News
Campaign Fizz: The Challengers, the Money, and the Tunnel
Your one-stop shop for today's local campaign news, gossip, and analysis.
• At the PI.com, freelancer Johnathan Fitzpatrick, AKA JJTweets, continues his series of interviews with city council challengers by sitting down with Dian Ferguson , who's running against council member Sally Clark.
In the interview, Ferguson reveals that she's opposing Clark because she thinks she's "beatable," that while she believes only the tunnel has "political will" behind it, she would personall prefer a rebuilt viaduct because she likes the views, and that she opposes giving tax credits to developers who build affordable housing.
• The pro-tunnel campaign, Let's Move Forward, has raised nearly half a million dollars in the runup to the August 16 election deadline (ballots must be postmarked by that date), and they've already spent $46,000 on TV ads, with more almost certainly to come.
Anti-tunnel campaign Protect Seattle Now, meanwhile, remained nearly $2,000 in debt, with $95,374 raised overall. This month, the campaign spent $577 on robocalls and $3,753 on a campaign insert in the Seattle Times. They do not plan to do any mailings.
• On the labor front, the Washington State Machinists Council maxed out last month to two candidates: King County Council incumbent Bob Ferguson, who's running for attorney general, and District 6 challenger John Creighton, a port commissioner who's challenging Republican incumbent Jane Hague.
The AFL-CIO's PAC, the King County Committee on Political Education, also gave to Creighton ($800), as well as embattled Bellevue City Council member Claudia Balducci ($500), who's being challenged by a candidate backed by Bellevue megadeveloper and light rail opponent Kemper Freeman. (Balducci also got $500 from the Realtors' political action committee).
• The Seattle Times' "Truth Needle" looks at a mailer by King County Council candidate John Creighton, which claims that Creighton's opponent, council incumbent Jane Hague, supports "drastically cutting transit service" in King County.
They find the claim "mostly false," on the grounds that Hague supports putting a two-year $20 vehicle license fee on the ballot and has voted for Metro tax increases in the past. However---and more importantly---Hague has said she will not vote to pass the fee without a vote of the public, which could ultimately doom the proposal, and force Metro to cut 17 percent of its service, or 600,000 hours.
• The PI's Joel Connelly, apparently channeling the Times' resident cranky anti-tax columnist Joni Balter, accuses the City Council of "piling taxes on" the citizens of Seattle. The evidence: They plan to ask citizens whether they want to pay more to fill potholes, maintain city streets, improve transit performance, and add sidewalks and bike lanes. Last I heard---unless you believe Seattle voters are mindless lemmings who do whatever the Seattle City Council tells them to---that's how democracy works.
• At the PI.com, freelancer Johnathan Fitzpatrick, AKA JJTweets, continues his series of interviews with city council challengers by sitting down with Dian Ferguson , who's running against council member Sally Clark.
In the interview, Ferguson reveals that she's opposing Clark because she thinks she's "beatable," that while she believes only the tunnel has "political will" behind it, she would personall prefer a rebuilt viaduct because she likes the views, and that she opposes giving tax credits to developers who build affordable housing.
• The pro-tunnel campaign, Let's Move Forward, has raised nearly half a million dollars in the runup to the August 16 election deadline (ballots must be postmarked by that date), and they've already spent $46,000 on TV ads, with more almost certainly to come.
Anti-tunnel campaign Protect Seattle Now, meanwhile, remained nearly $2,000 in debt, with $95,374 raised overall. This month, the campaign spent $577 on robocalls and $3,753 on a campaign insert in the Seattle Times. They do not plan to do any mailings.
• On the labor front, the Washington State Machinists Council maxed out last month to two candidates: King County Council incumbent Bob Ferguson, who's running for attorney general, and District 6 challenger John Creighton, a port commissioner who's challenging Republican incumbent Jane Hague.
The AFL-CIO's PAC, the King County Committee on Political Education, also gave to Creighton ($800), as well as embattled Bellevue City Council member Claudia Balducci ($500), who's being challenged by a candidate backed by Bellevue megadeveloper and light rail opponent Kemper Freeman. (Balducci also got $500 from the Realtors' political action committee).
• The Seattle Times' "Truth Needle" looks at a mailer by King County Council candidate John Creighton, which claims that Creighton's opponent, council incumbent Jane Hague, supports "drastically cutting transit service" in King County.
They find the claim "mostly false," on the grounds that Hague supports putting a two-year $20 vehicle license fee on the ballot and has voted for Metro tax increases in the past. However---and more importantly---Hague has said she will not vote to pass the fee without a vote of the public, which could ultimately doom the proposal, and force Metro to cut 17 percent of its service, or 600,000 hours.
• The PI's Joel Connelly, apparently channeling the Times' resident cranky anti-tax columnist Joni Balter, accuses the City Council of "piling taxes on" the citizens of Seattle. The evidence: They plan to ask citizens whether they want to pay more to fill potholes, maintain city streets, improve transit performance, and add sidewalks and bike lanes. Last I heard---unless you believe Seattle voters are mindless lemmings who do whatever the Seattle City Council tells them to---that's how democracy works.
Filed under
Share
Show Comments
