By enacting legislation this week that makes it illegal to take photos up the skirts of unsuspecting women, the city council provided a local fix for a pornographic loophole in our state's privacy laws. It's still legal to take photos up women's skirts in, say, Olympia, but here in Seattle the ladies are safe. "It seems to me like an obvious law to have," up-skirt photography victim Jolene Jang told the press. She's right.
Looking back over the political shenanigans of the last year, I'd like to suggest some other "obvious laws to have."
Last February we caught City Council Member Margaret Pageler applying to be president of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission explained that there was no rule against Pageler's efforts to land a job with Seattle's business lobby while simultaneously acting as council president. Cities like New York and L.A. have clear rules against such blatant conflicts. Our council should pass an ordinance amending Seattle's ethics code to rein in this sort of opportunity for abuse. This new rule is especially relevant as Pageler comes up for reelection next year. According to widespread rumor, Pageler has her resume out to local law firms--the same old conflict all over again. If Pageler had gotten dinged last time, maybe she would have done the right thing this time and vacated her council seat before hunting for a new job. (For the record, a Pageler staffer denies her boss has resumed her conflict-of-interest job hunt.)
Next up on the list of no-brainers: While signing off on all five of Seattle City Light director Gary Zarker's requests to raise utility rates--your electricity bill has climbed a shocking 30 percent in two years--the council still hasn't held reconfirmation hearings for Zarker. Those hearings are supposed to happen every four years, but Zarker--who's been director since '94--hasn't had one. There oughta be a law!
And what about all the nonsense with the election this year? For starters, what's up with King County Executive (and Sound Transit chair) Ron Sims evidently directing government agencies under his purview--Metro, for example--to kick out numbers that make the monorail look bad, and then shop them to the press? We caught Sims doing this twice. If this isn't in violation of election law, well, we need to pass some new guidelines. We could affectionately call it the Ron Sims code.
There's a slew of other things that need reform around here, but the biggest no-brainer is passing an ordinance that would create city council district elections. Your nine "at-large" city council members aren't currently accountable to any identifiable constituency--like, say, a neighborhood. The council lacks legitimacy, mandates, and focus. Its only legitimacy, it seems, is incumbency. Let's pass a law mandating that representative democracy work in Seattle the same way it works on the county council, in the state legislature, and in the U.S. Congress: District, districts, districts!
