[caption id="attachment_15678" align="alignnone" width="550" caption="John Fox of the Seattle Displacement Coalition"][/caption]

As we reported in this morning's Morning Fizz, mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan has reportedly refused to meet with the Seattle Displacement Coalition after rescheduling a meeting with the group several times. (The Displacement Coalition is a hard-left housing advocacy group that has long opposed increasing density in neighborhoods and the demolition of low-income housing.)

In a follow-up email sent to us this morning, Fox says he started asking both Mallahan and his opponent, Mike McGinn, for a meeting shortly after the August 18 primary. "While McGinn rescheduled once with us [before meeting with us] at no time did they signal their lack of interest," Fox says.

In contrast, "it was obvious even a month ago that Mallahan was putting us off."

Fox says Mallahan twice rescheduled his meeting with the coalition, shortened it to a half-hour, and then asked for specific questions in advance, as well as a list of people who would be attending. After Fox sent Mallahan a list of detailed questions and those who would be attending, he says, Mallahan (through a staffer) canceled. The meeting was to be held this coming Saturday.

Mallahan's spokeswoman, Charla Neuma, has not returned a call. His campaign chairwoman, Tina Podlodowski, said in an email that "it's just a matter of trying to get Joe in front of as many people as possible in the last few weeks," adding, "Joe spent a long time with John earlier in the campaign and does understand SDC's issues." She said she'd contact PubliCola later with more detail.

Fox says he last met with Mallahan on June 23, two months before the primary election. In his notes at the time, Fox said his reaction to the hourlong meeting was "mixed."

The questions Fox hoped to ask Mallahan included:

How much density should Seattle absorb?

Do you support one-for-one replacement of existing affordable housing?

Do you support the mayor's proposed $290 million Mercer Corridor plan?

Until there's sufficient shelter for everyone, would you support tent cities, and would you stop the sweeps on homeless encampments in greenbelts?

Sure, they're leading questions, but you don't go into a meeting with John Fox without a pretty good idea of his agenda. And, more to the point, politicians routinely make time for folks like Fox who may not share their views.

Fox and McGinn, for example, are at odds on density and South Lake Union development. But Fox says: "Again, he was there, and he addressed [our questions]. That puts him now leagues ahead of Mallahan."

Fox is also meeting soon with city council member Tim Burgess, who has proposed strict limits on aggressive panhandling in Seattle—legislation that is anathema to Fox.

Mallahan didn't vote in the 2001 primary, but he might find the history of that election instructive. That summer, Fox, along with other lefty activists, formed the "Sidran Truth Squad" to oppose then-city attorney Mark Sidran's bid for mayor against incumbent Paul Schell and Greg Nickels. The Sidran Truth Squad had a real impact on that election, effectively painting Sidran as a Giuliani-esque law-and-order candidate who would trample on the rights of low-income people.

The lesson: Fox may be on the fringe, but ignore him (or refuse to meet with him) at your peril.