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Campaign Fizz: Biz Endorses Classen, Ferguson Talks SPD
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• The Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy---the business group that replaced the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce's Alki Foundation earlier this year ---issued its endorsements in local races today.
Among the usual suspects---yea four city council incumbents, yea Gael Tarleton and Bill Bryant for Port Commission, yea Republican Jane Hague over her two challengers for King County Council---was one surprising nod: Challenger Maurice Classen, who's running against two-term incumbent Jean Godden for city council.
In a statement, Godden's other main opponent, Bobby Forch, clearly a little unnerved by Classen's score, accused Classen of "cutting a deal" with the business group over a proposal to mandate paid sick leave to get their endorsement. "Classen was the only candidate in Seattle City Council Position One to agree to obstructing and delaying action on paid sick leave if he was elected so he could get the endorsement of CASE (the political arm of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce)," Forch said in a press release.
Classen calls Forch's accusations absurd. "I have no idea what he's talking about. This an act by a desperate candidate. He has no evidence whatsoever to support this, and in fact, everything he's saying isn't true. I have supported paid sick leave," Classen says.
However, Classen says he does want to "bring more people to the table so we can get it passed, because we don't have the votes right now."
This isn't the first time the business group has snubbed Godden. In 2007, the Alki Foundation decided on a surprising no-endorsement in her race.
In a recent interview with PubliCola, Godden touted her record as head of the council's budget committee, and took credit, for a biz friendly move: getting Frank Russell Investments to relocate from Tacoma to Seattle by tweaking the city's B&O tax code.
The Chamber also supports Referendum 1, the pro-tunnel referendum.
• As we noted in the PubliCalendar, the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce is hosting a forum on the tunnel referendum tonight, with two representatives each from Let's Move Forward, the pro-tunnel campaign, and Protect Seattle Now, the anti-tunnel group. The forum starts at 6pm at the West Seattle High School Auditorium, 3000 California Ave SW.
• We'll have more from our interview with Sally Clark challenger Dian Ferguson tomorrow, but here's what Ferguson---who has highlighted police accountability as one of her key issues on the campaign trail---had to say about the Safe Streets Initiative, a Tim Burgess-backed program that gives prolific drug dealers a get-out-of-jail-free pass if they agree to stop dealing, stay clean, and participate in city-sponsored drug programs:
• The Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy---the business group that replaced the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce's Alki Foundation earlier this year ---issued its endorsements in local races today.
Among the usual suspects---yea four city council incumbents, yea Gael Tarleton and Bill Bryant for Port Commission, yea Republican Jane Hague over her two challengers for King County Council---was one surprising nod: Challenger Maurice Classen, who's running against two-term incumbent Jean Godden for city council.
In a statement, Godden's other main opponent, Bobby Forch, clearly a little unnerved by Classen's score, accused Classen of "cutting a deal" with the business group over a proposal to mandate paid sick leave to get their endorsement. "Classen was the only candidate in Seattle City Council Position One to agree to obstructing and delaying action on paid sick leave if he was elected so he could get the endorsement of CASE (the political arm of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce)," Forch said in a press release.
Classen calls Forch's accusations absurd. "I have no idea what he's talking about. This an act by a desperate candidate. He has no evidence whatsoever to support this, and in fact, everything he's saying isn't true. I have supported paid sick leave," Classen says.
However, Classen says he does want to "bring more people to the table so we can get it passed, because we don't have the votes right now."
This isn't the first time the business group has snubbed Godden. In 2007, the Alki Foundation decided on a surprising no-endorsement in her race.
In a recent interview with PubliCola, Godden touted her record as head of the council's budget committee, and took credit, for a biz friendly move: getting Frank Russell Investments to relocate from Tacoma to Seattle by tweaking the city's B&O tax code.
The Chamber also supports Referendum 1, the pro-tunnel referendum.
• As we noted in the PubliCalendar, the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce is hosting a forum on the tunnel referendum tonight, with two representatives each from Let's Move Forward, the pro-tunnel campaign, and Protect Seattle Now, the anti-tunnel group. The forum starts at 6pm at the West Seattle High School Auditorium, 3000 California Ave SW.
• We'll have more from our interview with Sally Clark challenger Dian Ferguson tomorrow, but here's what Ferguson---who has highlighted police accountability as one of her key issues on the campaign trail---had to say about the Safe Streets Initiative, a Tim Burgess-backed program that gives prolific drug dealers a get-out-of-jail-free pass if they agree to stop dealing, stay clean, and participate in city-sponsored drug programs:
"There are some funding questions. I believe that funding for those kinds of programs should come out of police dollars, as opposed to human services dollars. I think [funding drug programs through SPD] sets up the kind of relationship and accountability that you want through policing, as opposed to 'this is just another social service program.' There's some legitimacy when it comes out of policing and safety."
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