1. City hall was buzzing yesterday about what several staffers called “the worst political mailer ever”—council Position 8 candidate Robert Rosencrantz’s wordy, crowded one-pager (below). Conventional wisdom has it that a good mailer gets its point across in the two seconds between the mailbox and the recycling bin. Rosencrantz’s piece, in contrast, takes about five minutes to read (and includes a prominent mention of his endorsement from the Alki Foundation, a group only political insiders are familiar with, without explaining who they are).
2. As we reported yesterday , interim city Sustainability Office director Mike Mann’s appointment as permanent director has been held up because City Council president Richard Conlin hasn’t moved on Mayor Greg Nickels’ nomination, which would make the position official. Although Conlin’s office attributes the holdup to an “oversight,” word is that Conlin is mad at Nickels because he hasn’t supported Conlin’s tree regulation proposal, which would make it harder for land owners to cut down trees on their property, and is holding up the appointment until Nickels signs off on the legislation.
3. Whoops! A month ago, Seattle Times’ Emily Heffter wrote about the impact the $25-per-employee “head tax” had on Katskill Engineering owner Carl Hoeflick’s business (“Seattle’s ‘head tax costs Carl Hoeflick less than $1,000 a year — $25 annually for each of the employees at his Duwamish manufacturing company. … He sees it as a sign the city doesn’t show small-business owners enough support”). The only problem? Neither “Hoeflick” nor “Katskill Engineering” actually exist.
From the Times’ correction , printed this morning:
The information in this article, originally published June 24, 2009, was corrected July 31, 2009. The person Heffter interviewed by telephone, and who initiated the contact, was in fact Edward Seeto of Seattle. A previous version of the story referred to the source as Carl Hoeflick, owner of a Duwamish-area manufacturing company called Katskill Engineering. After an inquiry from a reporter from The Stranger newspaper who was trying to reach Hoeflick, Times editors determined that neither that person nor his business exists.
As we reported , the Times’ editorial board, which adamantly supports repealing the head tax, refused to meet with repeal opponents, saying there was no way they’d change their minds.
4. In an endorsement interview yesterday, mayoral candidate Jan Drago called bullshit—literally—on Mayor Greg Nickels’ claim that crime rates are a 40-year low. (Note: This item has been changed to reflect the fact that Drago’s quote refers to the crime rate, not the gang unit. She also called bullshit on Nickels’ claims about the gang unit; she just didn’t use the word “bullshit.”) “That’s bullshit!” Drago said, adding that “if you drill down into the numbers, you’ll find out that’s not true. Homicide may be down, but smaller crimes like burglary and theft are up.”
5. The House commerce committee, the last committee on the house side to take a crack at the health care reform bill, is finally taking up the bill today. This is the committee that stars the bloc of Blue Dog Dems who have held the bill hostage. The committee also stars U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, who’s been pushing amendments to end the fee-for-service model and equalize Medicare reimbursements regionally so that states like Washington aren’t penalized for having lower health care costs.
6 Don’t forget to donate to the Northwest Film Forum —and go see the critically acclaimed and award winning Lake Tahoe , playing at 7 and 9 tonight.
This morning’s Morning Fizz brought to you by Seattle Works.
