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Brett Phillips: Like Father, Like Son
In our post about the Stranger
's "Weakest Link"-style 36th Legislative District forum the other day, we gave a lot of ink to candidate Brett Phillips, the articulate son of King County Council member Larry Phillips. We went in not knowing much about Phillips, and in fact, we were predisposed to dislike him: Who was this legacy politician wannabe that lined up fancy-pants local political consultant Christian Sinderman?
Two cool young progressive women are running (Noel Frame and Sahar Fathi), plus a seasoned, powerful woman, Port Commission Gael Tarleton. Why should we want another dude down in Olympia to replace retiring Rep. Mary Lou "Marijuana Legalization" Dickerson?
But burn on us, there he was with all these smart answers about the future economy. He clearly grew up in a Democratic household where speeches about labor unions and the environment and civil rights wired the synapses in his brain.
However, the elder Phillips---who ran unsuccessfully for King County Executive, a job for which he spent more than a year campaigning, losing in the Democratic primary when his council colleague Dow Constantine jumped in---can come off as Central Casting's idea of a small-town politician. And Brett obviously has some of his dad's glad-handing schtick in his DNA too.
Detracting from his winning performance on Monday night, Phillips had a cringe-worthy habit of kissing up to everyone in the room.
First, the junior Phillips turned his attention to moderator Rep. Dickerson, shamelessly flattering her by telling her what a strong impression she had made on him in the past paraphrasing when she told him that her first priorities were "putting food on the table and a roof over people's heads." Phillips, stopping the proceedings and extending an arm to Dickerson, said that the "way to honor [Dickerson's] legacy was by raising taxes and getting rid of the out-of-state sales tax loophole to pay for health and human services, including Apple Health for kids and the Disability Lifeline."
Then, asked what the most difficult thing he would have to deal with as a legislator, Phillips name-dropped state Rep. Reuven Carlyle, also from the 36th, who was standing off to the side over Dickerson's shoulder, saying, "the most difficult thing will be dealing with Reuven Carlyle's midnight text messages about his next big idea." (He then "admitted" that he "already gets texts from Reuven.")
He did add, more seriously, that his most difficult challenge would be "put[ting] an end to" Tim Eyman's I-1053, which requires a two-thirds vote of the legislature to increase taxes.
And finally, in response to a question about the legislature's role in shaping transit in Seattle, Phillips gave a shout-out to Seattle Transit Blog writer Ben Schiendelman, who was sitting in the crowd, and his proposed citywide Seattle Subway system.
The 36th District Democrats will choose its preferred nominee at tonight's meeting, at 7:00 pm at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Avenue N.
w/ reporting by Josh
Two cool young progressive women are running (Noel Frame and Sahar Fathi), plus a seasoned, powerful woman, Port Commission Gael Tarleton. Why should we want another dude down in Olympia to replace retiring Rep. Mary Lou "Marijuana Legalization" Dickerson?
But burn on us, there he was with all these smart answers about the future economy. He clearly grew up in a Democratic household where speeches about labor unions and the environment and civil rights wired the synapses in his brain.
However, the elder Phillips---who ran unsuccessfully for King County Executive, a job for which he spent more than a year campaigning, losing in the Democratic primary when his council colleague Dow Constantine jumped in---can come off as Central Casting's idea of a small-town politician. And Brett obviously has some of his dad's glad-handing schtick in his DNA too.
Detracting from his winning performance on Monday night, Phillips had a cringe-worthy habit of kissing up to everyone in the room.
First, the junior Phillips turned his attention to moderator Rep. Dickerson, shamelessly flattering her by telling her what a strong impression she had made on him in the past paraphrasing when she told him that her first priorities were "putting food on the table and a roof over people's heads." Phillips, stopping the proceedings and extending an arm to Dickerson, said that the "way to honor [Dickerson's] legacy was by raising taxes and getting rid of the out-of-state sales tax loophole to pay for health and human services, including Apple Health for kids and the Disability Lifeline."
Then, asked what the most difficult thing he would have to deal with as a legislator, Phillips name-dropped state Rep. Reuven Carlyle, also from the 36th, who was standing off to the side over Dickerson's shoulder, saying, "the most difficult thing will be dealing with Reuven Carlyle's midnight text messages about his next big idea." (He then "admitted" that he "already gets texts from Reuven.")
He did add, more seriously, that his most difficult challenge would be "put[ting] an end to" Tim Eyman's I-1053, which requires a two-thirds vote of the legislature to increase taxes.
And finally, in response to a question about the legislature's role in shaping transit in Seattle, Phillips gave a shout-out to Seattle Transit Blog writer Ben Schiendelman, who was sitting in the crowd, and his proposed citywide Seattle Subway system.
The 36th District Democrats will choose its preferred nominee at tonight's meeting, at 7:00 pm at the Phinney Neighborhood Center, 6532 Phinney Avenue N.
w/ reporting by Josh
