The Stranger Election Control Board: VOTERS’ GUIDE
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Our Endorsements and CHEAT SHEET for the
Election shit was amazing this time last year. We were about to reelect our Socialist Kenyan Muslim Overlord, le- galize pot, and make gay marriage mandatory. We've spent the
12 months since doing bong hits through holy water in celebration. But it turns out elections happen every year. And this year, what do we get? Eleven incomprehensible ballot mea- sures, a bunch of candidates no one has ever heard of, and a bunch of incumbents everyone is sick of.
Duty called, and the SECB put down our bong long enough to answer the call. We held countless candidate "interviews," convened roughly three dozen staff meetings (aka binge- drinking sessions), and now we're proud to present
As for mayor, do you want
We're also telling you to vote against city council member
You're welcome to think for yourself and make your own choices, of course, but you would be better off-and the city would be better off- if you voted the way we're telling you to.
INITIATIVE 517
No
This initiative is another steaming turd from right-wing profiteer
INITIATIVE 522
Yes
For months now, we've been getting angry, self-righteous e-mails from people on both sides of 1-522, the statewide initiative that would man- date labeling foods with genetically modified ingredients. The people on the yes side sound like your hippiest-dippiest Birkenstoek-wearing aunt, and the people on the no side sound like Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars. Whee!
Under 1-522, about 60 percent of all pack- aged foods would carry a label on the front announcing that they may contain genetically engineered ingredients. The state would have the right to enforce the law, and third-party legal eases could be brought through the sort of no-damages lawsuits that only appeal to public interest attorneys.
The no side argues that the labels are misleading and would cost the average con- sumer an additional
So what to do? Err on the side of too much information.
Give consumers a label they might not need (like country of origin or previously frozen), and then let the GMO and processed foods industries defend the health and safe- ty of their products. God knows they have the cash. Out-of-state giants like
ADVISORY VOTES NO. 3, NO. 4, NO. 5, NO. 6, AND NO. 7
Maintained
What a stupid fucking waste of time. These measures are the zombified eoipses of another Eyman initiative, which required a two-thirds majority of the legislature for any tax increas- es. That initiative was struck down in court as unconstitutional, but the part of the law requiring a nonbinding "advisory vote" every time the legislature passes a tax increase, or even closes a tax loophole, stumbles on. That's what these are: nonbinding advisory votes. They're totally meaningless. But they're compelling reading! Take, for example, No. 5: "The legislature extended, without a vote of the people, the insurance premium tax to some insurance for pediatric oral services, costing an amount that cannot currently be estimated, for government spending." Then you're asked if this law should be repealed or maintained. But even if "repealed" takes 100 percent of the vote... the law will be * ? maintained. Don't give Eyman the satis- faction of sending an antitax message. On all of them, vote "Maintained." And fuck
CHARTER AMENDMENT 1: PUBLIC DEFENDERS
Yes
You should pass this boring-sounding charter amendment to help prevent politi- cians from meddling with the business of
An entire endorsement without a single "fuck." Yes we can!
PROPOSITION NO. 1: EMERGENCY SERVICES LEVY
Approved
During his first term,
COUNCIL DISTRICT NO. 1
COUNCIL DISTRICT NO. 5
As a representative in the state house,
COUNCIL DISTRICT NO. 9
Okay, this one is actually important:
PORT OF
COMMISSIONER POSITION NO. 1
You know who just sent us an e-mail tout- ing how much "we need
COMMISSIONER POSITION NO. 2
Courtney Grégoire
Okay, we need to come clean. Nobody knows what port commissioners actually do-besides huff embalming fluid and whine about how sports arenas are bad for freight mobility. Courtney Grégoire is clearly huffing embalming fluids: Even though she's cam- paigning on strengthening port jobs, she is simultaneously refusing to support SeaTae's
COMMISSIONER POSITION NO. 3
COMMISSIONER POSITION NO. 4
We once endorsed "a greasy, half-empty tub of Criseo" over
PROPOSITION NO. 1: PUBLIC CAMPAIGN FINANCING
Yes
The average age of a
In this environment, qualified newcomers don't even run for office because they can't raise the quarter million dolíais needed to compete.
This measure would smash that dynamic.
It would establish a public campaign financing system in which participating po- litical candidates must raise at least
PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT NO. 19: DISTRICTS
Yes
This may have been the most divisive issue the SECB drunk-texted each other about this whole election. But we thought (and drank and smoked) long and hard, and we say yes.
Much like the public financing measure above, this measure would make it easier for less wealthy, less politically connected candidates to run. Right now, all nine council members are elected eitywide, which means they all answer to the same set of lobbyists and donors. This charter amendment would create seven districts that elect one council member each, while two other council seats would be elected eitywide.
This would make running for office more affordable and make council members more accountable. Instead of appealing to the city's population of 600,000 people with expensive glossy mailers, a candidate could run in a dis- trict of only about 88,000 people. That could be reasonably accomplished with a good ground game. In other words, the kind of progressive, grassroots candidates we dream about could actually have a shot in a district. And
We hear the concerns of people wary of the measure (hence our drunk-texting). They're afraid this could hand over power to another evil: The campaign is run by "neigh- borhood activists" who have opposed density, have opposed transit, and basically want to send
But the benefits outweigh these criticisms. Right now, the council mostly suckles at downtown business's rich, creamy teat; one solid representative would be an improve- ment for nearly everyone in the city. Best of all, this measure would mean the whole coun- cil is up for réélection in 2015, and half of'em would have to run against each other, finally forcing them into competitive campaigns. Our dream come true! Vote yes.
MAYOR
McGinn tackled those problems, despite opposition from an obstructionist city coun- cil that refused to work with him (they even twice froze money for transit planning that would extend light rail). The
Some people hate McGinn. The problem is, they struggle to put a finger on what their problem is. Critics say he's divisive and can't collaborate. But the people who say that are council members who unsuccessfully ran for mayor, business lobbies that wanted spe- cial favors, and reporters who rely on those aforementioned folks as sources. No wonder people in
Look at facts instead of smears. Crime is down, including through most of downtown. That's in part due to good policing and a downtown roundtable that seeks new strate- gies for making the city be and feel safe (the roundtable is made up of a group of unlikely reforméis and business interests). Violent crime dropped by one-third in Belltown since McGinn took office, and serious crimes are down in
We acknowledge that McGinn dragged his feet reaching a settlement with the
In the same collaborative vein, McGinn has led the charge to oppose 18 toxie-eoal-dust- spewing trains plowing through
On improving
The city's economy is also booming.
We're also concerned about honesty prob- lems with the Murray campaign. He claimed recently there was a "public safety crisis" because crime was up across the city when, in fact, crime is down. Murray's campaign claimed the city's economy would atrophy under McGinn when, in fact, it's downright muscular. Murray insisted earlier this year that he opposed new fines for aggressive panhandling-fines that the human rights commission said violated city standards and may be unconstitutional-but now Murray says he might support that law if elected. Murray also said the mayor didn't create the police commission-and that's just untrue.
We're also concerned that Murray is po- sitioning himself as an anti-bieyele-lane candidate. The driving force of a fundraiser this month "Paid for by
We oppose anti-bike, anti-transit lobbies. And even though we like what Murray did for gay marriage, we don't need gay transit or gay traffic.
We need a mayor who understands how to build light rail, reform the police, kindle economic prosperity, reduce crime while re- specting the city's human rights standards, and protect us from coal trains. We already have that mayor:
COUNCIL POSITION NO. 2
Omigod, omigod, omigod:
Listen to her critics, and you'd think Sawant was running for the office of Dear Leader. But she isn't. She's running to be one out of nine members of the city council-a stagnant, homogenous, business-toadying body that would benefit from a genuine lefty flanking its ideological left. And when it comes to the types of issues that actually come before the council-a minimum-wage hike, transit expansion, universal preschool, police accountability, city-sanctioned home- less encampments, building more affordable housing, and more-Sawant's policy posi- tions fit comfortably within the mainstream of
No wonder Sawant has four-term incum- bent council member
"There is nobody in the political leadership in
It's a voice that voters certainly haven't been hearing from Conlin, who during his 16 years on the council has mostly distinguished himself by growing 16 years older. Conlin campaigned to build the
Not surprisingly, Conlin's campaign con- tributors are a "who's who" of wealthy special interests.
COUNCIL POSITION NO. 4
We have to apologize: We endorsed
Bagshaw has gotten some stuff right: She supported so-called greenway cycle paths in neighborhoods, she was on the right side of a vote to make homeless encampments safer by regulating them, and, as chair of the council's parks committee, she backed more funding for parks and community centers. Most relevant to this endorsement, though, is that Bagshaw isn't her dumbshit opponent.
We're regretfully endorsing Bagshaw, even though she's sucked (here's hoping she gets better), and we're enthusiastically endorsing public campaign financing-again-because Bagshaw deserves a real challenger next time.
COUNCIL POSITION NO. 6
Still... sigh... we're endorsing Lieata.
We honestly love that Lieata sponsored a bill mandating paid sick leave, killed a dra- conian anti-panhandling bill, and has been a police-accountability watchdog. And his op- ponent,
Lieata, like Bagshaw, needs real competi- tion-someone to press him into the current century and to get progressive on city-building, not j list social services-and that won't happen until we pass public campaign financing. So vote for Ye Old Lieata and vote for campaign financing (vote the flicking shit out of it).
COUNCIL POSITION NO.
Typing this makes our fingers burn, but... The
O'Brien has been the most effective coun- cil member in city hall. In his freshman term, he passed a bill to ban plastic bags, thereby reducing the city's waste. He sponsored leg- islation that prevents incumbents from rolling over their war chests of cash from one cam- paign to the next, thereby giving political newcomers a better shot at being elected. He was behind a bill that allows homeless people to sleep in their ears outside churches, and he's supported paid sick leave and a bill help- ing people with criminal records get jobs. We even love his fuekups: O'Brien created a regis- try that lets us block phone-book delivery, but it was struck down in court. At least he tried.
In meetings, Shen has revealed that he's an ill-informed, anti-pot, anti-bike-lane, and anti-streetcar candidate who's fuzzy-at best-on the functions of the city council. He also says he wants the city to pass a law to arrest panhandlers. But guess what, you clueless dolt? Aggressive begging is already a criminal offense in
Dear god, it's school board time. Kill us.
Here's what you need to know in this race:
Opponent
reformers to the board. Plus, she's endorsed by the sponsor of last year's charter schools measure. Block that crap. Vote for Peters.
DIRECTOR DISTRICT NO. 5
Yes
We don't usually endorse local ballot mea- sures outside of
THE STRANGER ELECTION CONTROL BOARD is
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