Results tagged “politics”

The US Conference of Mayors will hold their fall leadership meeting this weekend in downtown Seattle.

As the week comes to a close, it's time to relax. But before you gear up for a dreary Friday evening followed by a potentially bright weekend, take a moment to check the status of your voter registration. If you're not registered to vote -- or if your registration address needs updating, it's time to act! Monday October 5 is the last day to register online or by mail if you want to vote in the November 3rd election. Monday is also the last day to update your address if you're already registered.

It would be tempting to discount Icke as a harmless crackpot, but he’s moved aggressively to cultivate an audience in the American extreme right.

• "Thousands" of Seattle residents have access to Qwest's superfast VDSL2 already, says TechFlash, with a top speed of 40 mbps download/20 mbps upstream, and all for only $110 per month...when combined with your monthly phone service.
• Don't worry, reassures the Seattle Transit Blog, light rail ridership will grow like kudzu. And then the Seattle Times will write about how crowded it is.

Hey, we need more PRIDE in our Seattlest Flickr Pool! (Use "pride 2009" as a tag.)

A Frenchman runs Amazon's worldwide customer service; a French-made engine powers Boeing's 737s. In all, some 600,000 Americans owe their jobs to French investment in the U.S., while American investment in France employs 600,000 Frenchies. Despite the economic crunch felt by both countries, there's still a billion dollars of bilateral trade between the U.S. and France every day, says Pierre Vimont, the French ambassador to the U.S.

A revamped Seattle PostGlobe--courtesy of those crazy kids at Instivate--has rolled out, and along with it, they've rolled out a refocused mission: to be "the source for economic and local civic news." The ex-P-I crew is divvying up the city thusly: Kathy Mulady is on elections coverage; Larry Lange, transportation issues; and Kery Murakami takes City Hall. Plus they've nabbed PubliCola's Josh Feit for local politics input. But wait there's more! They've got video from KCTS 9 and new reports from KPLU 88.5 FM. We applaud their work integrating local blogs into the site, too. Now to integrate the money...

Yesterday, after Publicola was reporting that mayoral hopeful Joe Mallahan had donated $200,000 to his own campaign, Sandeep Kaushik, Nickels' spokesperson, sent out a response: "The voters of Seattle are going to see through what is an obvious attempt by a wealthy individual with little experience in public service to buy their way into elected office. In contrast to our opponent putting hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money into his campaign, we have raised our campaign funds from over 1,000 donors across the city of Seattle." Greg Nickels, defender of the little guy. Or course this is also the same Nickels whose $300,000+ campaign war chest was keeping people from even bothering to run against him. Even funnier? About 26 percent is from donors outside Seattle. Keep on keepin' it real, Mr. Mayor.

For a while we were nursing the small hope that Peter Steinbrueck might make Mayor Nickels' rerun election interesting, but Joni Balter at the Times has snatched that from us: "Steinbrueck will be spending the first of the next four years in Cambridge, Mass. He landed a prestigious urban design fellowship at Harvard University, as he says, 'researching the politics, principles and plan for urban sustainability of U.S. cities.''' What is it with Harvard stealing our mayors, anyway? (H/t to Publicola)

The city faces a $43 million budget shortfall. An unprecedented number of eyes (many of which belong to Seattle journalists and political watchdogs) are trained on the city's every budgetary move. We're just beginning what already smells like a contentious mayoral race towards elections later this year. What better time for Nickels and the city council to start meeting behind closed doors to work out the "very dull" budget-balancing process? Let media report on whatever they see fit, so the public can decide what's boring and irrelevant. That model works for hyperlocal blogs and it will work just as well for government.

When former governor Gary Locke accepted Obama's Commerce Secretary appointment, he had to leave a cushy job at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and move to DC. Now, he's expected to divest all of his Microsoft stock as he continues to adapt to the heavy demands of his new national role. Boeing and Microsoft both contributed the maximum amount allowed to his re-election campaign, and now watchdog groups have their eye on Locke to make sure he's not unduly fond of Washington businesses. Here's hoping his heart never hardens entirely towards Washington; we want him back someday!

• Considering doing the CSA thing this year? CookLocal has a great list of what you should consider when choosing which program to join.
• Farmers markets and schools are a match made in heaven, especially in the Southend. Rainier Valley Post reports on a new partnership.
• The Seattle Transit Blog lets you in on how to divorce your car and get a life.

Publicola says Sally Clark's office isn't denying that the politician will run for mayor at some point. Investigative fiend Josh Feit was investigating a rumor he'd heard and ran into surprisingly soft resistance to his inquiries; whether or not that means anything other than a spokesperson having a mischievous day is yet to be determined, but this is an interesting scoop. Hmm. Sally Clark in charge doesn't sound awful. It doesn't sound awful at all.

Washington may have sky-high sales tax, but the absence of any income tax has always been a consolation for citizens calculating just precisely how they could afford to live here. This morning, however, Democrat Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles re-introduced a bill that would change that by imposing a state income tax. (Check out Political Buzz' reporting on the bill, including a response from Kohl-Welles.) The proposed 1 percent tax would only affect those making more than $500,000 a year, so maybe the image of budget-traumatized, poor citizens eking out an existence is not the best to conjure. If you're making over $500,000 a year, there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it: you can afford the 1 percent income tax, and we're terribly sorry if it requires you to liquidate one of your vacation homes or, god forbid, drive a car more than two years old.

• Seattle Transit Blog is mad as hell about the legislature backing out on I-90 light rail funding and they don't think you should take it anymore. East side! West side! Let's make a light rail rumble!
• Will fancy eats joint Sitka & Spruce really move from Eastlake to Capitol Hill? CHS polls readers, fans flames of rumor.
• Publicola's Morning Fizz abandoned links and announced that a "dynamic woman" had joined the Mayoral race. April Fools!

Newly minted mayoral candidate Mike McGinn has already provoked an awkward situation. While McGinn didn't want to get into Nickels-bashing at his press conference, his campaign fired off an email critical of mayor Nickels' green credentials today, so Publicola's Josh Feit got Nickels' man on the horn for a response. Only thing is, Nickels' man is Publicola's Sandeep Kaushik. Kaushik responded, “Nickels has an excellent environmental record,” and “I’m surprised Mike McGinn is going negative so early in this race," and did not say, "This is an untenable position, and I can clearly have no comment."

In announcing his run for mayor of Seattle [video], Michael McGinn wanted to say three things: schools, broadband, buses. But staying on message isn't easy when you have a whole press conference to fill, and McGinn, despite his Greenwood Community Council and Sierra Club past, looked like a rookie early on. He whiffed on what should have been softball questions in the Q&A: "Why are you running against Greg Nickels?" and and had no public safety plank.

And if so, win what? Yesterday we got this terse message: "Michael McGinn will be making an announcement tomorrow at Piecora’s Pizza on Capitol Hill. Please join him at 11:30 a.m." Which we are planning to do in case there is free lunch pizza.

(via Publicola, who stick their noses into politics so we don't have to)

Says the Stranger's Dan Savage: "I've had it with Peter and Tim and and Nick and Richard pansy-assing around about running for mayor. They announce they're thinking about it, they think about it, and then they announce that running for mayor is just too scary or too expensive or that Greg is just too formidable an opponent. Christ, do these guys have one lonely little nut between the four of 'em?" He promises to remain mayor for only 24 hours, then hand over the title to the city council president. We've heard that before. You elect these Chicago boys, they get comfy in the mayoral palace fast.

Under a measure passed yesterday by the Senate, same-sex domestic partners in Washington would finally have the same rights offered to married couples--rights which many people have been denied since the stale, dated Defense of Marriage Act of 1998, which restricted marriage to unions between a penis and a vagina.

Miller is a Maple Leaf resident, and is--oh, it's all coming back to us now--declaring for city council member Richard McIver's old spot, since McIver is retiring. "Based upon input from hundreds of Seattle residents, David Miller’s campaign is focused on four priorities: Grow Responsibly, Strengthen Neighborhoods, Prioritize People, and Return to Basics." Strengthen neighborhoods? Jesus, can you imagine? If the neighborhoods were any neighborhoodier, we'd have armed raids between the duchies of Wallingford and Fremont, just like in pre-Risorgimento Italy. No, we're afraid on that basis alone we'll be voting for the candidate who runs on Irresponsible Growth, Deprioritizing People, and Striking Out Toward the Hideously Complex.

As you recall, there's a Facebook fan page for Peter Steinbrueck urging him to run for mayor. Guess what? Steinbrueck wrote its founder and asked for some feedback: "I'm overwhelmed by the outpouring of people interested in new leadership in the mayor's office! Well, it's gotten me thinking... political leadership should always be about change. I am in a listening mode, and I would like to ask ask a simple question of those who are urging me to run. That is: Besides a new mayor, what three things, 'For the Love of Seattle' would people like to see changed?" We feel like we're writing Santa a letter but okay: 1) affordable housing for the full spectrum of those making less than 60 percent of the median income, 2) a waterfront Central Park, and 3) city-funded start-up incubators (for profit and nonprofit) in partnership with the SBA. Drop your suggestions in the comments--we'll find a way to forward them--or over here.

We've been following the news releases--cleverly disguised as Slog posts--issued by Peter Steinbrueck's stealth campaign manager, ECB, and she's gotten us fired up. Now if they just work on Steinbrueck himself, we'll be all set. Yesterday ECB was publicizing green golden boy Steinbrueck via a "RUN FOR MAYOR" Facebook group that has sprung up--it had 41 members then and this morning we became 99, just like in Get Smart. Today ECB has hit the e-bricks early, quoting an unnamed "recent poll" in which "Steinbrueck wallops Nickels 46.6 percent to 24.1 percent, with 29.4 percent undecided" in a head-to-head match-up. (ECB doesn't mention our equally scientific 5-way poll in which Nickels just edged out Steinbrueck 38 percent to 36.) So all we've really learned so far is that ECB would vote for Peter in a heartbeat--but maybe...just maybe...that's enough?

Ooohhhhh...what a sickening feeling to get this kind of note. Just when we thought everything was going so well with Tim. We were really thinking about maybe moving the relationship forward.

Today is the deadline to mail in your ballot for the King County special election this month. Unless you live in Fall City or Enumclaw, all you'll be voting on is the new county director of elections. Seattlest will be sending ours today, since we didn't bother to look up the candidates until this morning. We're voting for Sherril Huff, the incumbent, who is endorsed by such illustrious organizations as the 43rd District Democrats and the Stranger (she is "competent, sane, and qualified" compared to our other options, says the Stranger Election Control Board). Huff was also one of two candidates recommended as "outstanding" by the Municipal League. It may be ridiculous that we have yet another expensive election to vote on just one position--doesn't it take millions of dollars to send out ballots?--but vote anyway. Just do it.

Oh, snap! It looks like the rumors were true--the Times reports that Ron Sims, current King County Executive, will indeed be heading to Washington D.C. to take a federal job as Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The position is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. We found a handy HUD organizational flowchart [pdf] showing generally where Sims' new job will fit into the hierarchy; the department's mission is "to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination," according to HUD.gov . The news means that Sims will not be running for a fourth term as King County Executive, leaving councilman Larry Phillips running for the seat as of yet unopposed. UPDATE: Sims just released his official statement on the nomination.

We link to Capitol Hill Seattle content frequently in the Neighborhood News round-ups, but the latest installment of CHS-V, a short video about the election and "hope art" on the Hill, is too excellent not to embed directly. The short features nicely edited interviews with Stranger art critic Jen Graves and Obama garage door muralist Shelley Farnham, among other articulate voices. Enjoy. We're faxing 2,009 kudos to videographer David "Cheesecake" Albright and one of our favorite neighborhood blogs for this post.

Yesterday, King County councilman Larry Phillips officially announced his run for the King County Executive seat--an elected position currently held by Ron Sims, who may or may not be campaigning for a fourth term. Phillips accused Sims of losing focus on King County business, though the executive has issued formal statements re-affirming his dedication to local issues. Sims is rumored to be jonesing for a federal appointment within the Obama administration.

With the return of the dreaded S-word juxtaposed with some of the most beautiful sunshine we've seen in months, the Northwest is feeling a bit punchy. In that spirit, Josh Feit at Publicola takes on Seattle's odd political climate ("green urbanists" vs. "economic populists"). It's a wonder we get any political dialogue accomplished at all, given how sore people are--still!--over the infamous Seahawks in the Superbowl referee fiasco. Pouring salt on the open wound, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers wrote a letter explaining precisely how fair that referee was. After reading the letter on the Daily Weekly, you might feel a little punchy yourself and need to scream about it. Just let it out, you'll feel better. If yelling doesn't help, have you considered turning to alcohol? Some tequila from Sammamish, perhaps? The Issaquah Reporter has the story (via GreenerGrad).