If I Were Heidi Wills...
...here's what I'd say to the Seattle Times:
"Shut the fuck up with this 'circus animals' crap already. The Times' conventional wisdom has it that I waste time on issues like protecting circus animals. The 'circus animals' crap is the Times favorite sound bite (you trotted it out again last week when you endorsed my opponent). You guys like to tell your readers that the 'circus animals' critique is symbolic of a larger problem: I waste time on extraneous issues.
"Bullshit. Answer me this: What 'extraneous' issues? My Snake River resolution? That was over and done with in a week. (And by the way, despite the Times' embarrassment over that issue--'Oh no, Eastern Washington's going to hate us!'--I have every right to send an 8-0 environmental message from the state's largest city.) The city council's Iraq resolution? That certainly took too much time, but that issue was pushed by my colleague Council Member Nick Licata, not me.
"My opponents just love parroting your circus animals 'critique.' At a recent newspaper endorsement interview (not the Times), when my challenger trotted out your extraneous-issues critique, that editorial board asked him for specific examples. He didn't have any.
"For the record, on January 31, 2000, I introduced the Exotic Animals Ordinance, which would have outlawed negligent treatment of animals. I held a packed public hearing on February 8 and had a vote on February 14. I lost 4-5. That's two weeks' work on an issue that came one vote shy of passing. How is this a side issue? A large constituency took my Green rhetoric seriously and brought an issue to my attention (I ran as a Green D in 1999 and won with 55 percent); I held a public hearing; I crafted the legislation; I rounded up four votes (hardly a fringe issue!), and I gave it a go. I lost. I moved on.
"(Oh, and by the way: Council members Licata and Richard Conlin supported my circus animals ordinance, and both got the Times' endorsements in 2001. Conlin also cosponsored the Snake River resolution. If the 'extraneous issues' criticism is as important as the Times' editors would have us believe, why give the nod to Licata and Conlin? Or is the real problem that I don't have a penis?)
"I've taken some dumb votes, I admit, but I'm proud of being a wonk who's delivered on low-income housing, civil rights, and environmental issues. My number crunching on the Rainier Vista revamp kept one-for-one replacement of low-income housing in the mix. And my work to reform the city's developer bonus program--putting more emphasis on low-income housing--kicked ass.
"That work represents your real beef with me. I have a young, progressive constituency that wants me to tangle with the status quo and prioritize things like low-income housing and the environment. I guess your shorthand for such youthful indiscretion is 'circus animals.'
"Oh, and if I get reelected, I'm going to reintroduce the circus animals ordinance and fucking pass it, just to spite you bastards."
