By Erica C. Barnett
This week on Seattle Nice: A Seattle City Council committee advanced legislation to eliminate a requirement that council members abstain from voting on legislation when they have a direct financial conflict of interest. The legislation would just require the council to state publicly that they could stand to gain or lose money from the outcome of legislation, a lower standard that will allow the council, for the first time since the 1980s, to vote in their own financial interest.
Supporters of the change, like sponsor Cathy Moore and Maritza Rivera, argue that the current recusal requirement disenfranchises voters, because their district council member may be unable to vote when they have a conflict, leaving constituents without representation. Opponents, like Dan Strauss and Alexis Mercedes Rinck, say preventing council members from voting to enrich themselves is more important than allowing every council member to vote on every single issue; they also point out that the council’s constituents are overwhelmingly against the changes.
Sandeep thinks disclosing a conflict of interest before voting should be enough; I’m with the haters who want more constraints on the council’s ability to vote in their own self-interest.
The legislation is moving forward quickly and will probably take effect just before the council votes on the elimination of several anti-eviction laws passed by the previous council, which might not pass if everyone on the council who’s a landlord has to refrain from voting to repeal these laws.
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In related news, Kshama Sawant and her new-ish group, Workers Strike Back, are showing up to disrupt council meetings, antagonizing the council over the upcoming vote on the anti-eviction laws, most of them sponsored by Sawant before she left the council in 2023. David and Sandeep are fascinated by internal squabbling among Seattle’s local socialists, while I argue that Sawant’s “movement” is mostly bluster—and remind everyone that Sawant worked tirelessly to support Jill Stein’s “Defeat Harris” campaign last year.
Also this week: Tent City 4 gets a temporary reprieve after a last-minute effort to keep the self-managed encampment from moving to the former Lake City Community Center.
Finally, we discuss Dan Strauss’ effort to require all clubs and other “loud music venues” to sell earplugs. David calls it a “modest public health campaign” but Sandeep says it’s a nanny state intrusion into our right to ruin our hearing like God intended.