News
Extra Campaign Fizz: Godden/Classen Edition
In Fizz this morning, we noted a rumor we'd heard that Jean Godden campaign staff had been discussing the possibility of doing a campaign mailer trashing one of her opponents, Maurice Classen, for failing to adequately support victims of domestic violence.
The campaign tells us it never contemplated doing a mailer.
What we have been told by multiple sources now is this: Godden's campaign consultant Cathy Allen shopped the Classen story around to news outlets and political groups. Allen has not returned a call for comment.
Here's the background: In 2006, Classen testified for leniency for his father, who stabbed his mother to death in a domestic violence incident. Classen testified that his father had had mental health issues, including a suicide attempt and a hospitalization, before he killed his mother. Classen asked for a reduced sentence of 21 years in prison, at which time his father would have been 81. Ultimately, his father got 23 years.
Godden campaign manager Carlo Caldirola-Davis said the campaign itself never did "anything like that at all," but added, when asked, that he couldn't speak for Allen. "I can't comment on things outside my orbit, but I can absolutely attest to Jean not signing off on anything like that," Caldirola-Davis said.
Godden, an advocate for domestic-violence and human services spending, has been pitching herself as the council's true champion for women's rights.
Citing an anonymous source, the Seattle Weekly reports this afternoon that Allen said the Godden campaign was "holding on to the issue of Classen's father's murder like a trump card: something it might bring up later in the campaign."
The campaign tells us it never contemplated doing a mailer.
What we have been told by multiple sources now is this: Godden's campaign consultant Cathy Allen shopped the Classen story around to news outlets and political groups. Allen has not returned a call for comment.
Here's the background: In 2006, Classen testified for leniency for his father, who stabbed his mother to death in a domestic violence incident. Classen testified that his father had had mental health issues, including a suicide attempt and a hospitalization, before he killed his mother. Classen asked for a reduced sentence of 21 years in prison, at which time his father would have been 81. Ultimately, his father got 23 years.
Godden campaign manager Carlo Caldirola-Davis said the campaign itself never did "anything like that at all," but added, when asked, that he couldn't speak for Allen. "I can't comment on things outside my orbit, but I can absolutely attest to Jean not signing off on anything like that," Caldirola-Davis said.
Godden, an advocate for domestic-violence and human services spending, has been pitching herself as the council's true champion for women's rights.
Citing an anonymous source, the Seattle Weekly reports this afternoon that Allen said the Godden campaign was "holding on to the issue of Classen's father's murder like a trump card: something it might bring up later in the campaign."
