Is progressive synonymous with ineffective and incompetence now? That really sucks.

How dare the Chamber not give the Stranger direct contact information of its donors. Fortunately the crack team of stuff getters found an ingenious new information apparatus (Internet) and investigative tool (google). After exhaustive research (maybe an hour?) the team located the donor contact information using disclosures (publicly available) by cracking data vaults ( like Spokeo or any random web search). Some donors were foolish enough to allow access to internal contact information (www.amazon.com). Unfortunately evil doers like Ex- Seattle council member Tim Burgess (introduced Seattle Renters Commission ordinance, supported $15 min wage, wrote Seattle's wage theft law) refused to admit their EXTREME efforts ( lawful & publicly disclosed Independent expenditures) to install (democratically elected) shills (persons).

"But what do the PAC's donors themselves say they expect to gain in exchange for writing all these big checks?" ..."good governance" and "accountability". maybe a "pragmatic" approach to policy making.

Unforgivable!

The Democrats prove once again they are the Party of the 1% and Democratic voters prove once again they're stupid enough to keep supporting them.

Tim Burgess. Wasn't he a member of the same racist police force that has been under Department of Justice observation for YEARS because they refuse to stop using excessive force against people of color?

F-ck the Democrats and f-ck voters who still insist on voting for them. Y'all are trash in your own special way.

If the Chamber of Commerce wins, prepare to see a rise in gentrifcation, a rise in police shootings, a rise in unaffordable housing, and a general decrease in the quality of life. The Chamber of Commerce doesn't exist for us workers. It exists SOLELY to help capitalists make bank. And they've discovered that they can use the City Council to do exactly that.

Who needs Trump in Seattle when you've got the Democrats?

PROPOSING A MORATORIUM ON “PROGRESSIVE”
OCTOBER 12, 2017 EDITOR 7 COMMENTS
by Brett Hamil, Op-Ed Columnist

You ever repeat a word so many times it loses all meaning? That’s what Seattle did with “progressive.” After this current election cycle I never want to hear it again. We’re the fourth wealthiest US city with the third highest homeless population, located in the most regressively taxed state in the nation.

Keep “progressive” out of your mouth.

The word is dangerous because it has a soothing effect on the self-satisfied, affluent white Seattle liberals who compose the majority of the electorate. It says: “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything overtly problematic.” The unspoken assumption, for those who care to parse such things, is that any un-woke actions the candidate might take will be buried beneath enough layers of process and jargon to provide plausible deniability to those who benefit most from their effects.

It’s possible to assess a Seattle politician without regard for this now-worthless descriptor. When considering a candidate, I’ve found you can boil it all down to three questions:

Do their policies protect process or people?
Who gives them money?
Who gives them money?

The answers to questions two and three are fairly easy to track down; you can simply go to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission and Public Disclosure Commission websites and view donor reports. Easy as pie. If you were to peruse the current mayoral race, for example, you’d see representatives of the city’s wealthiest corporate entities feverishly jamming fat five-digit wads of cash into Durkan’s coffers daily while the Moon campaign accrues a steady stream of more humble amounts.

Currently, Moon has received $237K, which includes $111K of her own money. Durkan’s campaign has received $761K. Her independent expenditure committee (Moon doesn’t have one) has taken in $116K, the lion’s share of it from the Chamber of Commerce PAC (CASE), which currently has over half a million on hand. Durkan, whose household is far wealthier than Moon’s especially when you factor in her longtime partner’s assets (which they’re not required to disclose because they’re not married) has kicked in $400 of her own money.

It’s safe to say that anyone who receives six figures from the Chamber of Commerce PAC is not “progressive” by even the most elastic interpretation of the word. CASE, which backs a majority of our current “progressive” city council, gets their money from anti-union corporations like Amazon, anti-tenant industry groups like the Rental Housing Association, anti-consumer telecom giants Comcast and CenturyLink, big-footed developers like Howard S. Wright and Vulcan, and former 15Now opponents like the Seattle Restaurant Alliance and the Washington Retail Association.

Let’s return to the first question I posed: “Do their policies protect process or people?” This one’s a bit more slippery, because the Seattle Process is a thing that eludes by design. It’s the method by which our politicians sandbag the public will, how they dodge a seven-figure community investment with a five-figure multi-year study, how they receive the exact public comment and expert advice they need to justify the thing they were already going to do.

It’s how we end up with a $3 billion hole in the ground, blueprints for the world’s most expensive police precinct, or a new youth jail that costs over twice what we paid for City Hall. It’s how we get all the big-ticket items no one remembers wanting, and continue to go without the things we most need. The Seattle Process bores constituents into apathy while powering every backroom deal.

The Seattle Process is a web of invisible entanglements that allowed Ed Murray to remain in office for six months after being credibly accused of child rape by multiple victims. The explosive accusations started in April and grew to five accusers by September, including Murray’s former foster son in Portland and a younger cousin on the East Coast.

Moon called for his resignation in May, well before the blockbuster July 16 Seattle Times article that revealed an Oregon child-welfare investigator and a Portland prosecutor believed Murray sexually abused the foster child placed in his care.

Durkan, who Murray endorsed, called for him to step down an hour before he announced his resignation. Her website removed any reference to his endorsement that same day.

But Durkan wasn’t the only local political figure who tried to run out the clock- four former mayors supported Murray finishing his term- and a majority of city council stayed mum. Bruce Harrell memorably said, “I would ask that I don’t want to be judged for anything 33 years ago,” which immediately made me wonder, What the hell was Bruce doing 33 years ago?

It’s been a couple months since Murray stepped down, and I’m still aghast. There’s definitely something we can glean from how our political class handled it. My primary takeaway is this: When a sitting mayor can remain in office for six months under the cloud of multiple credible child rape allegations, we can lay no claim to the word “progressive.”

We need to figure out what allowed this civic disgrace to smolder on the back burner for six long months. We need to revisit options that have been taken off the table without our knowledge or consent. We need to know which parts of a politician’s platform are just progressive window dressing, what deals they’ve already cut, and what they’ve agreed to overlook in return.

When Murray announced he was ending his campaign back in May after a fourth accuser came forward, he wasn’t standing alone at that podium. Directly behind him stood a crew of bitter-end supporters including councilmember Sally Bagshaw, King County Labor Council leader Nicole Grant, SEIU 775 president David Rolf, and state senator Jamie Pedersen, who was appointed to fill Murray’s senate seat after he was elected mayor.

Together these people represent a wide swath of establishment power in Seattle. Every one of those people is now endorsing Jenny Durkan. They had Ed’s back and now they have Jenny’s. It’s reasonable to assume something greater than all of them has their backs in turn. The Process abides.

In the Mayoral Forum last week at KEXP, the candidates were asked to name some of their go-to mentors and advisors on the environment. Durkan reticently fumbled through her answer—“Do I have to single them out?”—before naming just two people, one of them an executive director for a well-resourced parks non-profit. When it was Moon’s turn she rattled off a handful of organizations: Climate Solutions, Got Green, SAGE, Sierra Club.

Where Durkan grudgingly namedropped a couple highly placed individuals who have the privilege of bending her ear, Moon rattled off a list of organizations representing diverse, broad-based constituencies whose counsel she seeks. If the word “progressive” still had any meaning (which it doesn’t) Moon’s answer is what it’d look like in practice.

In an earlier debate, every answer Durkan gave on housing affordability centered on incentivizing landlords and developers, her major donors, while every answer Moon gave was about protecting those most impacted and displaced by the historic crisis. The contrast could not be clearer. Guess which candidate’s website describes them as “the only truly experienced progressive leader on the ballot”?

I am hereby calling for a moratorium on “progressive.” We need to strike the word from our political vocabulary. Trust me, we can easily do without it; we’ve just got to ask the right questions. From here on out if you’re running for office in Seattle, don’t tell us you’re progressive. Tell us who’s got your back and we’ll decide.

Brett Hamil is a comedian, writer and host of political comedy talk shows The Seattle Process and The Shadow Council. The Seattle Weekly named him Best Comedian of 2017. He currently resides in South Seattle’s Mount Baker neighborhood.

In 2019, the word "progressive" means "sliding faster and faster to the Right." Look no further than Seattle.

Our city should be run be highly intelligent technocrats, not children with activism cred with no knowledge of how to run a city, how to be effective leaders or how to get anything done.
Case in point, Sawant. She says everyone hates her because she's a Socialist, woe is me. If she was a Bernie Sanders Socialist, she'd have taken over the Council by now.

Zepol, a screed from Brett Hamil is the best you got? Ok, you win.

The Stranger knows the candidates for City Council it favors are likely to lose, and lose badly — if those candidates even bother to run at all. (Bye bye O’Brien!)

Instead of wondering why it just keeps on endorsing losers, The Stranger crafts a pre-emptive narrative to blame Big Business. Post after post tries to cast the bog-standard actions of a local Chamber of Commerce as if it is all a sinister conspiracy to thwart the popular will.

I’m sure this will all console someone if the upcoming Council elections dump yet more of The Stranger’s favored folks.

Once again, I have to wonder what purpose The Stranger thinks a chamber of commerce is supposed to serve, in Seattle or any other city, if not promoting the interests of local businesses.

I suppose the dollar amounts of political spending are of some interest, but the rest of this is a whole hell of a lot of padding around "Local Organization Continues To Pursue Its Explicitly Stated Goals."

@7 For a comedian, Brett Hamil sure ain’t funny.

Btw the most insufferable leftists are like him, from Texas or The Deep South. They really have something to prove. I hope he has a good day job.

“The Seattle Weekly named him Best Comedian of 2017.”

Wow!

@10: And much of Hamil’s rant blames “Seattle Process” for Hamil’s having eagerly swallowed the emissions of male convicts — then discovering most of his fellow citizens hadn’t engaged in this foolhardy behavior. (Perhaps Zepol is angry the Chamber is using money, instead of rumor and smear, to impact election results?)

"The Stranger has compiled a list..." and I suppose we're to assume the folks on that list are evil, greedy corporate tools to be crushed. Beware of ideologues, right or left, with such lists. And beware of stereotypes, whether about the poor, the middle-class, or the rich. I'll vote my conscience, list or no list.

Brett Hamil. That's funny.

There is a gathering tide, a wave is building, and change is coming whether you like it or not. We have tried your way, that way has been given plenty of time. Plenty of money, more and more each year, but the city is quickly declining now. It is time for new thinking and new approaches.

“...eagerly swallowed the emissions of male convicts...” Like a migratory bird (I’m thinking flamingos to the shores of Lake Titicaca, not swallows to Capistrano - while appropriate, the latter would be too obvious), tensor flocks to a phrase only he could be fond of. Note the unnecessary clarification of “male” convicts. That, along with his gay-baiting and peculiar fascination with the gastrointestinal habits of the homeless, makes you wonder what odd corridors his stunted mind wanders down when left to its own devices. Dark corridors, no doubt. Pungent. Claustrophobic. Hirsute.

I also like the implicit claim anyone needs even try to “flip” the Council. Already four of nine members won’t be back next year, and at least two others, Herbold and Sawant, are not exactly shoo-ins for re-election.

It’s entirely possible two-thirds of next year’s CMs will be new, without the Council having needed to spend a dime.

Is democracy dead?

Hey, everybody! I heard KTTH is holding a special meet-and-greet with Jeff Bezos. Why are you wasting your time commenting here when the first 1,000 attendees get a chance to polish his shoes?

In all seriousness, I trust big business implicitly. I hope they can install a council that will eliminate the city B&O tax and backfill it with a special sales tax on fast food. I hope they will create a special tax-free zone for all major employers so they don’t flee to Virginia. I hope they will create a publicly funded shuttle bus that drops employees off at work at 7am and picks them up at 7pm, with a law that prohibits all major company employees from using any other means of getting to/from work. Then I hope they will pass a law giving Downtown Improvement District employees the right to exercise deadly force for anyone engaging in “uncivil” behavior.

Then the city will be a perfect engine of free enterprise and shareholder value, which is all I care about personally.

@26 - God, so right. If there’s one thing the city needs, it’s even-handed government working in the public’s interest. Who could we possibly trust to deliver that more than Amazon (and probably in an hour or less)? I am sure any business-funded candidates will act in “the people’s” interests. Thank you for bravely speaking up!

My measure of a city is how many trillionaires we create. And by that measure, Seattle is a wretched place. Zero! We have created zero! Work harder, everyone! Lower taxes faster!! I don’t care what it takes! No price is too high!! Kill all the homeless if that will help?! It seems like it will, since everyone seems so worried about them.

Also, more fancy restaurants, please. A great city has zero meals costing less than four figures.

@29 - Money has an outsize influence in politics, and corporations have an outsized share of money in our current environment.

Corporations always act in the interest of shareholders.

Business should have a voice in policy, but I am not going to cheer an orchestrated effort by business to determine who’s setting policy overall.

That has a much more deleterious effect on civic discourse than the left-leaning bent of Seattle’s electorate.

Comparing corporate PAC’s to “commenters on Slog” is just plain stupid - just another false equivalency, the hallmark of conservative thinking these days.

"Corporations always act in the interest of shareholders." Of the largest shareholders!

@32 - Another full-throated and utterly myopic defense of the status quo.

Myopic how?

Let’s start with: you assume I have no gold. You probably picture a Central College student in a Lenin cap. That would be the wrong mental picture, so ditch that.

You assume capitalists create jobs out of thin air. They don’t. They take risks, that is true; but they take those risks against a market opportunity driven by mass markets. How much preferential treatment does that calculated risk warrant? You say all the preference. I say some. You assumed I think: none. Not true.

You assume the power of treasure is supreme and immutable. It is neither. Your gold’s value is cultural, not physical.

Back to my original point: the utility of allowing business interests to wield a preponderant influence over policy is limited when applied against values other than monetary ones. If we want a city designed as a work farm for Amazon, then the business community’s purchase of the council will be a great thing, but I see it coming at a significant cost in other areas.

@32 - “Wench an moan...”

Did you mean wretch and moan?

Lordy.

@34 - “Again, you, ,me and the average Joe on the street and free will and vote.“

And, you, , and Joe, day drink.

Creating all those jobs make it too hard to form a complete thought or sentence?

@32 etc. At least you're honest: your paeans to corporate capitalism could have been penned by Mussolini. “il corporativismo è la pietra angolare dello Stato fascista, anzi lo Stato fascista o è corporativo o non è fascista” ("corporatism is the corner stone of the Fascist nation, or better still, the Fascist nation is corporative or it is not fascist") It is pretty clear that the U.S. is already an oligarchy. That's OK with you?

And "grow the economy" raises a whole new topic: Capitalism as you like it depends on growth, but debt and fossil fuel driven growth cannot continue forever. Indeed, we are already well into biophysical overshoot. What happens to all those wonderful jobs and wealth as our economic activity destroys our ecology, a process that is well under way?

Natalie and The Stranger seem perplexed that people consider the City Council fiscally irresponsible. Here's just a short, incomplete list:

SDOT: The Streetcar. Streetcars not being able to fit in the maintenance yards.

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2018-07-25/new-seattle-streetcars-too-big-for-current-tracks

Bike lanes costing up to $12 million per mile:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/12-million-a-mile-heres-how-bike-lane-costs-shot-sky-high-in-seattle/

Pension fund: The City's pension fund is outpaced by literally 98% of other similar pension funds in the nation, in part because the previous mayor and city council allowed someone with ZERO pension fund investment management experience to oversee it.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattles-retirement-fund-was-mismanaged-now-taxpayers-are-paying-the-price/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/times-watchdog/seattle-went-on-a-government-spending-spree-with-a-deluge-of-taxes-six-figure-pay-and-officials-eager-to-do-more/

Council Members like Lorena Gonzalez spending time signaling on NATIONAL/FEDERAL/STATE issues like Medicare for All and abortion instead of attending to municipal issues.

CM's like Kshama Sawant using city-paid printers to print her own protest signs (things like "Unionize Amazon". What's the city purpose there exactly?)

Not doing any formal, independent audit of the tens of millions of dollars spent on third party providers, despite being requested numerous times to do so.

A budget that has grown faster than both inflation and population, and exceeds per-capita spending of nearly all peer cities (Portland, Bellevue, Boston, Austin, etc.)

The list goes on and on. Does The Stranger ever want to be taken seriously? If so, they might want to present actual valid reasons (such as those above) that reasonable people find the existing City Council uninterested in better fiscal oversight.

@5, @6, @7, and @8 Dance Routine: Your MAGA cap is on way too tight. Seek medical assistance before you lose any more vital brain tissue. Weaning yourself from BigMacs could also help lose the potbelly.
@22: Get your shots, muffy.