Morning Fizz
Morning Jolt: Primary Election Winners & Losers
Caffeinated News & Gossip. Your Daily Morning Fizz.
We filed a pretty lightweight Afternoon Jolt yesterday (sidewalk cafes) knowing there would be some big winners and losers this morning. But, man, we didn't expect it to be this heavy; the tunnel wins big: 60-40 .
Winners
Tunnel proponent state Sen. Ed Murray (D-43, Capitol Hill) has defended the project against critics like city council member Mike O'Brien for months.
1. State Sen. Ed Murray [pullquote]If last night's vote on a picayune piece of process was really a proxy vote on the tunnel—as the anti-tunnel camp framed it— it was also a proxy vote on their guy McGinn.[/pullquote]
Expert state legislator Murray sponsored the tunnel legislation that voters overwhelmingly approved last night. Murray is also thinking about running for mayor. Perfect storm.
Murray, in fact, issued a statement last night:
2. City Council Candidate Bobby Forch
Seattle Department of Transportation staffer Forch emerged from the pack that's challenging well-known City Council incumbent Jean Godden last night with an impressive 23.76 percent, while Godden did not approach 50 percent. (She ended the night at 45.59 percent).
3. Consultant Jason Bennett
King County Council candidate Richard Mitchell's campaign consultant Bennett apparently brought some of the Chicago politics he picked up while doing city council races in the Windy City earlier this year back with him to Seattle. No passive aggressive campaigning for him. Bennett ran an aggressive attack mailer campaign against Mitchell's Democratic rival, well-known Port Commissioner John Creighton, to put Mitchell through the primary for a chance take on Republican incumbent Hague. (The dogged Bennett also filed a convincing campaign finance complaint against Creighton.)
Sure Creighton had the name ID. However, Bennett made sure it was bad name ID (Creighton was accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend and paid her $5,000 to drop a restraining order against him). The relatively unknown Mitchell, former legal counsel for Gov. Chris Gregoire, got 27.87 percent to Creighton's 25.15.
4. Alex Fryer
The embattled spokesman for the pro-tunnel camp gets the last laugh.
Losers
Remnants of the anti-tunnel campaign on the sidewalk outside their party at Havana on Capitol Hill last night.
1. Mayor Mike McGinn
If last night's vote on a picayune piece of process was really—as anti-tunnel activists framed it— a proxy vote on the tunnel, it was also a proxy vote on their guy McGinn. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.
2. Mayor Mike McGinn.
The mayor didn't even have the class to go down fighting with his troops as they campaigned hard for his cause all summer. McGinn, who had spent the previous year-and-a-half attacking the tunnel and maneuvering for this exact vote—which was supposedly going to be a referendum on the council as they faced the righteous anger of "the people" (to use McGinn's favorite words), stepped away from the campaign, abandoning a cause he was raising funds for and donating staff to as recently as last spring.
Also not too classy—or professional anyway—he didn't release a statement last night until more than two hours after the clear-cut numbers came in. (The quiet press release said: “I worked to give the public a direct vote on the tunnel. The public said move ahead with the tunnel, and that’s what we’re going to do.”)
On the classy side, McGinn did call around to the media yesterday afternoon to set up individual sitdowns with reporters to debrief today. PubliCola is meeting with McGinn at 11. We'll report back.
3. King County Council Member Jane Hague
Her historic vote on Monday to join Democrats and go with a $20 vehicle license fee to stave off dramatic bus cuts at Metro obviously came too late for the primary vote. The Republican incumbent got less than 40 percent last night (39.3)—and then issued a dost protest too much press release citing her "strong primary performance."
We filed a pretty lightweight Afternoon Jolt yesterday (sidewalk cafes) knowing there would be some big winners and losers this morning. But, man, we didn't expect it to be this heavy; the tunnel wins big: 60-40 .
Winners
Tunnel proponent state Sen. Ed Murray (D-43, Capitol Hill) has defended the project against critics like city council member Mike O'Brien for months.
1. State Sen. Ed Murray [pullquote]If last night's vote on a picayune piece of process was really a proxy vote on the tunnel—as the anti-tunnel camp framed it— it was also a proxy vote on their guy McGinn.[/pullquote]
Expert state legislator Murray sponsored the tunnel legislation that voters overwhelmingly approved last night. Murray is also thinking about running for mayor. Perfect storm.
Murray, in fact, issued a statement last night:
Tuesday's vote in favor of the deep bore tunnel showed a unified voice behind a project years in the making, said Senator Ed Murray, D-Seattle.
"It has been ten years since the Nisqually Valley earthquake seriously damaged the Alaskan Way Viaduct—and after ten years, the city has finally decided upon a solution. Tonight’s vote offers an opportunity for Seattle as a city and for the progressive movement in particular to come together and move forward on a host of issues we care about during these troubling economic times.”
Murray was the prime sponsor of SB 5768, which authorized the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project.
2. City Council Candidate Bobby Forch
Seattle Department of Transportation staffer Forch emerged from the pack that's challenging well-known City Council incumbent Jean Godden last night with an impressive 23.76 percent, while Godden did not approach 50 percent. (She ended the night at 45.59 percent).
3. Consultant Jason Bennett
King County Council candidate Richard Mitchell's campaign consultant Bennett apparently brought some of the Chicago politics he picked up while doing city council races in the Windy City earlier this year back with him to Seattle. No passive aggressive campaigning for him. Bennett ran an aggressive attack mailer campaign against Mitchell's Democratic rival, well-known Port Commissioner John Creighton, to put Mitchell through the primary for a chance take on Republican incumbent Hague. (The dogged Bennett also filed a convincing campaign finance complaint against Creighton.)
Sure Creighton had the name ID. However, Bennett made sure it was bad name ID (Creighton was accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend and paid her $5,000 to drop a restraining order against him). The relatively unknown Mitchell, former legal counsel for Gov. Chris Gregoire, got 27.87 percent to Creighton's 25.15.
4. Alex Fryer
The embattled spokesman for the pro-tunnel camp gets the last laugh.
Losers
Remnants of the anti-tunnel campaign on the sidewalk outside their party at Havana on Capitol Hill last night.
1. Mayor Mike McGinn
If last night's vote on a picayune piece of process was really—as anti-tunnel activists framed it— a proxy vote on the tunnel, it was also a proxy vote on their guy McGinn. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.
2. Mayor Mike McGinn.
The mayor didn't even have the class to go down fighting with his troops as they campaigned hard for his cause all summer. McGinn, who had spent the previous year-and-a-half attacking the tunnel and maneuvering for this exact vote—which was supposedly going to be a referendum on the council as they faced the righteous anger of "the people" (to use McGinn's favorite words), stepped away from the campaign, abandoning a cause he was raising funds for and donating staff to as recently as last spring.
Also not too classy—or professional anyway—he didn't release a statement last night until more than two hours after the clear-cut numbers came in. (The quiet press release said: “I worked to give the public a direct vote on the tunnel. The public said move ahead with the tunnel, and that’s what we’re going to do.”)
On the classy side, McGinn did call around to the media yesterday afternoon to set up individual sitdowns with reporters to debrief today. PubliCola is meeting with McGinn at 11. We'll report back.
3. King County Council Member Jane Hague
Her historic vote on Monday to join Democrats and go with a $20 vehicle license fee to stave off dramatic bus cuts at Metro obviously came too late for the primary vote. The Republican incumbent got less than 40 percent last night (39.3)—and then issued a dost protest too much press release citing her "strong primary performance."
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