Tag Archives: 2009 Primary

King County Democrats Make Primary Endorsements

The King County Democrats met last night to endorse candidates for the August 18, 2009 Primary. Many candidates were voted by acclimation following the recommendations of the endorsement committee. The most fought over races were those for Seattle City Council and Seattle Mayor. A 2/3 vote was required for endorsement.

No candidate was endorsed for Seattle Mayor. A series of single and dual endorsement votes failed to find any combination with the necessary 2/3 vote needed for endorsement. Despite Mayor Nickels being a strong Democrat, he could not muster enough support among Party Democrats, a number of who voiced their opinion that he is out of touch with neighborhood issues and the public. One gets the feeling that Nickels is taking local Democrats for granted – he certainly is not out hustling on the campaign trail or showing any significant grassroots organizing in the districts.

Joe Mallahan – the T-Mobile Vice-President got the most votes of any candidate.

Here are some of the votes taken in the Mayor’s race:

Joe Mallahan – single endorsement 31/21 failed
Greg Nickels – single endorsement 21/31 failed
Mallahan and Nickels – dual endorsement 27/24 failed
Mallahan/McGinn – dual endorsement 33/20 failed

Seattle City Attorney:

Tom Carr – single endorsement 23/21 failed
Pete Holmes – single endorsement 33/12 endorsed

Seattle City Council Position 2

Richard Conlin – endorsed
David Ginsberg – endorsed

Seattle City Council Position 4

David Bloom – endorsed
Dorsal Palnts – endorsed

Seattle City Council Position 6

Nick Licata – endorsed

Seattle City Council Position 8

David Miller – endorsed
Bobby Forch – endorsed

Seattle School Board District 5

Mary Bass – endorsed

Seattle School Board District 7

Charlie Mas – endorsed

King County Executive

Dow Constantine – endorsed
Larry Phillips – endorsed

The following candidates were all endorsed by acclamation on the recommendation of the endorsement committee based on interviews and their questionnaires.

Anne Ellington – Washington State Court of Appeals, Division 1, Position 3
Bob Ferguson – King County Council Position 1
Julia Patterson – King County Council Position 5
John Creighton – Port of Seattle Position 1
Max Vekich – Port of Seattle Position 4
Michael Marchand – City of Bellevue
Jack Block Jr – City of Burien Position 3
Brian Bennett – City of Burien Position 7
Jennifer Armenta – City of Bothell Council Position 6
Ava Mac D Frisinger – City of Issaquah Mayor
Mqaureen McCarry – City of Issquah Position 5
Tola Marts – City of issaquah Position 7
Jamie Danielson – City of Kent Position 3
Dennis Higgins – City of Kent Position 4
Elizabeth Albertson – City of Kent Position 8
Brad Larssen – City of Kirkland Position 3
Karen Tennyson – City of Kirkland Position 5
Jean Thomas – City of Lake Forest Park Position 3
Bill Erxleben – City of Newcastle Position 6
Kimberly Allen – City of Redmond Position 4
Jim Flynn – City of Renton Position 2
Janet Way – City of Shoreline Position 3
Chris Roberts – City of Shoreline Position 7
Susan Boundy-Sanders City of Woodinville Position 5
Tim Clark – Kent School Board Position 5
Julia Lacey – Northshore School District

previously endorsed in February:

Rob Holland – Port of Seattle Position 3
Cindy Ryu – City of Shoreline Mayor

The King County Democrats also voted on 2 ballot measures with the following recommendations:

Yes on Measure-Proposition No. 1 North Highline South Annexation Area (proposed annexation to the City of Burien)

No on Initiative 1033 proposed by Tim Eyman for the Nov. Ballot
(This measure would limit the growth of certain state, county and city revenue to annual inflation and population growth, not including voter-approved revenue increases. Revenue collected above the limit would reduce property tax levies.)

A third ballot measure – City of Seattle – Referendum 1 received a vote of 24/16 to support it but failed to receive the necessary 2/3 vote for endorsement. A simple majority is needed on the August 18, 2009 ballot by Seattle voters to pass this measure.

Referendum 1 was placed on the ballot after the plastics industry paid signature gatherers to collect signatures. The Referendum is on Seattle City Council passed Ordinance No. 122752 concerning imposing a 20-cent fee on disposable shopping bags.

“This ordinance would require grocery stores, drug and convenience stores to collect the fee for every disposable shopping bag provided to customers. Stores with annual gross sales of under $1,000,000 could keep all the fees they collected, to cover their costs. Other stores could keep 25% of the fees they collected, and would send the remainder to the city to support garbage reduction and recycling programs. The stores would get a business-tax deduction for the fees they collected.”

Two Seattle City Council Candidates Pass $100,000 Fundraising Mark

Candidates running for Seattle City Council have only 2 months left before the August 18, 2009 Primary. The field is crowded in two seats where incumbents have retired. The two top candidates in each race will go on to the November election. Here are the latest monthly fundraising totals as of May 30, 2009.

Two Seattle City Council candidates, incumbent Richard Conlin and Sally Bagshaw have now each raised over $100,000. Two other candidates, incumbent Nick Licata and Robert Rosencrantz have raised over $75,000.

Information was obtained from the following websites: Washington State Public Disclosure Commission and City of Seattle Ethics and Election Commission . You can check out more information including who has donated to which campaigns by going to these sites.

The information below first lists how much money they reported raising through May 31, 2009 and how much of that they have spent.

City Council Position 2 – Incumbent is Richard Conlin

Richard Conlin …. $105,907…. $25,370

David Ginsberg…. $26,203…. $13,729

City Council Position 4 – Incumbent is Jan Drago (retiring)

Sally Bagshaw …. $104,190…. $44,106

David Bloom …. $43,859…. $13,859

Dorsol Plants …. $3,330…. $1782

City Council Position 6 – Incumbent is Nick Licata

Jessie Israel …. $41,136…. $12,031

Martin Henry Kaplan …. $41,035…. $3,771

Nick Licata…. $75,110…. $35,368

City Council Position 8 – Incumbent is Richard McIver (retiring)

Bobby Forch ….$24,515 ….$0

David Miller …. $44,621…. $18,666

Mike O’Brien …. $57,268…. $15,580

Robert Rosencrantz …. $81,277…. $42,863

Jordan Royer …. $66,423…. $28,989

Rusty Williams …. $41,941…. $15,164

The Primary Election is August 18, 2009.

46th District Democrats Make Primary Endorsements

The 46th District Democrats had a long meeting last night at Olympic View Elementary School in North Seattle. Some surprises emerged as the endorsement process in some races took 3 ballots to reach a final outcome. To receive endorsement, a candidate had to receive a 2/3 vote of members voting.

The Seattle Mayor’s race saw Joe Mallahan receive strong support, with incumbent Greg Nickels coming in second. Here are the vote totals for nominated candidates, who had to declare they were Democrats and file a questionaire with the King County Democrats:

Jan Drago 16
Joe Mallahan 46
Michael McGinn 25
Greg Nickels 31
Norm Sigler 8
no endorsement 3

On the second ballot between the top two votes, Mallahan almost received the 2/3 vote necessary for endorsement but came up short.

Joe Mallahan 76
Greg Nickels 39
no endorsement 8

Some controversy continued over the fact that the rules said the second vote should have only been between the top two votes and not included a vote on no endorsement. By the time the issue was revisited at the end of the meeting the body decided not to revote because some of those who voted earlier had left, believing the vote was final.

The end result was that no candidate was endorsed for Mayor.

Seattle City Council Position 4

Three candidates were nominated. The first vote was:

Sally Bagshaw 37
David Bloom 72
Dorsal Plants 14
no endorsement 1

David Bloom won the second vote and was endorsed:

Sally Bagshaw 37
David Bloom 85

Seattle City Council Position 6

The first vote:

Jessie Israel 35
Martin Kaplan 7
Nick Licata 79

Nick Licata received the endorsement on the second vote.

Jessie Israel 32
Nick Licata 87

Seattle City Council Position 8

Six candidates were running for Position 8

The first vote was:

Bobby Forch 17
David Miller 51
Michael O’Brien 16
Robert Rosencrantz 12
Jordan Royer 11
Rusty Williams 6
no endorsement 2

The second vote saw David Miller come within 1 vote of winning the 2/3 needed.

Bobby Forch 34
David Miller 67

The group then voted for a dual endorsement for Bobby Forch and David Miller.

King County Executive

Only two candidates were nominated for endorsement;

Dow Constantine 58
Larry Phillips 50
no endorsement 4

The second vote saw the numbers switch by not significantly.

Dow Constantine 47
Larry Phillips 56

A vote was then taken and passed for a dual endorsement for Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips.

Port Commissioner Position 3

Rob Holland received the 2/3 necessary on the first vote and was endorsed.

Rob Holland 83
Al Yuen 13

Port Commissioner Position 4

Max Vekich was the only candidate nominated and received the necessary 2/3 vote on a show of hands.

Referendum 1 -regarding a 20 cent fee on disposal shopping bags.

Referendum 1 received the necessary 2/3 vote for approval on the first vote by a counted show of hands.

approve 64
reject 21
no endorsement 1

Grocers Join Mayor Nickels in Supporting Reusable Bags.

“Choose Reusable” seems simple but the plastics industry will be spending lots of money opposing the referendum slated for the August 18, 2009 Primary Ballot in Seattle. The American Chemistry Council of Arlington , Virginia has raised some $239, 453 to date and 7-Eleven has added $10,000 to the campaign.
Most of this money was spent last year to pay signature gatherers to collect signatures to put the 20 cent bag fee ordinance on the ballot. Expect a lot more money to be spent touting the convenience of throwaway bags that the plastic industry makes money off of but which frequently wind up as litter and waste resources. The plastic bags are made from petroleum.
Mayor Nickels in recently kicking off the campaign to get voters to vote for reusable bags stated in a press release that “Both paper and plastic disposable bags harm our environment, and every year, residents in Seattle throw out 360 million of them. That’s simply unsustainable. Bringing your own bag is an easy way to make a big impact. This campaign will help shoppers with the toughest part: remembering to bring your reusable bags to the store.”

What is interesting is the number of grocers and other stores that have joined with Nickels in promoting reusable bags at their stores. Here is a list of stores joining the “Choose Reusable” voluntary public-private partnership from the Mayor’s press release: Albertsons, AmazonFresh.com, Bartell Drugs, Cartridge World Seattle, ChicoBag, Fred Meyer, Hilltop Red Apple, JCPenney, Kress IGA Supermarket, Madison Market, Magnolia Thriftway, Metropolitan Market, PCC Natural Markets, Promenade Red Apple, QFC, Safeway, Seattle Lighting, Shoreline Central Market, Supervalu, Target, Town & Country Ballard Market, Town & Country Greenwood Market, Tucker Bags, Unified Grocers, Uwajimaya, Village Market Thriftway, Wal-Mart, and West Seattle Thriftway.

Also supporting the effort is the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Nickels press release notes that the following “organizations and businesses are donating reusable shopping bags to low-income families through the city or nonprofit organizations: Seattle Public Utilities, Northwest Grocery Association, Tucker Bags, Washington Food Industry, Bartell Drugs, JC Penney, Target, Wal-Mart, AmazonFresh.com, ChicoBag, Cartridge World Seattle, and Seattle Lighting.”

This is a good way to get people used to bringing their own bags. The more people that are already using reusable bags, the more advocates and public examples there will be for supporting the bag fee on the August 18, 2009 Primary.
Reusing bags ultimately says the consumer and the grocery stores money. Bags are not free. Grocery stores buy them and you pay for them in your overall grocery bill. And you pay for them in landfill disposal costs which go up as more waste is thrown away.
Many stores have been selling reusable cloth bags for $1.00 each. Use it 5 times and you will be saving 20 cents each time you use it again after that when the 20 cent bag fee passes. It takes a little while to get in the habit of remembering your bags when you shop. But our family still uses a couple of canvas bags we purchased some 20 years ago from PCC in Seattle.

Who’s raising the dough for Seattle City Council?

Filing as a candidate for the August 2009 Primary is coming up June 1 -5. Candidates for Seattle City Council are busy campaigning and raising money. Two Seattle City Council seats are open races. Jan Drago and Richard McIver are retiring. Two incumbents are running – Richard Conlin and Nick Licata.

Richard Conlin leads fundraising with $81, 303. Sally Bagshaw has raised $67,142. Nick Licata has raised $57,933 and Robert Rosencrantz 57,927.

Here is the breakdown for the active candidates. Information was obtained from the following websites: Washington State Public Disclosure Commission and City of Seattle Ethics and Election Commission . You can check out more information including who has donated to which campaigns by going to these sites.

The information below first lists how much money they reported raising through April 30, 2009 and how much of that they have spent.

City Council Position 2 – Incumbent is Richard Conlin

Richard Conlin …. $81,303 …. $18,661

David Ginsberg…. $18,193 …. $7,361

City Council Position 4 – Incumbent is Jan Drago (retiring)

Sally Bagshaw …. $67,142 …. $32,361

David Bloom …. $35,860 …. $5.417

Joshua Caple…. $740…. $700

Dorsol Plants …. $1,493…. $730

City Council Position 6 – Incumbent is Nick Licata

Jessie Israel…. $28,167…. $10,319

Martin Henry Kaplan …. $28,135…. $629

Nick Licata…. $57,933…. $30,180

City Council Position 8 – Incumbent is Richard McIver (retiring)

David Miller …. $33,354 …. $11,221

Mike O’Brien …. $40,019 …. $11,871

Robert Rosencrantz …. $57,927 …. $34,302

Jordan Royer …. $47,782…. $11,878

Rusty Williams …. $38,611…. $6,359

The Primary Election is August 18, 2009.