
The other day we spotted our first campaign sign for the upcoming civic elections, and our dork meter perked up a bit. The election season has begun, and all over the city campaign managers are starting to hate their lives.
John Manning will be taking on Bruce Harrell and Venus Velazquez for Peter Steinbrueck’s vacated seat. However, we’re not sure about the slogan: we get that it’s a pun but why the ellipse?
The primary election will be held on the earlier date of August 21, the same day we decide if we like parks.
The first major candidate forum will be held by the 46th District Dems on May 17th. Just pretend you’re a regular at Fiddler’s Inn and head on in.



I've seen lots of John Manning signs around in the few weeks since we moved to Rainier Beach. He's the only candidate I've seen yard signs for anywhere in the city, though.
Isn't he the guy that was charged with spousal abuse a few years ago?
Indeed--from a 2003 Stranger piece (evidently he's tried a comeback before)...
As appealing a candidate as Manning is, he's also got a serious handicap: Manning was elected to the city council in 1995 and had to resign after less than a year in office after getting arrested for breaking into his estranged wife's home in December 1996. (He wound up pleading guilty to two misdemeanors.) That arrest followed an earlier domestic incident and arrest in October '96 when Manning "grabbed and moved around" his wife, as he recently characterized it to me.
Manning's side of the story, from the same Josh Feit piece (google "John Manning stranger" to find it)
Manning has his rap down on this ugly subject too. He says his 18-month, court-mandated domestic violence counseling was "enlightening" and helped him get in touch with unresolved personal issues related to his father and "abandonment." He says running for reelection won't open any old wounds because the wound is healed. "I can show you the scar," Manning says.