News
Press Release Roundup #3
1. County Executive candidate King County Council Member Dow Constantine
released a press release today (in response to interim County Exec Kurt Triplett's budget) titled: "Executive's Proposed King County Budget Does Not Do Enough to Protect Key Services"
First, Constantine trots out a batch of cost saving measures included in the County Executive's budget that came from his own plan: furloughs; transferring animal control to a private entity; getting cities to annex urban pockets like North Highline around the region to save the county money; and using levy money—initially intended for new social services—to fund current core services like mental health and drug courts.
However, Constantine was clear that he disagreed with cuts in the sheriff's office, saying they should be targeted at administrative overhead, not officers on the street. He also disagreed with cutting social services and parks.
His solution: Taking money ($5 million) from the $15 million rainy day fund to cover officers, social services, and parks.
He specifically earmarked $1 million immediately to keep the urban parks open (which also helps with crime reduction.)
And here's why his release is a hit. Re: Parks, he goes on the offensive against his opponent on this issue (an aggressive campaign strategy that worked for him in the primary)—pointing out that Hutchison recently said she would close parks.
Grade: A. Turning his apparent weakness—his experience on the council—into a strength
2. County Executive candidate former KIRO-TV anchor Susan Hutchison sent out a press release about the county budget today too: "Susan Hutchison Outlines King County Budget Priorities."
Hutchison finally breaks out some specifics, but many of them—her plan to fund parks with private public partnerships, her hiring freeze, and her call for a rainy day fund—are all things the county is already doing. (For example, 25 percent of park revenues are already from business revenues, making King County a leader on this innovation.)
For a campaign that's trying to frame the debate as "Dow is part of the problem because he's been at the county too long," Team Hutchison sure regurgitated a batch of current county policy with this one.
Grade: C. Constantine's experience won the day today.
3. Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn released his "Green Jobs policy" today. Same problem here as Hutchison's got. Nothing new. The smart grid, seeking grants for weatherization, green building standards. These are all things Team Nickels already has in play (with the exception of McGinn's idea for developing public-private partnerships to build porous sidewalks and requiring low-impact development like they do in Portland.)
Although, Team McGinn certainly gets points for the shout out to Van Jones (the former Obama environmental office czar who was essentially fired by Glenn Beck.)
Grade: B. Nothing new, but cool that he's willing to cherry pick Nickels' good stuff.
4. Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan hit (much later in the day) with his green economy press release too: "Leading Seattle Forward for a better environment."
Mallahan's statement was more specific than McGinn's—"Retrofitting 10,000 Seattle homes could save enough energy to power 20,000 electric vehicles saving citizens $26 million in fuel costs, while reducing carbon emissions by 100,000 metric tons and creating 700 jobs"—but like McGinn, there were no new initiatives here.
The release even seems to acknowledge that Nickels has been a star on this front, referencing Nickels' Kyoto project, Nickels' waterfront tunnel, and even saying: "Seattle is known throughout the country as a city that leads on environmental issues."
Grade: B. Late on the draw, but in the game for once.
First, Constantine trots out a batch of cost saving measures included in the County Executive's budget that came from his own plan: furloughs; transferring animal control to a private entity; getting cities to annex urban pockets like North Highline around the region to save the county money; and using levy money—initially intended for new social services—to fund current core services like mental health and drug courts.
However, Constantine was clear that he disagreed with cuts in the sheriff's office, saying they should be targeted at administrative overhead, not officers on the street. He also disagreed with cutting social services and parks.
"I ... disagree with key elements of this proposal. I will not support shutting down parks or taking officers of our streets, and I believe we can and should do more to preserve vital human services funding.”
His solution: Taking money ($5 million) from the $15 million rainy day fund to cover officers, social services, and parks.
He specifically earmarked $1 million immediately to keep the urban parks open (which also helps with crime reduction.)
And here's why his release is a hit. Re: Parks, he goes on the offensive against his opponent on this issue (an aggressive campaign strategy that worked for him in the primary)—pointing out that Hutchison recently said she would close parks.
Grade: A. Turning his apparent weakness—his experience on the council—into a strength
2. County Executive candidate former KIRO-TV anchor Susan Hutchison sent out a press release about the county budget today too: "Susan Hutchison Outlines King County Budget Priorities."
Hutchison finally breaks out some specifics, but many of them—her plan to fund parks with private public partnerships, her hiring freeze, and her call for a rainy day fund—are all things the county is already doing. (For example, 25 percent of park revenues are already from business revenues, making King County a leader on this innovation.)
For a campaign that's trying to frame the debate as "Dow is part of the problem because he's been at the county too long," Team Hutchison sure regurgitated a batch of current county policy with this one.
Grade: C. Constantine's experience won the day today.
3. Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn released his "Green Jobs policy" today. Same problem here as Hutchison's got. Nothing new. The smart grid, seeking grants for weatherization, green building standards. These are all things Team Nickels already has in play (with the exception of McGinn's idea for developing public-private partnerships to build porous sidewalks and requiring low-impact development like they do in Portland.)
Although, Team McGinn certainly gets points for the shout out to Van Jones (the former Obama environmental office czar who was essentially fired by Glenn Beck.)
Grade: B. Nothing new, but cool that he's willing to cherry pick Nickels' good stuff.
4. Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan hit (much later in the day) with his green economy press release too: "Leading Seattle Forward for a better environment."
Mallahan's statement was more specific than McGinn's—"Retrofitting 10,000 Seattle homes could save enough energy to power 20,000 electric vehicles saving citizens $26 million in fuel costs, while reducing carbon emissions by 100,000 metric tons and creating 700 jobs"—but like McGinn, there were no new initiatives here.
The release even seems to acknowledge that Nickels has been a star on this front, referencing Nickels' Kyoto project, Nickels' waterfront tunnel, and even saying: "Seattle is known throughout the country as a city that leads on environmental issues."
Grade: B. Late on the draw, but in the game for once.
