1. Compassion Seattle, the group supporting an initiative that would require the city to divert funds from other purposes to pay 2,000 homes to “clear” parks for the people housed, announced Thursday it had 64,155 signatures – about twice as many as the number of valid signatures the campaign needs to get the measure on the November vote.
Even after the victory, the campaign claimed to be the victim of “harassment, petition theft, assault and significant time delays” – allegations it made in several emails to supporters. The campaign did not immediately respond to questions about the incidents, including a request for case numbers in case they reported any of the alleged crimes to the Seattle police force.
2. Mayoral candidate Andrew Grant Houston received permission from the Seattle Ethics and Election Commission Thursday to raise funds beyond the legal maximum under the Seattle Democracy Coupon Program, which limits fundraising for mayoral campaigns in the primaries to $ 400,000. Houston argued (and the commission agreed) that mayoral candidate Bruce Harrell has already exceeded the limit through his own fundraising and that of a political action committee organized on his behalf.
Under the city’s electoral law, any candidate who has exhausted campaign spending or fundraising, unless the excess is “minor” or “unintentional”, can request an exemption from the cap once another campaign or campaign combination and The Independent Spending Campaign (IE) acting on behalf of the candidate has exceeded the limit.
Because IE campaigns can raise and spend unlimited money from any source, IE fundraising routinely results in a free fundraiser for everyone. The release of Houston from the cap will prompt other candidates who have reached the donation limit to apply for similar permission to raise and spend more money, effectively neutralizing the 2015 initiative rules to limit the impact of money on elections become. The initiative, known as Honest Elections, launched the voucher program that gives every Seattle registered voter $ 100 to spend on the candidate or candidates of their choice. it also introduced a number of campaign funding rules, including new contribution and spending limits.
During the 2019 election campaigns for city council candidates Jon Grant and Teresa Mosqueda, including a pro-Mosqueda PAC, raised and spent more than $ 1 million, despite the total fundraising cap of $ 300,000 amounts to. Similarly, spending on successful mayoral candidate Jenny Durkan ran to well over $ 2 million despite a formal cap of $ 800,000.
Ultimately, the only thing that will stem out of control spending is a court ruling that removes or limits the effects of Citizens United, the Supreme Court ruling that effectively placed limits on corporate and stakeholder campaign spending. Limiting the spending of candidates but not committees, commission chairman Richard Shordt pointed out Thursday, would limit the “votes” of “thousands of Seattle residents using their democracy vouchers” to support campaigns .
3. An online poll, apparently carried out on behalf of mayoral candidate Lorena González’s campaign, tested messages for and against the candidate in a hypothetical election between González and her former councilmate Bruce Harrell, who is currently the alleged front runner.
The poll, which focuses on homelessness, describes González as a former civil rights attorney who was inspired to run for “after seeing Jenny Durkan giving big corporations too much say in city government to side with the police union, when the police poisoned Seattle with tear gas and make the homeless crisis worse ”; it describes Harrell more broadly as a former council president who “has the experience and skills to unite our city”.
Here is a foretaste of the questions:
The poll also reportedly tested two descriptions of González – one that she described as President of the Council and one that didn’t. Seattle residents routinely give the city council low ratings in polls, blaming the city council more than the mayor for the problems in the city. The González campaign did not respond to questions about the survey.
4th The leaders of four major unions condemned the urbanists’ arguments against González in their endorsement of former Seattle Club boss Colleen Echohawk as mayor, and said they were “puzzled” that the website saw González’s support for the workers as a liability. “Unfortunately, one of their strongest assets – worker solidarity – can become a liability if workers fail to advocate bold climate action that degrades the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) and prioritizes street space over the people,” he said Urbanist editors wrote.
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“Our unions strongly support policies such as the Green New Deal, carbon caps and clean fuel standards … oppose police violence and … voted in favor of expulsion [the Seattle Police Officers Guild] from the MLK Labor Council wrote the leaders of SEIU 775, UFCW 21, UNITE Here Local 8 and SEIU 925. “Lorena González has by far the strongest record and the most experience in urbanism and labor issues of any candidate in the race for mayor.”
The anti-González portion of the memo also condemned two votes she cast, essentially praising Echohawk for not casting any votes at all. “A candidate who is willing to get it right the first time is critical,” they write.
Interestingly, the urban planner does not admit that Echohawk has already fundamentally changed her position on one of the most controversial topics of this election campaign season – the “clear the parks” initiative, Compassion Seattle. The urbanist’s approval claims that Echohawk “shares our opposition to the Compassion Seattle initiative.” Indeed, Echohawk has spoken ambiguously on the issue, first expressing its support for the measure in what it called a “good strategy” and then called it a “bad way of policymaking” during a mayor’s debate in May.
Even in the urbanist’s own confirmation questionnaire, Echohawk cherished, saying mildly, “I support anyone with ideas on how to deal with this crisis, as long as there are no sweeps and the money that will be needed to solve this problem is clearly outlined.” It is strange that the urbanist should overlook the vagueness of a candidate, such an important issue, while denouncing “work” en masse as a potential burden on a candidate with such strong urban and social credibility.
5. Finally, I want a candidate who believes that “cultural Marxism” through critical racial theory is contaminating our elementary schools and turning Seattle’s youth into anarchists who build violent fences around homeless camps, reluctant to report much, but I encourage you to take a look latest diatribe by the multi-year candidate Kate Martin on fundraising (?) with the subtle title “Had Enough?”
Martin, who describes herself as a “non-partisan libertarian / republican democrat,” challenges council member Mosqueda.
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