Your one-stop shop for today’s campaign news.
• Let’s Move Forward, the pro-tunnel campaign, continues to rake in big contributions in the weeks leading up to the August 16 primary. Ballots for the primary go out in the mail July 27. In the last batch of reports, LMF shows a $3,500 contribution from the Westin Hotel, $5,000 from the Seattle Mariners, and $5,000 from the Boeing Union Aerospace Machinists #751.
Overall, LMF has reported raising a total of $106,400. The anti-tunnel campaign, Protect Seattle Now, reports raising a total of $78,099. It’s impossible to say how much money either campaign has on hand; expenditures won’t be reported until later this month.
However, it’s interesting that, despite its larger number of really big contributions (including more than $25,000 from the Downtown Seattle Association, $12,500 from the King County Labor Council, and $10,000 from developer Wright Runstad), the pro-tunnel campaign still has a fairly large number of contributors—about 171 individuals and groups have contributed to the pro-tunnel camp, compared to about 266 to the anti-tunnel campaign, which has portrayed itself as far more grassroots than the pro-tunnel camp. PSN’s big contributions, meanwhile, come from the national and local Sierra Clubs ($16,715), McGinn consultant Bill Broadhead ($5,000), and the Real Change newspaper ($3,000).
• If you’re curious about the age of your favorite tunnel fan, the pro-tunnel camp did a “pay your age” fundraiser, and some people actually did—and now it’s a matter of public record.
• Jessie Israel, who ran against Nick Licata in 2009 and was rumored to be setting up a run for Jean Godden’s seat if she didn’t run for reelection this year, sent out a fundraising call to Godden supporters today, asking them to give $208 in honor of her birthday—February 8 (2/08). “Can you believe the rumors are still flying around that I might run for City Council this year?” Israel writes. (The filing deadline for city council races was June 10.)
“I want to set the record straight right now that I will not be running! But you can still support the vision of Seattle that we all fought for during my run for office. Support my good friend and mentor, Seattle City Councilwoman Jean Godden in her bid for reelection this year. Jean is a tireless advocate for the issues that we all care about, like the Families and Education Levy, smart growth, and green policies.” The latest rumor is that Israel plans to replace Godden, either in 2015 or when Godden steps down mid-term.
• For her part, Godden—who came in to the PubliCola office earlier this week—is focusing on her leadership of the council’s budget committee and the fact that she’s a woman, arguing that city government is dominated by men. (Six of nine council members are men, as are the mayor, deputy mayor, and city attorney).
As a specific example of how her perspective as a woman made a difference, Godden pointed to her vote in favor of Tim Burgess’s aggressive panhandling ordinance, which passed but which Mayor McGinn subsequently vetoed. “All three of the women on the council voted for it,” Godden said. “It’s just a matter of having certain values in mind.” She said she would support bringing the ordinance up again in the future, perhaps in a different form. Godden added that she also supports the “compromise” version of the paid sick leave ordinance, which she called “much better than the original proposal.”
