Morning Fizz
"That's Going to Be Useful to Me and My Colleagues."
Update: Jean Godden's campaign categorically denies that they were considering a mailer attacking opponent Maurice Classen on domestic violence, saying, "No one associated with this campaign, including Cathy [Allen], pitched such an idea."
1. After last night's packed CityClub tunnel debate at the downtown library (Erica and Josh moderated), our curiosity about polling numbers on Ref. 1 reached a fever pitch. (We know the pro-side spent $18,000 on polling in June and $4,200 in May.)
Anti-tunnel advocate and Seattle City Council member Mike O'Brien, who squared off against pro-tunnel advocate Kate Joncas, president of the Downtown Seattle Association, was relaxed and confident, continually hinting that things looked good for the 'No' side.
"We're going to hear in two weeks that voters don't want this tunnel," O'Brien said at one point, "and that's going to be useful to me and my colleagues." (Check out our Twitter feed of quotes from last night's tunnel discussion here.)
At the post-debate shindig at Pioneer Square's Fado, sponsored by Seattle Works, Fizz asked both campaigns if they had polling numbers. The pro-tunnel side offered only: "We can win." The anti-tunnel side said they only had polling from a couple of months ago.[pullquote]Yesterday, Bill Gates, Sr. contributed $5,000 to the pro-tunnel camp, the maximum contribution someone can make in the final 21-day run-up to election day.[/pullquote]
Several whiskeys later in the evening, Fizz was able to get this on polling: The pro-tunnel side knows that 40 percent of the public will not vote for the tunnel. Fizz's read: That doesn't leave them much to work with.
However, the pro side definitely has some last-minute contributions to work with. Yesterday, Bill Gates, Sr. contributed $5,000, the maximum contribution someone can make in the final 21-day run-up to election day. (Let's Move Forward also got another $1,000 contribution from the King County Labor Council yesterday, bringing the KCLC's total pro-tunnel contributions to $6,000, and $1,400 from Charles Wright, an investor with RDM.)
2. We've got two Tim Eyman notes from last night's debate (prior to the O'Brien vs. Joncas tunnel debate, we grilled initiative machine Tim Eyman and Seattle state Sen. Adam Kline (D-37) about the initiative process in general).[pullquote]"What's with all the homophobic stuff in the comments threads? Can't you ban them? What the fuck?" —Tim Eyman[/pullquote]
First, dismissing claims that corporate money runs the show when it comes to initiatives—as Sen. Kline pointed out, Eyman's two-thirds mandate was funded by big oil companies who were scared of a toxic waste tax, including $50,000 from BP—Eyman said the anti-two-thirds campaign outspent him.
Fizz found this claim hard to believe and jotted down a note to check on that. Turns out he's right. Backed by giant contributions from unions such as the Washington Federation of State Employees ($600,000) and the Service Employees International Union 775 ($350,000), the anti-Eyman side outspent him $1.6 million to $1.4 million.
Second: After the debate, Eyman was telling us how much he enjoyed PubliCola—he tapped his arm like he was shooting up—but said he did have a complaint: "What's with all the homophobic stuff in the comments threads? Can't you ban them? What the fuck?" He was shushed by the librarian.
(For the record, Eyman tried and failed to get a referendum on the ballot in 2006 that would have repealed state Sen. Ed Murray's gay rights bill.)
This is a good time to state our election season reminder: Emotions tend to get heated in the comments threads. Be courteous and stick to debating the issues. As for the 7th-grade homophobic name calling, Eyman is 100 percent right.
3. Big scoop from the Seattle Times today that Beacon Hill residents will. not. like: Developer Wright Runstad is proposing moving King County's juvenile jail and courts, now on 12th and Alder in the Central District, into its former Amazon property, the PacMed building on Beacon Hill.
Times writer Bob Young reports:
4. Onetime Mike McGinn opponent Joe Mallahan has reportedly quit his job at T-Mobile, sparking rumors that he plans another bid against the unpopular mayor in 2013. We'll confirm whether Mallahan's still at T-Mobile later today.
5. City council member Jean Godden, who'll be 80 in October, sent out a pitch for support (she has three opponents in her bid for reelection) yesterday touting the fact that Seattle Weekly called her "hella productive." What she didn't mention: That compliment, which she used as the title of her email, was part of a piece dubbing her Seattle's "Best Geezer."
Speaking of Godden, no confirmation of this yet, but we hear Godden and her campaign staff discussed doing a campaign mailer trashing one of her two leading opponents, Maurice Classen, for "not really supporting victims of domestic violence." Her evidence? Classen testified for mercy for his father, who murdered Classen's mom in an act of domestic violence.
Wisely, Godden---who has been pitching herself as the council's champion for women' rights---evidently decided against doing that mailer.
6. Finally, in a follow-up to yesterday's Fizz: That bike that showed up at City Hall this week with a pro-tunnel yard sign on it to compete with Mike O'Brien's bike—which the anti-tunnel council member adorned with an anti-tunnel yard sign weeks ago, locking it up in front of City Hall every day ... it belongs to Seattle City Council member Sally Bagshaw.
1. After last night's packed CityClub tunnel debate at the downtown library (Erica and Josh moderated), our curiosity about polling numbers on Ref. 1 reached a fever pitch. (We know the pro-side spent $18,000 on polling in June and $4,200 in May.)
Anti-tunnel advocate and Seattle City Council member Mike O'Brien, who squared off against pro-tunnel advocate Kate Joncas, president of the Downtown Seattle Association, was relaxed and confident, continually hinting that things looked good for the 'No' side.
"We're going to hear in two weeks that voters don't want this tunnel," O'Brien said at one point, "and that's going to be useful to me and my colleagues." (Check out our Twitter feed of quotes from last night's tunnel discussion here.)
At the post-debate shindig at Pioneer Square's Fado, sponsored by Seattle Works, Fizz asked both campaigns if they had polling numbers. The pro-tunnel side offered only: "We can win." The anti-tunnel side said they only had polling from a couple of months ago.[pullquote]Yesterday, Bill Gates, Sr. contributed $5,000 to the pro-tunnel camp, the maximum contribution someone can make in the final 21-day run-up to election day.[/pullquote]
Several whiskeys later in the evening, Fizz was able to get this on polling: The pro-tunnel side knows that 40 percent of the public will not vote for the tunnel. Fizz's read: That doesn't leave them much to work with.
However, the pro side definitely has some last-minute contributions to work with. Yesterday, Bill Gates, Sr. contributed $5,000, the maximum contribution someone can make in the final 21-day run-up to election day. (Let's Move Forward also got another $1,000 contribution from the King County Labor Council yesterday, bringing the KCLC's total pro-tunnel contributions to $6,000, and $1,400 from Charles Wright, an investor with RDM.)
2. We've got two Tim Eyman notes from last night's debate (prior to the O'Brien vs. Joncas tunnel debate, we grilled initiative machine Tim Eyman and Seattle state Sen. Adam Kline (D-37) about the initiative process in general).[pullquote]"What's with all the homophobic stuff in the comments threads? Can't you ban them? What the fuck?" —Tim Eyman[/pullquote]
First, dismissing claims that corporate money runs the show when it comes to initiatives—as Sen. Kline pointed out, Eyman's two-thirds mandate was funded by big oil companies who were scared of a toxic waste tax, including $50,000 from BP—Eyman said the anti-two-thirds campaign outspent him.
Fizz found this claim hard to believe and jotted down a note to check on that. Turns out he's right. Backed by giant contributions from unions such as the Washington Federation of State Employees ($600,000) and the Service Employees International Union 775 ($350,000), the anti-Eyman side outspent him $1.6 million to $1.4 million.
Second: After the debate, Eyman was telling us how much he enjoyed PubliCola—he tapped his arm like he was shooting up—but said he did have a complaint: "What's with all the homophobic stuff in the comments threads? Can't you ban them? What the fuck?" He was shushed by the librarian.
(For the record, Eyman tried and failed to get a referendum on the ballot in 2006 that would have repealed state Sen. Ed Murray's gay rights bill.)
This is a good time to state our election season reminder: Emotions tend to get heated in the comments threads. Be courteous and stick to debating the issues. As for the 7th-grade homophobic name calling, Eyman is 100 percent right.
3. Big scoop from the Seattle Times today that Beacon Hill residents will. not. like: Developer Wright Runstad is proposing moving King County's juvenile jail and courts, now on 12th and Alder in the Central District, into its former Amazon property, the PacMed building on Beacon Hill.
Times writer Bob Young reports:
Amazon's lease for 13 of the PacMed tower's 16 floors expired May 1, leaving Wright Runstad with no tenant. Owing upward of $300,000 per month in lease and loan payments for the building, Wright Runstad approached the county with the proposal.
County officials are mum about the Wright Runstad proposal and competing ones, saying it is part of a procurement process that needs to remain under wraps so it's fair to everyone.
Commenting would "compromise the integrity of the process," said Frank Abe, spokesman for County Executive Dow Constantine. But if the county deems one of the proposals viable, "We will have a thorough public process," said county Administrative Officer Caroline Whalen.
Wright Runstad President Greg Johnson said he can't comment either, in accordance with the county's request.
But the proposal is likely to spark some controversy.
Wright Runstad has worked on several projects for the county and is well-connected to decision-makers. The company received what some considered a generous deal when it acquired a 99-year lease for PacMed — with extensions for another 50 years — back in 1998. And, relocating juvenile court and jail to north Beacon Hill might cause an uproar in the neighborhood.
"You know jails are controversial. People will probably organize against it," said Metropolitan King County Councilmember Larry Gossett. "I have no problem considering the proposal. I don't have enough information now to say 'yea' or 'nay.' "
Constantine's staff may brief the County Council on details of the proposal this month.
4. Onetime Mike McGinn opponent Joe Mallahan has reportedly quit his job at T-Mobile, sparking rumors that he plans another bid against the unpopular mayor in 2013. We'll confirm whether Mallahan's still at T-Mobile later today.
5. City council member Jean Godden, who'll be 80 in October, sent out a pitch for support (she has three opponents in her bid for reelection) yesterday touting the fact that Seattle Weekly called her "hella productive." What she didn't mention: That compliment, which she used as the title of her email, was part of a piece dubbing her Seattle's "Best Geezer."
Speaking of Godden, no confirmation of this yet, but we hear Godden and her campaign staff discussed doing a campaign mailer trashing one of her two leading opponents, Maurice Classen, for "not really supporting victims of domestic violence." Her evidence? Classen testified for mercy for his father, who murdered Classen's mom in an act of domestic violence.
Wisely, Godden---who has been pitching herself as the council's champion for women' rights---evidently decided against doing that mailer.
6. Finally, in a follow-up to yesterday's Fizz: That bike that showed up at City Hall this week with a pro-tunnel yard sign on it to compete with Mike O'Brien's bike—which the anti-tunnel council member adorned with an anti-tunnel yard sign weeks ago, locking it up in front of City Hall every day ... it belongs to Seattle City Council member Sally Bagshaw.
