1. Weird rumor going around city hall: Supposedly, city council member Jean Godden plans to announce she’s running for reelection, then withdraw after the filing deadline and endorse Jessie Israel, a onetime candidate (for Nick Licata’s seat) who supposedly plans to run for Godden’s seat next year. (Godden endorsed Israel over Licata when Israel ran in 2009.)
Fizz was busy writing endorsements and couldn’t follow up on the rumors yesterday; we’ll let you know what we find out. However, Godden is raising money (almost $40,000 according to Seattle Ethics and Elections), which puts a bit of a dent in the theory.
2. Tea Party Patty Murray opponent Clint Didier has touted his endorsement by Sarah Palin, but a recent poll indicates he might be better off without it. The poll, from New Hampshire, shows that when Palin endorsed a Republican candidate for Congress, the candidate’s standing with moderate voters plunged, going down 24 points after Palin’s endorsement. Overall, 65 percent of moderate voters said a Palin endorsement would make them less likely to support a candidate, compared to 14 percent who said it would make them more supportive.
3. Last night’s packed kickoff at Nectar in Fremont for Streets for All—a campaign aimed at securing $30 million a year for pedestrian, biking, and transit programs—was easily the nerdiest event Fizz has been to all year. After speeches by tunnel proponent Richard Conlin (“These are tough times, and it’s not going to be easy to come up with money for these projects, but it’s in tough times when people don’t have money that it’s important [to support] walking and biking and transit”) and Mayor Mike McGinn, with a sly anti-tunnel rejoinder (“If you want to get a job, maybe you shouldn’t have to buy a car … If you want to get a job, maybe you should be able to take transit to that job”), it was time for city council members to play transit/biking/walking Jeopardy.
Mayor Mike McGinn. Got transit with that tunnel?
Seattle City Council Member Richard Conlin.
Seattle City Council Member Sally Clark (in a really cool Tee.)
We’ll spare you the wonky details, except to say that everybody booed at a photo of a sharrow, and Sally Clark went home with a Streets for All T-shirt.
4. The urban greens at Friends of Seattle are proposing two amendments to the city council’s proposed resolution committing the city to sign three agreements on the deep-bore tunnel once two potential contractors release their bids.
The first amendment would affirm that the council “does not intend to abridge the people’s power to subject city ordinances to a public referendum”—a statement, essentially, that the council will allow a referendum on the tunnel to go forward if one is proposed in the future.
The second amendment says the council believes that a state law putting Seattle-area property owners on the hook for cost overruns is “legally unenforceable, and the State therefore does not presently have the legal authority to levy a tax or special assessment on Seattle area property owners.
As we reported on Wednesday, lone anti-tunnel council member Mike O’Brien has some amendments of his own.
5. Don’t miss PubliCola’s endorsements for the August 17 primary (including our first-ever PubliCola Pick for a Republican candidate.) More PubliCola Primary Picks today.
