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Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

PubliCola TV: City Attorney Pete Holmes

City Hall, Politics   July 7, 2010 at 3:11 pm Erica C. Barnett

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3EkzvBU5Xo[/youtube]

Videotaping and video editing by PubliCola news intern Bryce McKay.

PubliCola sat down with city attorney Pete Holmes at his office yesterday to ask him about several major issues he’s grappled with during his first six months in office.

First, we wanted to know why Holmes has decided to de-prioritize the offense of driving with a suspended license in the third degree; typically, offenders are guilty of little more than failing to pay traffic fines. Holmes has said he wants to reduce the number of DWLS-3 prosecutions by 90 percent this year.

Second, we asked Holmes to talk about why he filed a complaint against state attorney general Rob McKenna seeking to force McKenna to withdraw his complaint against the federal health-care reform bill. During his campaign, Holmes said he wanted to represent “the people of Seattle,” not city government; but in this case, he’s accusing McKenna of failing to represent the views of government officials, not the people of the state of Washington. Weren’t those two views contradictory?

Third, we asked him what he thought of Mayor Mike McGinn’s nominee for police chief, John Diaz. Holmes has been critical of Diaz in the past, blaming “a void in leadership at the top” of the police department for two recent high-profile incidents of police use of force. He suggested that the mayor choose a new chief from outside the department.

One thing we didn’t get to in the video was Holmes’ rationale for deprioritizing marijuana prosecutions. Here’s what he had to say: “We’ve been quietly going forward trying to identify how we can save money,” Holmes said. One way of saving money, Holmes said, is not prosecuting low-level, standalone pot possession cases.

“The citizens of Seattle had spoken [with the passage of I-75, which made pot possession the city's lowest law-enforcement priority, in 2004]. At the same time, there was a dangerous backlog in domestic violence cases we were not moving forward on. To me, it was a matter of good government: Drop the [cases] the public has said they don’t want you to focus on and focus on the ones they do.”




  • online_and_ontime

    Pete Holmes if off-putting. He just wants attention.

  • Tom from Boulder

    Yeah, Pete Holmes is yucky.

  • morning

    Tom we miss the good old days. Any work available? We could start a jay walking program down there.

    Yvette Gaston, a one-time King County juvenile probation officer, is currently suing the city of Seattle for a 2008 incident that seems to parallel the most recent one. According to court documents, Gaston had just dropped off one of her clients at his Central District home after escorting him to buy back-to-school clothes. Minutes later, he called her to say that he'd been stopped by the cops for jaywalking and that they were accusing him of stealing the clothes.

    Gaston says she drove back to produce the receipt for the clothing. Upon arriving on the scene, she found her client in handcuffs. And at some point during incident, one officer shoved her, she claims. Gatson's client was eventually taken into custody, while she was later charged by then-city attorney Tom Carr with obstruction and assaulting a police officer. The obstruction charge was eventually dropped. And in 2009, the trial court cleared her of the assault charge.

  • seandr

    I like his smarts and progressive pragmatism. Could be the next mayor.

  • http://www.joeszilagyi.com/ Joe Szilagyi

    How goes the clean up of all the hooch up in the mountains?

  • http://www.joeszilagyi.com/ Joe Szilagyi

    I could see him as Mayor eventually or AG.

  • Poodle123

    Pete Holmes is a political opportunist who is only concerned about his future political career.
    1) The non-prosecution on marijuana charges will not save the City money…their were so few cases filed previously (and so few cited by police), that it had almost no budget impact. Whether you agree with legalizing mj or not, this is a red herring.
    2) If Holmes was really concerned about the budget, he would not have hired a bloated and unnecessary administrative staff, all of whom enjoy 6 figure salaries for jobs that the City Attorney's Office has previously done without.
    3) Holmes doesn't understand or care about prosecuting actual crime in the City. Jaywalking and driving suspended charges are not what the people should be concerned about. They should be concerned that Holmes fired experienced career prosecutors (at Christmas, with a day's notice) and replaced them with inexperienced new attorneys and political climbers. Cases in point: a) a paroled murderer was stalking a co-worker and this case was handled by an attorney who just passed the bar, and b) the new “DUI Attorney,” who makes 6 figures as well, hadn't handled a DUI in five years when he was hired and has never tried a complex DUI case.
    4) While Holmes says Domestic Violence deserves more attention in the office, he has done nothing to achieve this stated goal and diverted no more resources than had previously been allocated. (See above for bloated administrative staff).
    5) If you get your car broken into, are assaulted by a loved on or a stranger, have your stuff stolen, see someone masturbating in front of children, are the victim of a hit and run…to name a few…your case will be handled by the City Attorney's Office. Are Pete Holmes and his newly hired crew of newbies and political climbers capable of actually handling and understanding these crimes? No. He has politicized an office that should not be political.
    6) Crime is already on the rise in Belltown. Does electing someone who was in the pocket of the nightclubs who fight regulation have something to do with this? Yes.

    People may have had issues with some of Tom Carr's policies, but at least he cared enough about the people of this City to focus on his job and prosecute crime, instead of trying to build political capital so he can run for higher office.

  • seandr

    Carr was more concerned with enforcing morality laws than violent crime. It was under Carr's watch that violence and street dealing spiked in Belltown.

    Despite all this experience you are touting, Carr's office had a horrible track record winning prosecutions due to Carr's stubborn insistence on fighting losing battles, his inability to prioritize, and the general incompetence fostered in his office by his misguided leadership and his personality problems.

    Finally, to accuse Holmes of playing politics with his office while suggesting that Carr did not is ridiculous. Operation Sobering Thought was pure political theater, and it was stupid, horrible theater at that. The director deserved to be fired.

  • Josh Feit

    PubliCola did not endorse Pete Holmes last year. And we totally regret it. He's come out strong.

  • Tom from Boulder

    Hey Ted, good post!

  • pol watcher

    Sidran, a kind of too-right wing candidate, nearly became mayor.

    He lost by just 2000 votes.

    But for AG — well a Seattle Democratic-leaning candidate typically can't win statewide.

  • http://www.joeszilagyi.com/ Joe Szilagyi

    So what is the success rate so far for Holme's office out of it's prosecutions? Better, or worse than Carr's?

    What did Carr ever do–successfully–to reduce Belltown or Pioneer Square crime?