would’ve had to register with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) within 15 days of contracting with the city and file termination statements when their contracts ended. Elected officials would’ve had to file quarterly reports on the consulting services they’re receiving. The committee also axed a public registration list for all political consultants.

Nelson says she removed the list because it could unintentionally brand a consultant as working with a certain kind of clientele.

“That list could also feel sort of like an ‘opening of the kimono’ of a company of all of their clients,” she said, weirdly. 

For all the subtractions, Nelson did add one requirement: Future contracts between the city and political consultants would include a written agreement not to engage in any behavior the bill prohibits. 

The bill was approved, with Councilmembers Bob Kettle, Maritza Rivera, and Nelson voting for, Joy Hollingsworth voting against, and Eddie Lin abstaining.

Lin said he abstained because he wanted better understanding of the scope of the city’s consulting contracts and questioned whether the legislation was narrowly tailored enough.

“I’m still doing my due diligence,” he said. “But I’ve not taken a position yet.”

In an email, Hollingsworth writes that she voted against the bill because it removed the registration and reporting requirements and focused more on regulating political consultants. She argues it adds ambiguity to an already complex ethics framework without clearly addressing broader, systemic issues at City Hall.

“Ethics policy should provide clarity and fairness for everyone and not just ambiguity situations where we selectively enforce issues,” she says. “I support strong standards, but they must be clear. I do not believe this legislation meets the bar for the current issues in our city systematically.”

Political consultant Stephen Paolini, principal at Bottled Lightning Collective, says the bill’s cooling-off periods could make sense for city employees, but not political consultants. Consultants don’t have insider info that affects contracts the way city employees do.

A better alternative would be more specific, he says.

“When taking a contract with the city, prohibit that consultant from working on a political campaign about the same issue they are contracted with the city on,” he says.

Paolini gave the example of levy campaigns—where consultants may both design a city proposal and later help sell it to voters—as a clearer case for targeted restrictions.