Maybe it speaks to the lack of sexy city issues (no
Strippergate, WTO, or circus animals), but this year’s city
council races have been unusually ugly and acrimonious. David
Della has accused Tim Burgess of being a Republican, Burgess has
called Della an empty suit, and hardly a day goes by without an
overheated volley from the Venus Velazquez or Bruce Harrell campaign.
(Velazquez accused Harrell of being unethical because he planned to
accept an award from UW during the campaign; he accused her of
race-baiting because of comments she made at a candidate
forum.)

Last week’s revelation was a well-
substantiated rumor that
Forward Seattle, a big-business PAC founded by two consultants with
money from Vulcan and most of the downtown establishment, plans to
spend most of its substantial war chest (currently more than $100,000)
creating pro-Velazquez campaign literature. Election rules allow
PACs to make unlimited expenditures to promote or pan a candidate or
cause, as long as they don’t coordinate it with the campaign. Both
Velazquez and her consultant Lisa MacLean say they have no idea what
Forward Seattle’s plans, if any, are. But Harrell believes Velazquez
and Forward Seattle have communicated, noting that many of
Forward Seattle’s contributors also have given to Velazquez. And his
consultant Christian Sinderman notes that Velazquez came out of the
primary $30,000 in the red. “I’ve never seen a city council
candidate send themselves that far into debt in a primary,” Sinderman
says. To see a group emerge right after the primary to bail Velazquez
out strikes him as fishy, Harrell adds. Forward Seattle cofounder Don
Stark wouldn’t say what the group planned to do with the money.

VELAZQUEZ’S CAMPAIGN has been shopping around the story that
Harrell has a teenage son who is not featured in his family-centric
campaign ads. Harrell’s ads do include many photos and mentions of
his family—mentioning three children with his wife,
Joanne—and his experience as a “youth mentor” and Sunday school
teacher. Harrell says he sees his son frequently and has “never missed
a child-support payment in my life.” Efforts to reach the mother were
unsuccessful.

A RECORDS REQUEST to the Seattle Department of Transportation
(SDOT) about the infamous intersection where a dump truck struck and
killed cyclist Bryce Lewis revealed many complaints over the years
about bike and pedestrian safety at the intersection.
“Crosswalks at both locations are very faded.” “It is impossible to
see bicyclists and runners coming south through this intersection,
until they shoot right in front of you.” And, chillingly: “With horror,
today, I watched as two cyclists were hit by a truck. One was killed…
I wasn’t surprised to see this happen… It is totally scary to
take a right from Eastlake onto Fuhrman because… you never know when
a bicyclist is going to come up on you.”