Joni Balter, the Seattle Times columnist who's been contributing more than her fair share to the recent meltdown over at the Times editorial page, earns this month's Soggy Kleenex Award for snot-nosed commentary:
On a long list of bogus arguments peddled by proponents of district elections for Seattle, the most hollow held that council challengers running citywide cannot raise enough money to beat incumbents.Funny, I don't recall anybody ever saying that challengers running citywide cannot raise enough money to beat incumbents, only that district elections would "Lower Campaign Costs".What a load.
The "no" [on district elections] campaign was a disorganized assortment of business interests, Green Party members and neighborhood activists. They raised less, they spent less. Voters heard their message anyway.Joni Balter doesn't mention that the suburban owner/editors of the city's largest circulation newspaper were also part of the "no districts" campaign and were paying Joni Balter to write hatchet-job editorials in support of their self-interested position. And her salary doesn't have to be reported to the Seattle Ethics & Elections Commission! And neither does the cost of all that ink and paper!
What a load.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 21, 2003 07:00 AM