Is DeWolf kidding me?

He had a Seattle School Board meeting to be at last night. The Board is discussing a very contentious K-12 science adoption. He's already made up his mind? No need to listen to members of the public - on both sides - who came to talk?

In his time on the school board, he has had maybe two community meetings; the other members have them monthly.

Shameful. He should step down from the Board if he won't do the job.

Melissa Westbrook
Seattle Schools Community Forum blog

The school board pays nothing and isn’t particularly effective reigning in the district. It’s usually where political ambitions go to die. I don’t blame DeWolfe for dressing for the job he wants, not what he has.

When will you run for School Board, Melissa?

He was elected to serve the students in SPS. He needs to do that job FIRST or step down. How shitty is it to run for one office and hold onto another? Don't like the first elected job, then step down. Don't do a disservice to it.

Me? Maybe sooner than you think.

Do it! It’s thankless. Lots of potshots from the public/peanut gallery, and not a lot of satisfaction since the school board isn’t much of a platform nor does it have a lot of power or staff support.

If elected, I hope DeWolf would use his position on the City Council to support education efforts in this city.

@1 asnd@3 FTW

And triple all that and it applies to Inslee's clown campaign.
Resign or come home and do your job as Gov, you pathetic hack.

@4, LOL. Meet peanut gallery, this comment isn’t even on topic.

@5:

May we then assume you would quit your current job in the event you decided you wanted to work somewhere else? Or will you - like most normal people - continue working that job while you look for another one?

DeWolf's attack that Kshama hasn't done enough to pressure Olympia to allow rent control is laughable. Has any other elected official in Seattle or anywhere in the state done more to popularize and build political will for rent control? It was pressure from Sawant and the housing justice movement that forced Seattle City Council to come out in favor of rent control, and for the city to formally call on Olympia to overturn the ban. It was direct pressure from Socialist Alternative that pushed House Speaker Frank Chopp to say he supported lifting the state ban (though of course he's done nothing about it since). And no other elected official can claim more credit for the growing public pressure for rent control, which will be the most decisive thing to force policy change in Olympia. DeWolf's suggestion that personal lobbying in Olympia would have been a better use of time is even more laughable, given the financial power of the landlord lobby. But's it's also ironic given that DeWolf himself was virtually AWOL during the huge education funding debate at the state level, which remains in a state of crisis even after this legislative session.

Rent control is a joke. It reduces the housing supply, consolidates ownership into the hands of a few absentee landlords and results in dilapidated housing with landlords who won't fix anything. But you won't move even though nothing works in the building because your rent is cheap.
Rent control has worked wonders in San Fran and NYC, for a few lucky lottery winners.
We have tons of public land. The city could easily partner with a private developer for a 100 year lease 50/50 low & middle income housing project mixed with higher income units at the top of the structure at Magnuson Park, Discovery Park, SODO and Georgetown.
Instead we are using our limited financial resources to help the least amount of people for $400,000 per unit to build housing projects on priceless land surrounded by million dollar homes far from jobs, transit options and no grocery stores for miles.
Don't believe me? Go to the 7-Eleven across from Magnuson Park $5 candy bars and $10 beers because they know they can take advantage of the poor people living in a food desert.

Cake is the correct answer, even if I love Pie.

Did the candidates get a "waffle" card for the speed round, as found at other candidate forums?

District 3 candidates in District 7. Icky.

Rhetorical tone matters. Just as Trump demonizes immigrants, "the liberal media," and "fake news," so in Seattle many on the left demonize "the rich," "the one percent," "the ruling class," "the corporations," "corporate sell-outs," "centrist weaklings," "systemic racism," and anyone who dares utter even a single conservative position or argument. And often, as in the pages of The Stranger, anyone deemed politically unacceptable is "an asshole," "a fucker," and the like. Leadership: help people find common ground. Inspire people to rise above this hateful us-versus-them tone by modeling considerate listening, patient policy-crafting, and a willingness to acknowledge complexity and error. I rue the lack of leadership in the White House, and I am deeply saddened by the ugliness of too much rhetoric from the left in this city, and in this matter Sawant has been deeply culpable. She indulges the worst kind of stereotypes about supposed "rich capitalists" and "bosses" and completely fails to acknowledge how many generous, civic-minded people of, yes, wealth, we are lucky to have in Seattle. She promotes an image of class warfare, and The Stranger, among others, uncritically promotes this agenda. Some of us are grateful to generous employers; some of us--and I am relatively poor--are grateful to have the freedom to start and manage a small business; some of us value entrepreneurship, and refuse to cheaply denigrate every "capitalist" as an environmental despoiler and greedy racist. Most people in business I know are not fat cats making seven-figure incomes. They are passionate about a product or service, work sixty or more hours per week for about 50 or 60K per year, and suffer tremendous stress and worry, far more than most people can imagine. Empathy for business people, too! No to the ugly, vicious, divisive, self-promoting of a Sawant, who far too often looks to pad her left-wing resume by demonizing someone else. Us and them: not us versus them.

I live in District 6 not 3 so I'm not doing much research on these candidates but wow, Sawant is a one-trick pony. Her answer to everything is "Income Inequality!"

Why are there hate crimes? Income inequality!
Why are there potholes? Income Inequality?
Why has traffic on Mercer been a mess for three decades? Income Inequality!
Why is Seattle Public Utilities $150 million over budget on the ship canal sewage tunnel? Income Inequality!
Why did Bertha get stuck on a steel pipe? Income Inequality!

I guess it keeps here form having to learn any nuances or even memorize a stump speech but wow.

As for Rent Control. It's never worked anywhere in the history of civilization and always makes housing more expensive, harder to find, and increases income inequality.

I'm not a big Sawant fan, but she wasn't "inserting herself in the internal affairs" of the police union by voting against the contract offer. She was sitting across the negotiating table from them. The public is their employer and the council is supposed to be negotiating for us.

DeWolf should resign from the school board and get replaced yesterday if not earlier with someone who's willing to show up and do the oversight on the district, which needs it badly on the science curriculum adoption. If he didn't respect the job he shouldn't have taken it.

Is Sawant going to send another toady to blather on about rent control at the next LGBQTI memorial like she did for the Pulse memorial? Because that was some disrespectful, disgusting shit on her part.

@18 Then go file suit. Join the victors of previous such lawsuits against other elected officials who did the same. Oh there aren’t any? Because it’s not illegal!!! Also, Dewolf enjoys no such perks from his VOLUNTEER position that no one else wants at the school board. Do you enjoy being so angry all the time?

I mean Trump has literally been campaigning every week since he was elected, using secret service to cover him at rallies, Air Force 1 to fundraiser, etc. So has every other president. It is how it is done.