Tuesday, September 16 is election day in Seattle and King County. It is my first election since moving here. Lots of local offices and a few initiatives are on the ballot. In the postings below I compare endorsements from local newspapers and institutions and offer recommendations of my own.
As a guide to compare other people's endorsements -- I've found that the Seattle Times is right more often than it is wrong, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is hardly ever right, the alternative weeklies Seattle Weekly and The Stranger are reliably on the lunatic-fringe left, the Alki Foundation (the political arm of the Chamber of Commerce) is generally trustworthy, while an endorsement from the Seattle Education Association should be viewed as the kiss of death.
Although I have hundreds of readers around the US and around the world, I have no idea how many of you actually live in Seattle. Let me know if any of this is useful. Do you agree with my endorsements or am I off the mark? Post a comment or send me an email
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at September 16, 2003 07:00 AMI had decided for the same candidates you've endorsed, so I agree with you on everything except for I-75.
I oppose it for the same reason the police and Sherriff Reichert do.
I might add it's an unwieldy piece of leftie activist legislation which does nothing but obfuscate.
I agreed with many of your choices, although I confess, I didn't write your name in for the Monorail Board! I agree with BHC above on I-75. I really appreciate the info you dug up on Bob Ferguson. I hope you keep on digging up stuff on local politicians on these kind of issues. I was going to vote for him, despite my uneasiness with all the slick campaign literature he distributed, but finding out that he is in favor of council resolutions against the war was enough. I realize nearly everybody running was also against the war (they're Democrats after all) but IMO it's over the line for local politicians/councils to start making resolutions on national issues like this. Maybe I shouldn't have voted for anyone, as it was tough to cast a ballot for someone featuring an endorsement by Patty Murray on their voter's pamphlet blurb.
Posted by: Wilinsky on September 16, 2003 11:47 AMBy the way, interest seems at an all-time low in this election. As of 10am when I voted only 12 people had cast ballots at my polling place. One of the poll worker volunteers called it 'Pathetic' and I agree.
Posted by: Wilinsky on September 16, 2003 11:56 AMStefan,
If this Richard Pope (assessor) is the same as the one who ran for AG against Gregiore back in '96, pull your endorsement. That guy was (is) a nutcase.
The other issues/candidates you reviewed are fine, but honestly? Anybody who's worth electing in Seattle ain't gonna get elected. I stopped paying attention to their council some time ago as the King County Council is where the important decisions are made on the local level. I haven't seen anything worthwhile come out of the Seattle City Council in years. Years.
Thanks for putting this together, though. Good review.
Posted by: jimg on September 16, 2003 05:57 PMMostly agree with your analysis (for which thanks), but as an old Seattleite with some history I disagreed with the Sullivan/Ferguson tilt and went for Ferguson, for three reasons. One was yours - time for a change, and I was tired of Sullivan's guarded self-promotional mailers which revealed very little of her agenda. The County Council doesn't need 13 dukes and duchesses either. The clincher was Sound Transit's light rail, which Ferguson opposes and Sullivan dotes over. That debacle was sold to the voters under a cynically lowballed cost estimate and exaggerated list of promised facilities. Its Board concealed the extent of those frauds till the last possible minute (by attempting to 'negotiate' - bully - a deal with contractors behind closed doors, instead of an honest public tender), then admitted it will cost way more and build way less than the system the voters elected. Said Board (Ron Sims, chairman) has simply hired a new cheerleader and is bulling ahead and be damned to us. If the light rail does not return for a vote of confidence on real-world numbers, we've been defrauded.
Also one gets used to having lunar lefties on every elected body in King County. Ferguson is very unlikely to affect policy on Iraq (the Snake River dams still hold water despite the City Council), but may do real service bringing Sound Transit down to earth.
Welcome home Irene and Olivia and David.
Posted by: Hank Bradley on September 16, 2003 08:23 PM