Comments

1

Lived experience = fact and data free thinking SJW.

2

@1 don't complain about lived truth.

3

It will be great to have a real "Seattle progressive" council member representing District 3. By Seattle progressive, I mean someone who will support progressive issues as long as they don't alienate rich land developers and captains of Industry like Jeff Bezos.

4

Where to start? DeWolf is an opportunist. He's got a good heart but he's no politician (that may be in his favor, I don't think so).

As an expert on the Seattle School Board (and as a person who regrets her own endorsement of him for the Board), this made me laugh out loud:

“I also believe we need a leader that is uncompromising and absolute in their commitment to listen to constituents, rather than allow their own personal politics to set their agenda,” DeWolf said Tuesday. “While it might be easier to deliver soundbites or yell our problems away, we simply don’t have time for that.”

DeWolf, in two years on the Board, has had maybe two community meetings. Most directors have at least one a month, sometimes two. Listen? He's never around to listen or he likes to have carefully staged appearances where he won't get pushed too hard. He has failed to come to Board Work Sessions, which is where the real meaty work of the Board gets done (that and committee meetings) and he missed a crucial one last week.

He's an expert at soundbites.

He has schools in his district that were formerly good schools. Has he stood up to try to support them? Not so much. Feebly, weakly. One, Washington Middle School, was formerly a great school but the district put in a disaster of a principal (and go ask any staff or parent or student - they will tell you the same thing) who is ruining the school. What has DeWolf done? Zero. Two other schools, Stevens Elementary and Lowell Elementary, used to be great but are doing poorly. Lowell has so many homeless kids and yet may lose staff. What has DeWolf said or done? Not much.

See if DeWolf steps down - either now or if he clears the primary - from the Board. I'll bet he won't and he'll let that work twist in the wind while he chases the next big thing for him. And then, if he loses the Council race, well, he'll still have the Board job. Nice, huh.

5

Sorry, I forgot to sign my name - Melissa Westbrook, writer/moderator, Seattle Schools Community Forum blog

6

We already know Seattle’s professional political class hates Sawant. The good news is the working-class voters of D3 still support her. There has been no stronger voice in City Hall fighting for renters, low-wage workers, victims of sexual abuse, immigrants or the homeless. She will continue to unabashedly call for taxing the rich, rent control, police accountability, City funded affordable housing and robust social services. Her opponents will continue to equivocate, dissemble and lob couched personal attacks. And she will win yet again.

8

Opportunist and ladder climber. Never stays around to do much before jumping to the next gig. What has he actually done? Look at his resume...jump to jump to jump never actually doing anything for community- just in it for himself.

9

@4: It makes great sense for someone who cares about Lowell Elementary School to run for the Council and make homelessness a big part of his campaign. As reported on KUOW, Lowell has suffered greatly from our city’s failed policies on homelessness. It has been used as a dumping ground for a disproportionate number of the city’s homeless children, without receiving the resources necessary to deal with such a challenging population.

(https://www.kuow.org/stories/district-didnt-want-us-visit-struggling-seattle-school)

On the substance of your comment, please remind us: how’d your repeated personal attacks on Durkan work out for you?

9

@7

The thing about ridiculously wealthy liberal districts, though, is that they don't need their rep to bring home the bacon, or get anything done at all, really. What they like is a loud, entertaining, feel-good preacher, and you have to admit it's hard to beat Sawant on that front.

If this board of education guy wants to tap into the psyche of Capitol Hill, he's going to need to get brigades of third-graders out to paint up all the dilapidated RVs with orcas and sea otters and context-free Salish iconography, and then yell about fracking for a while.

11

Ugh. Don't crowd out Logan Bowers!!

12

Lester, a minor quibble, if you will, but your caption, "DeWolf embracing his husband following the press conference," doesn't describe the pic.

@9 -- "As reported on KUOW, Lowell has suffered greatly from our city’s failed policies on homelessness. It has been used as a dumping ground for a disproportionate number of the city’s homeless children, without receiving the resources necessary to deal with such a challenging population."

Gosh, it's really too bad Seattle's School Board Director can't do much of anything about that....
Might he have more of a positive Impact, were he there more often?

But running for Councilperson Sawant's seat just might change everything!
Brilliant.

13

@4, 5 -- "See if DeWolf steps down - either now or if he clears the primary - from the Board. I'll bet he won't and he'll let that work twist in the wind while he chases the next big thing for him."

He must be Awful busy....

"And then, if he loses the Council race, well, he'll still have the Board job. Nice, huh."

Well played!
Thanks, Melissa.

14

@12: Good to see your abject failure at root-cause analysis isn’t limited to aviation disasters.

Yes, the School Board can try to fix a problem not of their making. Or we can fix it City-wide, for everyone. The latter requires things like a seat on the City Council. See how that works?

16

@4@5

Thank you for the insights, westello.

17

"Good to see your abject failure at root-cause analysis isn’t limited to aviation disasters." --tentsrus

Off-Topic, but Thanks for the Reminder!

Yeah, how 'BOUT that Boeing, eh?
Chas thinks they're gonna Tank the Economy.
Ralph Nader thinks they should ground
Boeing's MAX PERMANENTLY.*

He may be right.
Again.

NOT a Good Time to have Boeing stock, eh?

I still say, Boeing severely NEEDS Union Employees on their Board of Directors. Somebody's gotta put shit in Perspective.

When you put Profits and Speed-to-Market before Safety,
it's Time to re-think your Strategy.

*“Corporate Homicide”: Ralph Nader Demands Boeing Recall Jets After Ethiopia Crash Kills His Niece"

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/5/corporate_homicide_ralph_nader_demands_justice

18

DeWolf has done literally nothing to speak of as a School Board Member. His "lived experience" seems to be one of not showing up, not being responsible, not being responsive, and perpetuating false information, even when corrected. No thanks. It's bad enough that he is wasting a seat on the School Board.

19

@11, @15: You’re missing the bigger picture. If we get two promising candidates to run, the incumbent could lose the PRIMARY election. That would give us the best of both worlds: the incumbent would still exist as a powerful negative example, while the voters of District 3 would get the luxury of dialog about their (and our) future, instead of a shouting match her supporters will make All About Her.

20

I'm glad there are many candidates from which to choose. Let them debate, discuss, and learn, and let the people listen, consider, and vote. And no candidate--Sawant or any of the others--can lay claim to definitively represent "the people." The people represent the people, and they reflect a broad spectrum of opinion, not the dogma of a single party or issue. I'm looking for candidates who can find and build common ground without compromising core principles and who can listen respectfully, not blame a demonized "enemy." The common ground builders: those are candidates who come closest to being for "the people." But I understand in this age of sanctimonious blame and cheap-shot iconoclasm that I am likely in a tiny minority, at least in Seattle.

21

Wishful thinking, #7 “MrB”ezos’s Bootlicker!
:)

Kshama Sawant defeated our corporate overlords’ Democrat-Republican two-headed snake to win a Seattle city council position in 2013.

She won again in 2015.

We’re going all out to replicate those victories again this year — a terrific struggle, given the deluge of corporate cash bearing down upon us!

Even more importantly, Kshama Sawant uses that single socialist conquest as a megaphone for building mass movements:
• Forcing the 8 corporate council members to concede a $15-per-hour minimum-wage throughout Seattle — we want to extend that victory nationwide!

• Defeating the police and prison-industry’s attempt to build a new police headquarters-bunker and youth jail.

• Organizing the mass fightback for affordable housing and renters’ rights.

https://www.socialistalternative.org/

22

@21: Thank you for that laugh, the idea of a socialist calling someone else a bootlicker is hysterical!

23

@21:

"Sawant uses that single socialist conquest as a megaphone for building mass movements"

I take it irony is not your strong suit.

24

We could've had Andre Helmstetter in this school board seat and gotten a director who would have done the job, but noooooooo, the SECB had to endorse DeWolf.

Great job, SECB. Just terrific.

slow clap

25

@mellow

He is Native American, Chippewa Cree.

27

@9 (who doesn't sign his/her real name as I do),you said;
"It makes great sense for someone who cares about Lowell Elementary School to run for the Council and make homelessness a big part of his campaign."

You know what makes better sense? Someone who ran for the Board saying he knew about homelessness and would work on it. He has had two years and yet what has he done in a concrete way?

Personal attacks on Durkan? You have me mistaken for someone else because I have NEVER personally attacked her. What I have done is call out problems with her thinking about public education. As an expert in Seattle public education, I get to do that (or any taxpayer gets to do that).

Homelessness is not a problem of the district's making but again, DeWolf chose to run for that office to work on those problems. Now he thinks he has all the answers and wants to move to City Council? Not good.

@19, that's an interesting take. But there are good candidates in the race but DeWolf isn't one of them. Better Murkami. She was a long-time public ed advocate.

@24, you are right about Andre Helmstetter; he would have been a much better School Board director. But the good news is that if DeWolf has a shred of decency and steps down from the Board to run for the Council (at the very least if he clears the primary and goes on to the general), then that seat will be open and the Board gets to appoint someone for the rest of his term. I'd say Andre would be great.

28

Unusual for two standing City Council members to publicly endorse a Council candidate other than the incumbent--and to do so very early in the campaign. I'm not saying it's good or bad, but I cannot recall a similar situation in Seattle's recent electoral past. Did anyone from the media ask Mosqueda and Gonzalez about this endorsement--and why they're making it now? Is The Stranger planning to ask them about this? If it's not meant to be a slap at Sawant, it sure seems like one. Again, it would be interesting to hear Mosqueda's and Gonzalez's perspective on this.

30

@21 Hi Kshama!

31

Ooh #22 “Theodore Gorath”, #23 “svejk” and #30 “C.D.0.7”,

Are you completely incapable of staying on subject?
:)

Answer the points raised.

Otherwise you prove you have nothing to say.

https://www.socialistalternative.org/

32

@27: “Personal attacks on Durkan? You have me mistaken for someone else because I have NEVER personally attacked her.”

The lady doth protest too much:

“Durkan always disappears when it suits her. Remember that going forward.”

(https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/08/01/25321761/primary-election-night-2017-were-at-parties-for-mayoral-and-city-council-candidates/comments/13)

This was apparently based upon Durkan having better things to do than answer your ill-informed questions:

“I really wanted to interview her b/c she made statements to the 36th Dems that indicate she might try to take over the Seattle School Board.”

(https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/10/24/25490542/why-didnt-durkan-sign-onto-union-letter-against-harassment-of-hotel-workers/comments/15)

And how did Durkan “indicate” this?

“Durkan also said in an interview at the 36th Dems that she found the Seattle Schools Board a problem and she'd have to think about how to work with them. She just like Murray; she will try to force a takeover of SPS.”

(https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/08/28/25379117/heres-jenny-durkans-plan-for-providing-two-years-of-community-college-to-all-public-high-school-graduates/comments/15)

How’s Jenny’s nefarious takeover plan going? Do tell!


Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.