You know what? Fuck this shit. Fuck this shit right in this shit’s shitty fucking fuckhole. There’s a revolution going on out there—a fucking revolution—and we’ve been stuck at our fucking desks cranking out fucking endorsements for fucking school-board races.
And this is an off-year election. Time we could’ve spent down at Westlake has instead been wasted on bullshit meetings with school-board candidates, reading the fine print on a Tim Eyman initiative, and wondering what the fuck to do about the incumbent protection racket that is our city council.
But in between covering the protests in Westlake Park, we made time to crank out our endorsements because, you know, this shit is important, too. And since filling out a ballot takes a lot less time than writing endorsements, don’t tell us you’re too busy protesting or whatever to vote. Don’t you dare. Honest to ass-eating God, anyone who’s stupid enough to tell a member of the SECB that he doesn’t have the time to vote is going to get kicked right in the twat.
There are good reasons to vote this year, too. A filthy-rich Bellevue asshole—one of those 1 percent motherfuckers—and a few giant corporations have bankrolled two retrograde initiatives that appear on this ballot. You should be anxious to vote ’em down because they’re bad ideas and to spite the 1 percent motherfuckers who think our democracy is for sale. And if we all vote against county council member Jane Hague, the King County Council will have a supermajority of Democrats for the first time in a long time. And if you vote you can replace Jean “Checked Out Since 2007” Godden with Bobby Forch, a bona fide progressive, and strike a blow against lifetime city council seats by voting against a couple of lousy incumbents.
Yeah, shit is fucked up and bullshit. But shit will be a little less fucked up if you vote.
The Stranger Election Control Board is Christopher Frizzelle, Goldy, Dominic Holden, Tim Keck, Cienna Madrid, Eli Sanders, Dan Savage, and Bruce Lee. The SECB does not endorse in uncontested races or races we forgot.
Initiative Measure 1125
Vote No
This is a Tim Eyman initiative. That’s all you need to know, right? But for voters who want to do their homework—or want us to do it for ’em—here’s the download: This Eyman initiative was funded by Bellevue Square owner Kemper “World’s Biggest Asshole” Freeman, who earlier this year put up $1.1 million to run this thing (which is about 90 percent of all the money behind I-1125).
What does Freeman want? What he’s always wanted: to destroy light rail.
On its face, I-1125 is supposedly about restricting tolls. It would take tolling authority away from an independent state body and put it in the hands of the legislature, require tolls to charge a flat rate at all times, and require that any toll revenue be spent on the same roadway it was collected from. But Freeman doesn’t give a fuck about tolling. That’s just pseudo-populist, recession-era bullshit. The point is to blow up plans to extend light rail over Interstate 90 to Bellevue—which voters approved in 2008—by preventing lanes on the I-90 bridge from being converted into light-rail lanes. Basically, Eyman wants to trick voters into fucking our region’s transit plan at the request of a local millionaire developer.
This is not what democracy looks like. (Well, it’s not what democracy is supposed to look like. But it’s definitely what democracy looks like when dirty hippies don’t vote.)
I-1125 would also screw drivers: That part about putting tolling in the hands of state legislators, which no other state in the country does, would scare investors away from Washington’s toll-backed bonds. That, in turn, could screw financing for the new 520 bridge and the new Columbia River crossing, which are to be partly financed by toll-backed bonds, as well as a little tunnel in Seattle that you may have heard about.
So whether you’re a car-loving, freeway-humping driver or a tree-squeezing, transit-riding hippie, you’re going to want to vote no.
Initiative Measure 1163
Vote Yes
Old people smell bad. They’re cranky, demanding, and difficult to care for. Sometimes, they even pee and poop themselves. (There’s a reason we ask A. Birch Steen—and pretty soon Dan Savage—to file his column via e-mail.) Yet we want our cranky, poopy elderly to receive quality health care, because, as much as we love them, we don’t want to have to change their poopy diapers ourselves.
That’s why voters approved an initiative in 2008 that imposed basic training, certification, and criminal background checks on home health care workers who assist disabled seniors. Voters approved that initiative by a landslide 73–27 margin. But the state was broke and couldn’t come up with the $9 million for the newly required extra training that year. Recognizing the emerging fiscal crisis, the initiative’s union sponsors worked with the legislature to temporarily suspend their own initiative… only to see the legislature permanently suspend the measure last year.
To recap: The backers of a successful initiative worked with our state lawmakers in good faith, but our state lawmakers turned around and fucked them, seniors, and home health care workers. Well, now it’s time for voters to roll our state lawmakers over and fuck ’em right back. Vote yes.
Initiative Measure 1183
Vote No
If voters pass the measure, according to retail giant Costco (which poured $11.2 million into this campaign), state revenues will skyrocket from additional liquor taxes, liquor prices will drop, liquor consumption will not rise, and unicorns that shit crushed ice and piss 7 and 7 will drop by your next house party.
I-1183 would close 166 state-run liquor stores and allow 1,400 grocery stores to start selling liquor next June. But liquor wouldn’t be any cheaper under I-1183. In the best-case scenario, according to state estimates, liquor prices would stay the same. Worst case, the average price for liquor increases 20 percent.
And unlike I-1183’s predecessor, Costco’s failed liquor initiative I-1100 (which the SECB backed last year), this initiative transfers the state’s liquor monopoly to a handful of large retail chains. Under I-1183, only stores with 10,000 square feet would be eligible to sell hard alcohol—that’s stores like Costco, Safeway, QFC, and Trader Joe’s. Your small local grocer won’t be selling liquor if this thing passes. On top of that, I-1183 imposes a 10 percent tax on liquor distributors but creates a giant loophole that allows grocery chains—the big corporations who are bankrolling this thing—to bypass distributors and buy liquor tax-free. Once again: This is not what democracy blah blah fuckin’ blah.
Vote no.
Senate Joint Resolution 8205
Vote to Approve
This fixes—gasp!—an inconsistency in our state constitution related to voter residency requirementzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. (If you must know: The state house and senate are unanimous in wanting to clarify that you can, indeed, vote in a presidential election after you’ve resided in the state 30 dayszzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Just approve this thing.)
Senate Joint Resolution 8206
Vote to Reject
This constitutional amendment is meant to pump up our state’s rainy day fund, but it proposes to do this by taking money from necessary state services in hard times. And this joint resolution fails to tackle the fundamental revenue problems in Washington: our over-reliance on a regressive sales tax and our lack of a sensible income tax AND WE CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE CHAINED TO OUR DESKS WRITING ABOUT THIS SHIT DURING A FUCKING REVOLUTION AND SAVAGE HASN’T SENT US ANY FUCKING DONUTS! ASSHOLE!
King County Council District No. 6
Richard E. Mitchell
If we could clone Richard Mitchell and run him for every seat on the King County Council, we would. Though considering his competition—Republican train wreck Jane Hague—even half a Mitchell would do. Where Hague dithered on Metro’s $20 car-tab fee, Mitchell was unhesitating in his support. Where Hague generally sides with her fellow Republicans on transportation, revenue, and the environment, Mitchell would not only align himself with the Democrats on the council, he’d lead them.
With degrees in architecture, urban planning, and law, Mitchell is better prepared to address the county’s problems than Hague, the degree-inflating, drunk-driving, cop-trashing 17-year incumbent from Bellevue Square. And while some might count Mitchell’s stint as Governor Chris Gregoire’s general counsel against him, he doesn’t hesitate to criticize the governor’s opinions, even her legal ones, on issues like marriage equality and medical marijuana (he supports both). Mitchell is his own man, if unfortunately only one of them. Vote for Mitchell.
King County Council District No. 8
Joe McDermott
Oops, Joe McDermott was so boring that we almost forgot to endorse Joe McDermott. Vote for Joe McDermott!
Director of King County Elections
Sherril Huff
Sherril Huff is not crazy, has been running the county’s elections department since 2005, and does a good job. Her opponent, perennial candidate Mark Greene, says that he’s discovered a secret conspiracy to make him lose elections, and that the FBI is investigating. Join the conspiracy: Vote Huff.
Port of Seattle Commissioner No. 2
Gael Tarleton
In her first term as port commissioner, Gael Tarleton removed 100 diesel trucks from South Seattle streets; revised agreements with the cruise-ship industry to prohibit ships from dumping waste into Elliott Bay; championed a grant to expand bike and pedestrian paths into Sodo, South Park, and Georgetown; passed an initiative that aims to reduce port-produced emissions by 2015; and had a steamy sex session with Ashton Kutcher in a hot tub in Vegas. (Anyone still reading this thing?) Meanwhile, challenger Richard Pope is a perennial wart on the ass of democracy who switches political parties nearly as often as he loses campaigns. Lance that ass wart for the 14th time: Vote Tarleton.
Port of Seattle Commissioner No. 5
Dean Willard
Port of Seattle commissioner Bill Bryant talks the talk on environmental issues, but he’s voted against a motion to speed up the port’s cleanup of truck emissions and for a motion that watered down the emissions standards. He says his priority is jobs that pay fairly, yet he opposed pay increases for blue-collar workers even while sponsoring a 9 percent pay hike to $400,000 a year for port CEO Tay Yoshitani. Even scarier are his long-term goals: Bryant would inevitably use this year’s reelection as a stepping-stone for his ambitions to run for governor as a Republican. (Bryant has given $3,000 to George W. Bush and $5,000 to the state GOP).
Not on our endorsement.
Challenger Dean Willard, on the other hand, has demonstrated his environmental and labor values through years of Democratic Party activism. An IT security consultant and former T-Mobile VP, he promises to leverage port resources to “create the most jobs, with the least environmental damage.” That sounds about right. And part-time port commissioners don’t need to be experts, just conscientious watchdogs. Along with Holland, Creighton, and swing vote Tarleton, Willard would finally assure a reformist majority on the commission. Vote Willard.
Seattle City Council Position No. 1
Bobby Forch
Jean Godden ran for office in 2003 on a platform about how “mature” she was and how the council needed the “maturity” of someone really, really old like her. That was eight years ago, so now she’s even more “mature.” But age, as all those professors we slept with in college were always reminding us, is just a number. In Godden’s case, it’s a really big number. But we don’t have an issue with an 80-year-old seeking a third term on the city council. The odds seem remote that she’ll drop dead on the dais, accidentally overdose on Metamucil, or plow her car into a nail salon.
No, our concern with Godden isn’t that she’s 80, but that she votes like it’s ’80. She cast the lone vote against creating a phone-book registry (which allows you to opt out of getting piles of paper on your doorstep you don’t need); was virtually silent on the issue of police accountability when the SPD was indiscriminately shooting, punching, and kicking brown people (sometimes to death); and she fiercely advocates for roads while doing her best to sabotage transit. She voted to freeze funding for the transit master plan. She also introduced a proposal that would’ve dedicated 75 percent of the car-tab fee measure’s revenues on this year’s ballot to roadwork, even though it was originally proposed to be spent mostly on transit and bicycle improvements (Godden was unsuccessful).
Bobby Forch may be less “mature” than Godden, but he’d make a better council member. The Municipal League rated Forch “very good” this year, while Godden was rated merely “good.” Forch supports light rail, rapid streetcars, and density around light-rail stations. He’s also got plans to shape up the police department, including requiring the police chief to be reconfirmed by the council every few years. He started working for the city 20 years ago on his hands and knees digging holes for parking meters, and worked his way up to project manager. He’s a solid, smart progressive, and we think it’s time to put an actual city employee on the city council. Vote Forch.
Seattle City Council Position No. 3
Brad Meacham
Brad Meacham, a former journalist and T-Mobile manager, would bring another progressive vote to the council. Meacham, who’s earned the Sierra Club’s endorsement, is a bus- and light-rail-loving transportation nerd who would push the council to complete the city’s Transit Master Plan (which they’ve delayed doing) and start planning for light rail in the city’s busiest corridors. He criticized the council for delivering a $60 car-tab fee to voters (instead of $80) to fund transit, road, bike, and pedestrian improvements.
It’s not that we strongly disagree with the positions of the incumbent he’s running against, Bruce Harrell. Under Harrell’s tenure, City Light created a $100 million stabilization account to prevent rate spikes. Harrell ultimately voted for employee paid sick leave (after much waffling) and for the $60 car-tab fee (after much waffling). Our problem with Harrell—in addition to the waffling—is that outside of an election year, he’s completely AWOL. Neither he nor his staff returns phone calls or e-mails about council business, and when they do, it’s a week later. “I have very little patience for speeches and process,” Harrell says. Uh, then what the fuck are you doing on the city council, Bruce?
Vote Meacham.
Seattle City Council Position No. 5
Dale “Totally Out of Touch” Pusey
Incumbent Tom Rasmussen is going to win this race. That’s not in question. Dale Pusey is not going to win this race. Which is a good thing, because Pusey isn’t qualified to sit on the city council. But we’re voting for him anyway and think you should too.
Here’s why: Five city council members are up for reelection this year and only two drew real challengers. Rasmussen has been a weak and ineffectual member of the council, and should’ve drawn a serious challenger but didn’t. Why not? Money. Rasmussen has raised $308,705, including healthy doses from downtown business interests, and that scared off all challengers. Now he’s cruising to a reelection that should have been one of two things: difficult or impossible.
Tom Rasmussen has failed at his one real job: chairing the council’s transportation committee. Rasmussen’s committee oversees the most critical decisions facing our city: how to replace our decrepit freeways, how to fund multi-billion-dollar transportation projects, and how to finally—at long fucking last—expand light rail into a real mass-transit network. Instead of leading on these issues, Rasmussen has done real and lasting harm. He pushed to begin construction on the 520 bridge before Seattle’s side had been designed (leaving out accommodations for light rail). The $4.65 billion project still lacks $2 billion in funding—Seattle’s side of the project has no funding—but Rasmussen and his council colleagues signed off on it. Rasmussen was AWOL when the state worked out the deal for a wider bridge that delivers 50 percent more vehicles to Seattle but lacks resources to accommodate those vehicles once they get here. He was the city’s lead man on the deep-bore tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct. (Love or hate the tunnel, you can’t applaud a man who pushed the project for years and then, when asked pointed questions several months after he was presented with a draft impact study, said, “I have only read the first page.”) At the same time he was green-lighting freeway projects, Rasmussen was slamming the brakes on transit projects. He led the charge in 2010 to freeze funding on the city’s Transit Master Plan—not once, but twice—for a total of six months. Why? He was concerned the Seattle Department of Transportation’s planning favored light rail. (Imagine that! A transit plan that favors transit!)
Rasmussen isn’t all bad. He joined the council in placing a car-tab measure on the ballot that will fund transportation projects, stood up to help defeat Tim Burgess’s misguided plan to penalize panhandlers, and voted in favor of paid sick leave. But he so thoroughly bungled his main responsibilities that he should have faced a tough reelection fight that forced him to answer for his lousy record on transportation.
But we’re not giving our endorsement to the total joke in this race—that would be Dale Pusey, just in case you’re confused—just because we’re ticked that Tom didn’t face a real challenger. We want to drive down Tom’s percentage of the vote for a good reason—a reason we unpack in our endorsement in the Clark/Ferguson race, which you’ll find below.
Seattle City Council Position No. 7
Tim Burgess
Tim Burgess says he’s not the most conservative member of the city council. But he is the most conservative member of the city council—and we’re endorsing him whether he likes it or not.
Sure, Burgess sponsored an odious anti-panhandling bill last year. The Seattle Human Rights Commission said Burgess had misrepresented facts, created a trap to arrest poor people, and failed the city’s human rights standards. Burgess pushed it anyway, because he’s a conservative nut. The mayor vetoed it. So why are we endorsing the bastard?
Because he’s not a sniveling, do-nothing pushover like Sally Clark and Tom Rasmussen. Burgess is a smart, capable politician with a brain, a spine, and—most importantly—a liberal streak that we hope to see more of. As a former cop, Burgess led his public safety committee to issue an 11-point recommendation to the troubled police department (pissing off the teabagging police union). He backed paid sick leave without hesitation, he supported the phone book registry, and he came out for a funding package to improve transit. Asked about his support for a controversial proposal to allow 65-foot buildings near the Roosevelt light-rail station, Burgess answered with an unequivocal “yes.”
Burgess’s opponent, David Schraer, is a joke. His sole reason for running is name recognition so he can “get exposure” and run—for real!—in 2013. Schraer’s politics are to the right of Burgess’s on some issues, and on others Schraer is fuzzy or totally in the dark. Schraer got exposure, all right: He’s exposed himself as an uninformed, entitled dolt.
Vote for Burgess.
Seattle City Council Position No. 9
Dian “Totally Unqualified” Ferguson
Same story as Rasmussen: Clark’s weak enough that she should’ve drawn a real challenger, but she was able to raise enough money—$235,230—to scare off all legit challengers.
Clark was appointed to the council in 2006 and has spent the last five years in a state of constant indecision. Name the issue, and she can’t tell you where she stands—but somehow she winds up voting with the council’s conservative/moderate majority every single time. Asked this summer if she could cite a single example of her taking a progressive position and casting a progressive vote and losing—you know, taking a stand for something she believes in, even if it meant being in the minority—Clark answered that she’d voted against a tax to fund bicycle and pedestrian improvements. In other words, her one bold stand was conservative. Asked if she thinks her critics are wrong to assail her epic wishy-washiness, Clark actually responded: “It’s up to you make that decision.” (Asked at another time what she believed in, Clark told us, “I believe in neighborhood livability factors.” Um, who the fuck doesn’t believe in neighborhoods? And living?)
Even though Clark chairs the council’s committee on urban planning, she still refuses to endorse a plan for the Roosevelt light-rail redevelopment project, where increasing density is ideal. “If you ask what I will recommend to the committee, I don’t know,” Clark told us. This issue has been in front of Clark for two and a half years. Instead, Clark has spent her time on the council doing whatever the rest of the council does and taking whatever legislation the mayor gives her and shepherding it to a vote. She’s doing the work of an intern, but we’re paying her $100,000 a year to do it.
Dian Ferguson—the dolt we’re endorsing—is unqualified and her positions suck. Two examples: She opposes legalizing pot and opposes the car-tab funding package to pay for transportation improvements. A former public-access television executive, Ferguson launched her campaign in Tukwila and explains that she’s a local by saying she “probably” has four houses. Probably? Ferguson sucks. And while Clark doesn’t suck anywhere near as hard, Clark sucks hard enough that she should’ve faced a real challenger.
So why are we endorsing Clark’s unreal challenger? Here’s why:
Someone gets elected to city council—or, as in Clark’s case, appointed—and so long as they play it safe and do the bidding of downtown business interests, they’ll be rewarded with shitloads of money. That money scares off potential challengers; raising the money needed to take on a well-funded incumbent in a citywide election is just too daunting a task. And then—because the sitting city council member didn’t have a real opponent in the general election—the incumbent racks up a huge percentage of the vote total in the general election. Those huge percentages make incumbents appear even more invincible, which also serves to scare off potential challengers. After all, not only does the incumbent have hundreds of thousands of dollars on hand, he or she won 70 or 80 percent of the vote last time out. Challengers look at the money an incumbent has on hand and the vote totals from their last election, which are huge because no one challenged them, and give up before the race starts. So mediocrities like Rasmussen and Clark limp from election to election and, thanks to their nonexistent and/or ridiculous challengers, they’re never forced to account for their records.
This, unfortunately, is what our democracy looks like right now. Clark and Rasmussen are going to get reelected and, should they decide to run again (and why wouldn’t they?), they’re likely to get reelected once again. We can’t jump in a time machine and find and fund real challengers for Clark and Rasmussen in this race. But we can deny them our votes and shave a few percentage points off the poisonously large vote totals they’re sure to rack up.
Which is the reason—and the only reason—we’re for Ferguson. So vote Ferguson.
Proposition No. 1, Families and Education Levy
Vote Yes, Obviously
Only assholes oppose this seven-year levy. It allows the city government to assist our chronically underfunded school district with $232 million for school health clinics and early-learning and enhanced-learning programs that benefit struggling and low-income students. The only group that officially opposes this levy is the Seattle Republican Association. So vote yes.
Seattle Transportation Benefit District, Proposition No. 1
Vote Yes
First, let’s jettison this argument that Proposition 1, which raises car-tab fees in Seattle by $60, unfairly targets car owners. Billions of tax dollars collected from car owners and non-car-owners are spent on road projects that primarily benefit… car owners.
Yeah, yeah: Car owners have seen their car-tab fees go up already this year by $20 to fund Metro, and another $20 to fund local transportation projects, so adding another $60 this year would mean car owners are paying $100 more than a year ago. Boo-fucking-hoo. Bus riders have seen Metro fares go up 80 percent over the last three years—for a regular rider, that could mean a $500 yearly increase in fare costs—so drivers have actually had it pretty good during the Great Recession. Hell, we’re even building those whiners a $4.2 billion tunnel through downtown Seattle.
Plus, it’s not like car drivers don’t get anything for their $60. The number of roads repaired each year would double, and tons more potholes would be fixed.
What else does Prop. 1 do? With the estimated $204 million it’ll raise over 10 years, Prop. 1 will fund hundreds of small projects that improve transit (consolidating some bus stops, coordinating traffic lights, building curb bulbs, etc.). King County Metro predicts that buses through 10 of the primary travel corridors would move up to 20 percent faster and deliver “immediate reliability improvements.” Some 80 blocks of new sidewalks will be built. Forty new miles of bike lanes and sharrows will be laid down. And hot, STI–free bisexual chicks will be made available to all straight couples in Seattle seeking a third for a three-way, and you’ll be able to have your three-way under Mike McGinn’s desk in City Hall. (Just making sure you’re still paying attention.) Vote yes.
Position No. 1
Sharon Peaslee
School-board races are like a multiple-choice test in which all the answers are wrong. Four years ago we endorsed now-incumbent Peter Maier, hoping the nebbishy attorney could bring some smarts to a board that rode the political short bus.
We got the nebbishy part right.
Maier has been complicit in a string of inexcusable board missteps, including the contract extension and then firing of former superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, and the most recent round of ill-advised school closures, executed just before a spike in attendance. Maier also deserves blame for ignoring early warnings about a $1.8 million contracting scandal.
So now it is time to give challenger Sharon Peaslee a chance to fuck up. Peaslee, who has a master’s in English education from NYU and runs a not-for-profit math tutoring company, would at least bring some expertise in the field of, you know, educating to a school board that has become dominated by business executives. Vote for Peaslee.
Seattle School Board Position No. 2
Kate Martin
The incumbent in this race, Sherry Carr, has an impressive-sounding day job: management analyst at Boeing. But her management skills didn’t help prevent the embarrassing parade of recent scandals that caused everyone in Seattle to smack their heads in disbelief at our fucking incompetent school board. So the SECB has no qualms about picking Kate Martin, a consultant with a degree in landscape architecture, a mother of two recent Seattle Public Schools graduates, and a take-no-prisoners number cruncher who is ready to do hand-to-hand bureaucratic combat. One of her main gripes is with the district’s new math teaching program, which she said failed both of her sons. “We’ve taken the numbers and we’ve de-emphasized them, and we’ve emphasized words,” complains Martin, who is endorsed by fellow math crusader Cliff Mass. “What’s happened is, the kids can’t do math when they come out the other end of it.”
Martin’s other agenda items: “Stop coddling management” (aka principals and district officials) and end the “test obsession” (aka the overreliance on standardized tests as the only measure of success). Amen. Vote Martin.
Seattle School District Position No. 3
Harium Martin-Morris
Maybe it’s the sexy leopard-print dress and the high-heeled boots that have won challenger Michelle Buetow the endorsement of nearly every civic and Democratic organization in town. Or maybe it’s Buetow’s thorough and thoughtful critique of the district’s ills. Regardless, if Buetow were up against any other incumbent she would’ve won our endorsement. But Harium Martin-Morris is the one director up for reelection who shouldn’t get tossed out on his ass.
Martin-Morris has found himself on the right, if losing, side of a number of key issues. He voted against the sale of the MLK school building to First AME Church, against the controversial high-school math curriculum, and against the most recent round of school closures. He’s also the only incumbent who acknowledges the board’s missteps, and the only member of the school board with classroom teaching experience. Vote for Martin-Morris.
UPDATE on November 7: Remember how we told you to vote for Harium Martin-Morris? Holy fuck, were we ever stoned. Now we’ve put down the bong and are saying that you should vote for Michelle Buetow. Why? It turns out, as we reported on November 4, that Martin-Morris is trying to pass new rules that grant principals wide discretion to censor student newspapers for bullshit reasons. Specifically, Martin-Morris would prohibit everything from libel to content that promotes “widespread shouting or boisterous conduct.” In other words, student newspapers couldn’t report news that makes people, like upset or joyful. According to Martin-Morris, the district currently doesn’t have rules prohibiting students from libel and defamation—but he’s wrong. The district already has rules in place, rules that place less ambiguous restrictions on student speech. We don’t buy his argument that we need new rules that suppress student speech, particularly from someone who doesn’t even know what the existing rules are. When told that libel is already illegal in school newspapers, like, every other fucking newspaper in the country, Martin-Morris replied, “That may be true but…when you write it down, it’s real.” Clearly, Martin-Morris doesn’t think state and federal laws are “real” enough. We sincerely apologize for endorsing this frothing idiot. Vote Buetow.
Seattle School District Position No. 6
Marty McLaren
School-board president Steve Sundquist is a useless tool. He defends last year’s raise for superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who was shitcanned amid allegations of fraud and incompetence, by saying, “We believed that the superintendent was doing the job that the board asked her to do.”
Enter former teacher Marty McLaren, who believes Sundquist is guilty of pitting schools against each other as they scrap for resources (Cooper Elementary vs. Pathfinder), undermining teachers by hiring Teach for America college grads to compete for district jobs (earning him a vote of no confidence from the local teachers’ union), and otherwise “rubber-stamping a failing administration.”
Vote McLaren. 
This article has been updated since its original publication to correct the year when Sherril Huff began running the elections department.
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The Forchen, oh god, it burns.
Loves this.
ANY bullshit initiative pushed by Tim Eyesore: Just Say No!!!
When can we stick a fork in Eyesore’s ass and call him done already?
I didn’t see any write-up here about the Seattle School Board candidates you endorsed, but I guess things haven’t changed much since the primary, other than the challengers have won the endorsements of Seattle legislative district Democrats, and, oh yes, that charges will be filed in the Silas Potter scandal, the one that Director Maier knew about but kept mum.
This publication has just shown that its opinions are completely whacked and out of touch.
The Stranger included some erroneous details in its endorsement of Sherrill Huff for King County Elections Director.
It reports: “Sherril Huff . . . has been running the county’s elections department since 1995.”
In fact, Huff started at King County Elections in 2005. And, that’s a good thing, as Huff was recruited from Kitsap County as a fix-it expert to conduct a top-to-bottom overhaul of King County’s screwed up elections bureaucracy.
Over in Kitsap, Huff had been elected twice as the County Auditor. Kitsap’s loss was definitely King County’s gain, as Huff has been highly successful in remaking our elections division into a streamlined, responsive, professional entity. She clearly deserves reelection.
@4 “This publication has just shown that its opinions are completely whacked and out of touch.”
Now? Just now?
Please.
So you guys were against Harium before you were for him? or am I missing something. also how can you support Kate Martin’s reforms and then criticize Sundquist’s TFA policy? Don’t make no sense yo.
@6 you are absolutely right. This publication has been whacked and out of touch since the git-go. My mistake.
Haha, Harrell’s here.
Anyway, new name for the abomination that illustrates this piece: Godderch.
“maybe it’s Buetow’s thorough and thoughtful critique of the district’s ills.” Ya think? Plus, maybe it’s also the fact that Martin-Morris has been MIA in the community. Gee, he’s the only board member up for re-election who didn’t screw up royally? Big whoop–so he didn’t do as much bad, but what good did he do? What new ideas did he introduce? Call me when you have something that Martin-Morris did, not some bad things he didn’t do.
Oh, he’s the only one on the current board who was once a teacher? Luckily, there’s Stranger-endorsed Marty McLaren to fill the former-teacher slot.
Vote the full clean slate!
@5) We’ll get that corrected–Huff started in 2005, not 1995–stat. Thank you.
Harium Martin-Morris is a quart low on personality–and achievement.
Still voting for Michelle Buetow & the Challengers!
The Stranger Election Control Board is always fucked up but rarely so gullible. Harium was Goodloe-Johnson’s BFF until he had to fire her or risk public castration. The teacher’s union refuses to endorse him, tho he was a teacher. Labor doesn’t like him either. It’s Harium, not Sundquist, who worked behind the scenes to bring Teach for America to town. (Sundquist is just used to taking the credit.) Harium’s campaign sugar daddy is a downtown business developer trying to shove National Education Reform up the unsuspecting asses of Seattle voters.
If you hadn’t been salivating over Beutow’s high heels you might have understood some of this shit. At least you got one thing right. Beutow is hot. Harium is not.
Harium Martin-Morris? Really?
This is the man who has made clear that he believes the Board’s job is to implement policies that the Administration wants, not to do their own research.
This is the man that proposed lowering the graduation standard for high school kids in Seattle in order to graduate more kids.
This is the man who steadfastly supported Maria Goodloe-Johnson, even up to the end, and all but stated he was voting to terminate her not because she was a complete failure, but because if he didn’t he was afraid people would be think he was playing the race card.
I get it. Goldy’s kids couldn’t get into TOPS. But my daughter shouldn’t have to suffer because he’s still bitter.
Not bad but I join the chorus saying pick Martin-Morris over Buetow in District 3 is the wrong choice for School Board.
Harium lectures his fellow Board members, from the dais, about questioning data/information from staff. OVERSIGHT IS THEIR JOB. And yet, he did that.
He supports TFA, supported Goodloe-Johnson until the bitter end, had early warnings about Potter (and, like most of the others, did nothing) and is not a visible presence in the community.
We need nuance and balance on the Board, not more of the same.
Vote Buetow (and I could care less if she wears a brown paper sack over her head) – she’s the best candidate for the job.
Not bad but I join the chorus saying your pick of Martin-Morris over Buetow in District 3 is the WRONG choice for School Board.
Harium lectures his fellow Board members, from the dais, about questioning data/information from staff. OVERSIGHT IS THEIR JOB.
He supports TFA, supported Goodloe-Johnson until the bitter end, had early warnings about Potter (and, like most of the others, did nothing) and is not a visible presence in the community.
We need nuance and balance on the Board, not more of the same.
Vote Buetow (and I could care less if she wears a brown paper sack over her head) – she’s the best candidate for the job.
Donuts ftw.
I’m shocked you didn’t endorse Godden.
You do know she helped Edison invent the electric light bulb after shocking him with static electricity when they were fooling around on their bicycles on a date, right?
I sure hope this is satire.
Once again Ron Paul is completely ignored. What’s it going to take?!
Once again, Ron Paul is completely ignored. What’s it going to take?!
I don’t know if Eyeman’s initiative will win, but it sure will be fun to watch Prop. 1 go down in flames. If we’re lucky, I-1125 will win big, and Prop. 1 will lose big. Suck it, cyclistas!
And what’s this with the liberal puritanism on the liquor stores? Come on you know that Costco is one of a whole bunch of retailers that will do well if I-1183 passes. You know: QFC, Albertson’s, Safeway, Cash & Carry, Trader Joe’s, Wal-Mart, Grocery Outlet. We’ll have a much better selection of booze, and cheaper prices.
The only loser is the clerks at the Soviet liquor stores. Boo hoo. I think 1183 will pass. See ya on Nov. 8th. This ought to be fun.
@14, I was with you until “I get it. Goldy’s kids couldn’t get into TOPS. But my daughter shouldn’t have to suffer because he’s still bitter.”
Like TOPS has rigid admissions standards or something. Kids who “get into” TOPS get a lucky number in the school choice lottery, is all. Linking Buetow to that attitude isn’t doing her any favors.
regarding the school board picks: y’all noticed the part where they said that school board elections are like multiple choice questions where all the answers are wrong, right?
Down with liqueur stores. Seriously I have a massive phobia about going into them. They smell like the god dam DMV. I don’t care how badly it damages our economy. Viva la Kirkland Signature booze!
A suggestion for dealing with Tim Eyman: rename the 520 bridge the Tim Eyman Toll Bridge. Either his head will explode, he’ll lose all credibility, or he’ll just go away because that’s all he’s wanted all along.
Fuck yes, vote for 1183. I mean why the fuck would anyone think the sale of hard alcohol is something that needs to be handled by government employees? Prices will most likely be lower, with the elimination of the state’s 55 percent mark-up and, you know, free market competition.
The square footage requirement came from the butthurt opponents and their lame-ass commercials showing drunk kids scooping up bottles of booze at the corner convenience store.
Fuck yes, get the state out of the booze business. Fuck The Stranger for saying otherwise.
Perhaps your endorsements would have more credibility if they were less pathologically foul-mouthed. Your cheap thoughtless profanity convinces no one, and it shows how unserious you are. And I say this as a fan of George Carlin, Henry Rollins, and intelligent profanity.
@the deluded Stranger
Perhaps your endorsements would have more credibility if they were less pathologically foul-mouthed. Your cheap thoughtless profanity convinces no one, and it shows how unserious you are. And I say this as a fan of George Carlin, Henry Rollins, and intelligent profanity.
HMM, the “representative of diversity” on our school board (Betty Patu is a Suntropics addict). Your endorsement of HMM mars an otherwise scholarly, if scatological, review of vital election choices we face. Harium just needs to get retired and makes (shit) money flying around pretending to be an education (Birth to K?) expert.
What a load of BS.
Why do right-wing assholes bother to comment on Stranger endorsements?
The overwhelming majority of the many dozens of yard signs I’ve removed from public greenbelts, school properties, public trails, road medians, etc, this year have said “Bobby Forch” on them. A real “smart, solid progressive” would respect the citizens of this city enough to not litter the public right-of-way with illegal signs.
I won’t be voting for his opponent, but I also won’t be voting for some asshole who thinks the best campaign strategy is to break the law more than everyone else. Fuck Forch.
SJR 8206: i don’t have an axe to grind in this thing, but how exactly does it steal from necessary services in hard times? the description seems to be exactly the opposite, and a little web searching reveals it passed the house and senate with flying colors, and every other voting guide seems to be for it. so who suffers to lose, exactly? what services are going to be harmed? there is no way in hell we will ever pass budget stabilization provisions except when we have are feeling the sting of an economic hangover, so now seems like the time. so what is there not to like about it, exactly?
I really appreciate the hard work that the Stranger writers put into researching these recommendations. I don’t know what Seattle would be like without the Stranger, but it would definitely suck.
Keep up the good work guys, and thank you.
Agree: Harium has to go
Disagree: Harium isn’t the only teacher Betty was at RBHS
Add: Betty seems nuts though
Agree: Political signs in right of way suck
Add: Saw a lot of Harium signs in right of way
Agree: Seattle thrives because of The Stranger
Add: Kecks a douche though; should have met me in 1995ish to talk about putting his rag on the Internet.
@33 are you fucking kidding me! These hacks do not know what the fuck they are talking about.
I don’t live anywhere near Seattle and can’t vote in any of these races, but I always read the SECB endorsements anyway because they’re just so entertaining. I wish Blue Mass Group was as fun to read as you guys are. If only there were more local rags unafraid to tell it as they see it straight up, and even use swear words where it helps to get the point across. Most coverage of the inner workings of local and state government bores people to tears, which is a big part of why they don’t get held accountable and hence suck so badly.
@32 – 8206 sounds awesome, but it’s terrible. Because of how shitty revenue is now, once we get back to normal, that would be considered a ‘windfall’, and the State would be unable to bring expenditures for social services back to normal.
Additionally, while it is true that, on occasion, programs are expanded in boom times, more often than not there are capital improvements (highways, infrastructure, buildings, etc) that happen. And that is a good thing. Making more efficient infrastructure when we have the money saves money for when we don’t. This amendment would disallow that.
It’s a terrible amendment, and should be voted down.
I have nothing to add. Just trying to remember my posting credentials after my browser imploded.
Wow! This is intense, and it’s not even November.
I love the idea of voting for incompetents to oust the incompetents.
What a concept. And we all thought this only happened in the USSR.
Anyone voting for anything Eyman needs an enema.
No on 1183 is not only correct, it’s CORRECT. Why would any thinking person want to cancel out Occupy Seattle and No to greed, with a yes vote on this? Don’t these retail monsters (Costco, the supermarket chains, etc) already have ENUFF? If you need a bottle of booze, git yer butt to da liquor store and buy it. Stop trying to help the rich get richer.
American capitalism , as we know it, has got to die. It’s time is past.
Jean Godden is a dinosaur, like all the other city council people.
Clean slate in November, people.
If you really want to vote against the incumbent but think the challenger is completely unqualified, why not take a page from Nevada and do a write-in vote for “none of the above”? That’s what I intend to do.
If you really don’t want to support the incumbent but think that the challenger is totally unqualified, why not take a page from Nevada and cast a write-in vote for “none of the above”? That’s what I intend to do.
They lost any credibility with me when they flat out lie about 1183. They neglect to say that it is the worthless national liquor distributors who are backing the no side with millions. I would choose a local company like Costco which provides good jobs with good benefits (to several people I know) than national liquor distributors who’s only purpose is to syphon off a portion of the profits. Oh, and small grocers will not be able to carry liquor? Do they have any concept of simple math and square footage? lol, sorry, it is the Stranger…It’s 100ft x 100ft or 50ft x 200ft, etc. The average walgreens is 14500 square feet, 1.5 times big enough to qualify. Also, California based BevMo’s average stores are 10-12K sq ft.
Vote Yes on 1183 – whiskey at Trader Joes.
You’re mad that little places can’t sell liquor? Who cares? Get the gov’t out of my liquor.
I’ve been pissed off at all of this election stuff for the last month, seems you can’t turn on the tube without seeing Dave Brandland’s fat head spouting off on the same stuff he spouted off on last year for Costco. But reading your Election Control Board suggestions has made my day! Keep it up!
No socialists running for city council?No ranked-choice voting?Pfft!AND YOU THINK SEATTLE IS A LEFTIST METROPOLIS?HA!!!
@Doodseattle, that post of yours was a great parody of a typical Seattle left-wing derelict on drugs! Is McGinn your idiot cousin?
Wow this newspaper is turning into pointless cheap profanity filled hatred-for-change central. Many stories come across as if the editors are angry that regressive utopian ideas of early 2000’s are less and less relevant now. The funny thing is that most of the Stranger’s writers grew up in suburbs with parents driving them around and most of them never even visited a financial aid office in college… They came from this old American way of life that’s always been there for them whenever they needed any help. If they were thrown into the reality of Seattle’s youth today on their own without any old money, they would’ve drowned in poverty! Seriously! Can a teenager survive and progress in life in Seattle if he/she has nothing to begin with?? Get all your dreams of no cars and unicorns out of your head and start from scratch! How can you sustain your life here without a car?! The is the worst regressive tax city in the nation already. The poor, which most of us are now, pays more in taxes than the rich here, yet the editors are supporting more regressive taxes, more money for public sector unions, and more more anti-car crap like people have any other efficient way of getting around this region? Living near regional transit is not affordable. You either have to be purposeley dirt poor or make over $50K salary to afford a place near rapid transit. The city now only works for the very poor and the rich, but The Stranger is still lost somewhere in 2004 chanting about the tunnel, evil cars, and calling for more dysfunctional transit that can not accommodate anyone who makes $20k and more a year because they simply do not have the time! The poor doesn’t get any representation in this newspaper anymore. Articles begin to look like they are written by confused spoiled children, who’s structure was broken. We had more changes in economy and ideology of this country in the last few years than in the last 50 years. I will not be surprised if soon The Stranger articles will sound like Glen Beck’s rant, making less and less sense every time they wanna talk about the cult of bicycling, devil cars, Eyman shmiman, tunnels… give me a break! Lets talk about the real issues: Regressive taxes! Bought politicians! Corrupt unions! Unaffordable housing near regional transit for people making $20-$50K a year(not Sally Clark’s “affordable” $1000 studios while developer’s are given tax breaks) or what about stupid jobs without any health insurance!
Just snap out of it Stranger! Times changed, get with the program.
I am glad the Stranger is coming to its senses to endorse Dian Ferguson, but can they get anymore bitter about it?! Feels like they are forced to do it only because Sally Clark’s campaign is overfinanced by special interests. Instead of talking about Ferguson’s strong views on police accountability reform, her affordable housing reform, and her issues with regressive taxation which the 99% can not afford anymore, the Stranger is taking cheap shots at irrelevant issues like where her houses are located and other out of context pointless topics. Looks like research journalism is no longer a requirement for articles in The Stranger…
Harium Martin-Morris may be an ex-teacher but so what? Doesn’t mean teachers feel they have a voice with him. Just the opposite. There were apparently enough votes at the last teacher’s union meeting to pass a vote of No Confidence in him, but the motion against him was stopped on procedural grounds. It was stopped by union leadership who saw the writing on the wall after the body passed a vote of No Confidence in Steve Sundquist.
Martin-Morris also voted to rid schools of counselors and hugely supported our now-ex superintendent. Two more things teachers opposed.
I love your work! I hope when I’m done getting my bachelors in print journalism I will be in Seattle, hopefully working for you! : )