Seattle City Council District 1 Candidates – lots of choices

[proud mama]

skeeter requested that no one associated with the District 1 race post so in all honesty, I am very much associated. However, just thought it should be known to anonyme and all regarding anonyme’s comment about Arbor Heights being left out.

Arbor Heights was not neglected by Candidate Lisa Herbold. She and her volunteers have gone door-to-door in 10 out of 12 Arbor Heights precincts. I think that may amount to 30 hours? I know she and I each spent 3 hours there last week.

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[anonyme]

“skeeter requested” BUT…..!!!! Glad to hear the Herbold staff is respectful…NOT.

proud mama, your post appears to be nothing more than an excuse to get in a plug for your candidate by completely twisting what I said. What I actually stated was the opposite: that Lisa Herbold was way ahead of the pack in terms of number of mailers – which, IMO, is NOT a good thing. I can do very well without this kind of trashy attention, thank you very much. I also had something from her stuck in my gate with a note. My point was that these mailers are a very poor way to communicate with voters. It also reflects poorly on your candidate that you are not only attempting to re-direct the conversation while getting in a plug, but seem completely unable (or unwilling) to understand the issue that I described.

What I did mention as an aside was the fact that Arbor Heights often gets cut out of the loop due to the fact that we share a zip code with Burien and Shorewood. This IS a good thing, at least as regards junk mailers. I NEVER said that Lisa Herbold ignored Arbor Heights.

I wish she had.

Since YOU brought it up again, I have a suggestion for all those others who agree that the mailers are annoying and worthless pieces of junk (the vast majority, apparently, except for campaign affiliates). Far as I know, the campaign is charged for mailing as the card goes through the system – and no matter how many times. I’m saving all mine, re-mailing them, and will continue to do so until they come no more. I wonder how many cycles the campaign will be charged before the card wears out? I encourage anyone else disgusted with this practice to do the same.

There are a couple of people I’ve received NO mailers from. Either they don’t have money to burn like the Herbold campaign, or they respect the Direct Mail registry. A candidate would gain points in my ledger if this were true.

As I said in my original post, I was leaning toward Herbold originally. But given the strident and bizarre distortions put forth by her own campaign zealots on this thread, I have decided that I absolutely will NOT be voting for her.

Listening, Lisa?

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[JTB]

Skeeter, working on the Licata’s staff is hardly the same as voting for him. If you were misled by what seems to be a very straight-forward and reasonable reference to Lisa Herbold’s political work, that seems to be a reading comprehension issue on your part rather than a distortion or misrepresentation on hers.

I do hope people are taking the time to review the various candidate responses provided by WSB. Personal dislikes for mailers and slick television spots aside, we have quite a bit of unvarnished material to guide a hopefully informed decision.

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[thisisagooddeal]

This has some decent information too, especially because I’m not finding a lot on the 8th and 9th district candidates (other than The Stranger and The Seattle Times endorsements, neither of which I trust).

http://ballotpedia.org/Seattle,_Washington_municipal_elections,_2015

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[trickycoolj]

I hate to say I was hoping more people would drop before the election so I wouldn’t have to sift through so many. I’m really liking what I’m hearing so far about fish farms but I’m disappointed no one has addressed colonizing space.

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[Diane]

to be clear re the accusation that Lisa took credit for min wage; FALSE; and verified; I received said mailer yesterday; it says nothing/zip/zilch about the $15 min wage

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I am an unpaid volunteer supporter of Lisa Herbold, not paid staff

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re who sent out the most mailers; that would be Brianna Thomas, a very intentional and smart part of her campaign; I received 6 mailers from Brianna

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[Diane]

my total stack of mailers, 24

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and yes, I save them all; and read them all

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for D-1

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3 large 8×10 from Shannon Braddock

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1 smallish 4×10 from Phil Tavel

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1 smallish 5×8 from Chas Redmond

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6 smallish 5×10 from Brianna Thomas

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5 smallish 5×10 from Lisa Herbold

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for at large seat 9

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1 large 8×10 foldout; so 4 large pages, from Lorena Gonzalez

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1 smallish 5×8 from Bill Bradburd

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for at large seat 8

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2 large 8×11 from Tim Burgess

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2 smallish 5×10 from Jon Grant

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for Port Commission 4

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1 smallish 5×10 from Fred Felleman

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for Director of KC Elections

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1 small 5×5, but folds out 5 times to really long, from Zack Hudgins

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[JoB]

anonyme..

i think political mailers fall into the same loophole as political phone calls when you are on the do not call list :(

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[anonyme]

Jo, you’re right; I’m sure they are exempt, although they should NOT be, IMO. It’s solicitation by mail.

I did notice something while doing some REAL research into candidates yesterday – which did not involve any mailers. Brianna Thomas has raised the issue of municipal broadband; I believe she is the only candidate to have done so. Internet service is as essential (or more so) than phones these days, and Thomas noted that costs for these services are well out of reach for those struggling financially. I think we need more choice in this area. Not the sole reason to vote for someone, but worth considering.

I’m still leaning toward Chas, especially as he has so little of the career politician about him.

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[skeeter]

Guys I want to apologize. I was incorrect about Lisa taking credit for the $15 min wage. My mistake. I got that mixed up. Lisa was actually taking credit for the sick and safe leave as well as legislation for developers paying their “fair share.” I no longer have the flyer but Diane has the text in her post #46:

“for 17+ years, Lisa Herbold has helped pass progressive legislation, like paid sick and safe leave, and making developers pay their fair share.”

Again my apologies for this mix up.

I still feel the wording is misleading. If Lisa had said she *influenced* the legislation I’d be fine. If she said she had *fought* for the legislation I’d be fine. If she said Licata was unsure how to vote and he asked her to help make up his mind I’d also be fine. But Lisa’s flyer said she helped “pass” legislation. IMO only legislators can take credit for actually passing legislation. I realize some may disagree with me on this point, though (JTB!) and I respect that different folks come to different conclusions.

I guess the bigger picture is this. Being a legislative aide is no doubt great experience. And it may make Lisa the best qualified candidate. But I simply don’t see how being a legislative aide should give someone credit for any policy decisions.

This thread has been really useful to me. Thank you all for such great participation!

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[Diane]

well, CM Licata gives Lisa that well deserved credit:

“From the desk of Seattle Councilmember Nick Licata

Friends,

For the last 17 years we have worked tirelessly to build a progressive legacy in Seattle that will stand the test of time. Together, we passed nationally recognized paid sick and safe days legislation, quashed efforts to criminalize simply being homeless, and enacted for the first time rental housing inspections to provide accountable and safe, healthy housing for all renters. Lisa Herbold was at the heart of each of these victories and made them possible.

Sincerely, your friend,

Councilmember Nick Licata”

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[Diane]

I’ve received zero phone calls asking me to vote for any candidate

for months, I have received calls from staff and lead volunteers for several candidates, asking me to volunteer, and I have been an unpaid volunteer trying to help the candidates who I believe will represent all the people of Seattle, not just the wealthy; the candidates I’m supporting are experts on affordable housing (Lisa Herbold, Bill Bradburd, Jon Grant)

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[JTB]

So Skeeter, all the lobbyists who interact with legislators, all the activists who promote or oppose specific legislation through various measures, all the petition gatherers, all the staff doing grunt work for the elected officials, none of them can say they “helped pass” (or defeat) a particular piece of legislation? I’ll allow the lobbyists may not promote themselves in a public manner, but I’ll sure bet they make clear what they’ve “helped” accomplish when they make a pitch to prospective new clients.

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[skeeter]

That’s a good question JTB.

Petition gatherers definitely help get legislation passed. Without enough petition signatures an initiative can’t go on the ballot. If 1,000 signatures are needed and 10 people go out and successfully gather them then I would argue those 10 people “helped” to pass the legislation.

In the case of lobbyists you also make a good point. If a legislator planned on voting “no” on a law but a lobbyist convinced her to vote “yes” then I suppose you could also say that lobbyist “helped pass” the law.

Staff doing the grunt work? I’m more on the fence about that. My understanding is staff generally work at the direction or instruction of the elected official. I suppose legislators ask staff for opinions, and those opinions could sway a vote one way or the other. I’ll have to think about that some more.

You do raise some good points though JTB. Thank you.

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[JTB]

Skeeter, My sense of lobbyists is they actually conceive, design, write, and promote legislation on behalf of their clients, using legislators to carry the goods through committees and votes. We all know how much Congressional staff rely on lobbyists to actually write the nuts and bolts of key legislation.

On a state level ALEC has operated for years to coordinate the efforts of (mostly) conservative legislators and business interests by introducing strikingly similar bills in numerous states on issues such as “stand your ground laws,” voter ID requirements, (non)disclosure of fracking hydraulic fluid components, privatizing education, privatizing state prisons, and other issues. The organization is so widely recognized as “helping pass” legislation that many corporations abandoned support for them once their roll became embarrassingly public.

So in the face of that sort of well-funded, coordinated, national campaign by ALEC or simply the big lobbying groups in DC, I think it’s actually good to know there are individuals on the staff of city and county elected officials who are committed enough to do the hard work without the big salaries because they are committed to that person’s political vision. I definitely think they deserve credit for “helping pass” the policies that official advanced. So in no way do I think it’s a stretch to recognize their effort.

Perhaps you disagree with the positions Lisa Herbold identifies as indicative of her own political views during her term of working with/for Nick Licata. That’s fair. But I don’t think it’s fair to deny her the credit she deserves for working her tail off to accomplish those results.

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[thisisagooddeal]

Here’s another site that has some interesting info: https://livingvotersguide.org/

Maybe the coolest part is that it has direct links to the main donors for each candidate. Or you can go directly to that site and look for yourself.

http://www.pdc.wa.gov/

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[skeeter]

“Perhaps you disagree with the positions Lisa Herbold identifies as indicative of her own political views during her term of working with/for Nick Licata. That’s fair.”

Maybe that’s my struggle, JTB. It’s convenient for someone to take credit (or try to take credit) for the things that are popular and well supported. What about the things that have not gone so smoothly for the past 17 years? (transportation challenges, etc.)

Moving on… I’ve been putting a lot of thought into the race. I finally filled out my ballot this afternoon. This race will actually be more interesting when we’re down to two candidates IMO. Right now there are simply too many candidates.

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[thisisagooddeal]

skeeter, I’m thinking the same thing about the race being way more interesting when there are 2 candidates, and will be voting to try and get the best 2 in the finals. Therefore:

District 1: Herbold will most likely advance, so it’s down to Braddock and Tavel for me. Braddock answered my questions, Tavel didn’t, so Braddock it is. I also don’t really buy the notion that she’s been bought and paid for by “big business” or “developers” or whoever that is. With this, I hope we get a Braddock/Herbold runoff and may the best candidate win.

District 8: Burgess will almost certainly advance, and that’s not a bad thing. So I’m going to vote for Roderick, not because I’m in love with all of his ideas (though he has some good ones) but because from what I’ve seen (reddit AMA) he will foment a healthy debate and bring a lot of good issues to light in a Roderick/Burgess runoff.

District 9: Similarly, Gonzalez will advance, and I like her. Plus she’s from West Seattle, which is important. Don’t discount how much that can help us. So I will be voting for the other good candidate, Assok, so that he can advance and we can have a good debate. The guy has a PhD in Public Planning for god’s sake. He’s also from West Seattle, btw, so with either of those two we will get good representation.

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[trickycoolj]

Thanks for the tip on the AMA totally didn’t realize he was in Harvey Danger, my all time favorite band!

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[JoB]

i hadn’t realized how little i had learned about the dist 8 and 9 candidates until i opened my ballot this morning…

;(

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