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Campaign Fizz: Union Endorses Hague
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1) King County Council member Jane Hague won the sole endorsement of SEIU Local 925, which represents nonprofits, child-care workers, and public school and university workers. Her most recent union endorsement, by SEIU 775 (the health care workers' union), was a dual endorsement with challenger Richard Mitchell.
2) The Seattle Times' Keith Ervin reports that "big money" has started flowing in to a new PAC formed to promote city council challengers in Bellevue, where two incumbents, Claudia Balducci and John Chelminiak, are under fire for their support of a light-rail route through South Bellevue opposed by a slim majority of their council colleagues. (The third council member who opposed the route, Grant Degginger, is not running for reelection).
The PAC, which has a balance of $69,000, is funded by three conservative Eastside developers: Kemper Freeman, Skip Rowley, and Bob Wallace.
Freeman has contributed to Balducci and Chelminiak's opponents (Patti Mann and Michelle Hilhorst), as well as to Aaron Laing, a candidate for the seat Degginger is vacating. Rowley has contributed to Hilhorst and Laing. And Wallace has contributed to Mann and Laing. Wallace is the father of Kevin Wallace, a frequent opponent of Balducci's on the council.
The Eastside Leadership Council has given $63,000 of the money to a group called Friends of Bellevue Families, which is not registered with the PDC.
Ervin reports:
3) According to a report from Maple Leaf Life , last night's city council candidate forum at Olympic View Elementary School featured a candidate-to-audience-member ratio of approximately one to three, as all ten council candidates faced a nearly empty room populated with about three dozen neighborhood residents.
One highlight, the blog reports, came early in the evening, when Position 3 candidate Brad Meacham, challenging incumbent Bruce Harrell, said, "I’ve been told that the best way to get something done at Seattle City Light is to make a campaign contribution to Bruce Harrell,” to which Harrell responded: “Thank you.”
4) Fundraising for Washington State's two US Sens., Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, has been lackluster, the Seattle Times reports. By the end of September, Cantwell had raised $6.4 million, or $2.8 million less than she had at the same point in 2006, when she was challenged by former Safeco CEO Mike McGavick.
And Murray's fundraising has "all but dried up" since she was appointed to head up the deficit-cutting "supercommittee" on August 9. Since July, Murray has added just $31,000 to her campaign account, compared to $115,000 and $223,000 in the first and second quarters of 2011.
5) FUSE Washington, a group that advocates for progressive causes, has released its ballot and candidate endorsements. On the ballot initiatives, they endorsed "No" on Tim Eyman's toll-restricting 1125; "Yes" on home health care funding, I-1163; and "No" on liquor privatization, I-1183.
The rest of their endorsements, including local endorsements for every city in the region, are here.
1) King County Council member Jane Hague won the sole endorsement of SEIU Local 925, which represents nonprofits, child-care workers, and public school and university workers. Her most recent union endorsement, by SEIU 775 (the health care workers' union), was a dual endorsement with challenger Richard Mitchell.
2) The Seattle Times' Keith Ervin reports that "big money" has started flowing in to a new PAC formed to promote city council challengers in Bellevue, where two incumbents, Claudia Balducci and John Chelminiak, are under fire for their support of a light-rail route through South Bellevue opposed by a slim majority of their council colleagues. (The third council member who opposed the route, Grant Degginger, is not running for reelection).
The PAC, which has a balance of $69,000, is funded by three conservative Eastside developers: Kemper Freeman, Skip Rowley, and Bob Wallace.
Freeman has contributed to Balducci and Chelminiak's opponents (Patti Mann and Michelle Hilhorst), as well as to Aaron Laing, a candidate for the seat Degginger is vacating. Rowley has contributed to Hilhorst and Laing. And Wallace has contributed to Mann and Laing. Wallace is the father of Kevin Wallace, a frequent opponent of Balducci's on the council.
The Eastside Leadership Council has given $63,000 of the money to a group called Friends of Bellevue Families, which is not registered with the PDC.
Ervin reports:
Wallace and Rowley said they don't know how the money will be spent and don't have control over it. But Rowley said he made a contribution because he was told it would be used in part to support City Council candidate Aaron Laing, who is running against John Stokes for the seat being vacated by Councilmember Grant Degginger.
3) According to a report from Maple Leaf Life , last night's city council candidate forum at Olympic View Elementary School featured a candidate-to-audience-member ratio of approximately one to three, as all ten council candidates faced a nearly empty room populated with about three dozen neighborhood residents.
One highlight, the blog reports, came early in the evening, when Position 3 candidate Brad Meacham, challenging incumbent Bruce Harrell, said, "I’ve been told that the best way to get something done at Seattle City Light is to make a campaign contribution to Bruce Harrell,” to which Harrell responded: “Thank you.”
4) Fundraising for Washington State's two US Sens., Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, has been lackluster, the Seattle Times reports. By the end of September, Cantwell had raised $6.4 million, or $2.8 million less than she had at the same point in 2006, when she was challenged by former Safeco CEO Mike McGavick.
And Murray's fundraising has "all but dried up" since she was appointed to head up the deficit-cutting "supercommittee" on August 9. Since July, Murray has added just $31,000 to her campaign account, compared to $115,000 and $223,000 in the first and second quarters of 2011.
5) FUSE Washington, a group that advocates for progressive causes, has released its ballot and candidate endorsements. On the ballot initiatives, they endorsed "No" on Tim Eyman's toll-restricting 1125; "Yes" on home health care funding, I-1163; and "No" on liquor privatization, I-1183.
The rest of their endorsements, including local endorsements for every city in the region, are here.
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