Category: Elections

City Council, Elections, legislature, neighborhoods

Greater Seattle: Bad Budget Amendment, Risky Election Strategy

By Josh Feit

Democracy > Neighborhood Community Councils

The people you’d expect to throw a fit—older, white, property owners—threw a fit when the city stopped funding the 13 neighborhood district councils back in 2016. According to the city’s own research, the neighborhood councils, which were born during the comp plan overhaul that locked single-family zoning into place in the mid-1990s for the next two-and-a-half decades, were predominately made up of homeowners. Shocker.

The City also found, yup, the councils were older and whiter than the rest of Seattle’s population. A NextCity article published at the time when the city finally broke ties with them was appropriately titled “How Seattle Is Dismantling a NIMBY Power Structure.”

This aggrieved constituency has a new champion today: City Council President Joy Hollingsworth. During a budget hearing last week where city council members began proposing amendments to Mayor Wilson’s $2.5 billion budget, Hollingsworth proposed a $100,000-a-year amendment that would fund a similar system again. Hollingsworth represents Capitol Hill, which is a supermajority renter district, by the way.

The money would evidently go to support the Seattle Neighborhood Alliance, the umbrella group for the dozens of neighborhood councils (which very much still exist on their own) including the Fremont Neighborhood Council, Greenwood Neighborhood Council, Roosevelt Neighborhood Association, Rainier Beach Community Council, and others. Hollingsworth didn’t say the city thinks the makeup of the councils has changed since their heyday. But to be honest, even if some neighborhood councils are more representative than they were a decade ago, that still wouldn’t make this a good idea. Giving the city’s imprimatur to the councils would bolster a type of neo-ward politics and affirm a cozy relationship between city hall and self-appointed local leaders and gatekeepers.

When faced with a “neighborhood” uproar after the city pulled the plug on the councils a decade ago, the Department of Neighborhoods director at the time, Kathy Nyland, responded with a message that’s worth reiterating today: “We have heard from residents active in the system that ‘District Councils work for us.’ … However, they don’t work for everyone.”

Democrats Beating Republicans > Democrats Beating Democrats

In what’s supposed to be a Blue Wave Tuesday, the Democrats in Washington state seem like they might be missing an opportunity to increase their majorities in Olympia. Competing Democratic IE groups are pouring money into Democratic intramurals in Southeast Seattle’s safe 37th Legislative District and the blue 32nd Legislative District north of Seattle, for example. The fundraising could be drawing money away from campaigns for potential Democratic pickups, like in the 35th district, which includes parts of Mason, Kitsap, and Thurston Counties. And in much-needed defense in Bellingham’s 42nd LD.

In the 37th District race between incumbent Democratic State Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos and progressive challenger Kelabe Tewolde, rival independent expenditure groups have spent about $260,000 on Tewolde’s behalf and just over $110,000 for Tomiko Santos

Similarly, in the 32nd District race between incumbent State Sen. Jesse Salomon and progressive challenger Democratic State Rep. Cindy Ryu, rival Democratic groups have spent about $516,000 on Salomon’s behalf and around $100,000 for Ryu, 

By comparison, even though Democrats have a chance for a pickup in the 35th LD, where Democratic Thurston County commissioner Carolina Mejia is running against Republican incumbent State Sen. Drew MacEwen, Democratic groups have spent around $495,000 supporting Meija—a large amount that’s nonetheless dwarfed by the nearly $1 million Republican groups have poured into supporting MacEwen.

The Democrats also have to defend seats. In the formerly Republican-controlled 42nd Legislative District, first-term Democratic incumbent State Sen. Sharon Shewmake decided not to seek reelection. And Republicans are spending big to retake the seat in the race between Republican Erika Creydt and Democratic Port of Bellingham Commissioner Michael Shepard. Pro-Shepard PACs have spent around $385,000, while pro-Creydt groups have spent $600,000. Democratic IEs shouldn’t have taken their eyes off the ball like that.

With a commanding 30-19 majority already in place, progressives might feel this is a safe year to nudge the Democratic Party to the left by running challengers. However, safe is not a word I’d use to describe Trump’s America. The Democrats’ paramount mission in 2026 needs to be a thundering, top to bottom rebuke of the GOP.

Josh@PubliCola.com

City Hall, Courts, Elections, homelessness, King County

This Week on PubliCola: Sara Nelson’s Disappearing $30,000, Council Proposes Budget-Busting New Spending, KCRHA Explains $17 Million Gap

And more stories—and podcasts!—you may have missed for the week of October 26.

By Erica C. Barnett

Monday, October 26

Greater Seattle: Wilson’s Sweeps and Nelson’s Disappearing $30,000

Josh zeroes in on a fact that City Council critics of Mayor Katie Wilson seem unwilling to acknowledge: Under Wilson, the Unified Care Team has done more encampment sweeps than when Bruce Harrell was mayor. And, he argues, former councilmember Sara Nelson got away with using anonymous funds to finance a PAC that’s promoting a council candidate—even though the PAC returned the money.

Tuesday, October 27

Council Budget Amendments Already Top $80 Million in New Spending—and That’s Before the Big Stuff

The city council majority, which larded the 2026 city budget with “one-time” spending on new programs, is livid that Mayor Wilson’s budget closed the deficit they created by getting rid of some of their unfunded programs. Now, they’re proposing to add many of those programs back while also adding new ones, at a potential cost of more than $100 million (as a meeting that took place after this post revealed).

Thursday, October 29

Ex-Burien City Manager’s Excessive Complaints

The city of Burien finally handed over the investigation report that preceded former city manager Adolfo Bailon’s departure. It reveals that in addition to repeatedly calling 911 on homeless people in the park near his office, Bailon filed a barrage of apparently frivolous complaints against city councilmembers, city staff, and regular Burien residents.

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KCHRA Elaborates on Money Troubles (and Lays off Key Staff)

At a King County Council committee meeting, the regional homelessness authority’s chief operating officer, William Towey, said the agency’s recently revealed $16.7 million in overspending happened because the agency consistently overestimated how much money it would bring in, to the tune of a quarter billion dollars. Seattle and the which are taking back control of the region’s homelessness contracts, will have to shoulder the cost of the KCRHA’s poor financial choices.

In other KCRHA news, agency CEO Kelly Kinnison laid off one of the agency’s last two HR staffers as well as its top expert on HMIS, the complex homelessness tracking system that is one of the KCRHA’s few remaining responsibilities

Friday, October 30

$18.7 Million for Office Space. Cuts for Public Health. King County Has It Backward.

In a guest post, Harborview nurse Ryan Talen argues that King County Executive Girmay Zahilay’s costly return-to-office mandate would be better spent on health and human service programs to replace the ones that are being cut, both in Zahilay’s proposed budget and through federal funding reductions that will eliminate health care for millions.

Also this week: I was on City Cast Seattle’s November Guide episode, where we talked about how we’re keeping ourselves busy and warm this fall, as well as what’s on your ballot this week.

On Seattle Nice this week we talked with with Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans and Criminal Division Chief Jenna Robert about the city’s new Connection Court, which pairs access to services with strict requirements for people who opt in. People who accumulate additional criminal charges or fail to participate in services will get kicked out to mainstream court, where they’ll face penalties including potential jail time.

 

 

Elections, homelessness, Mayor Wilson

Greater Seattle: Wilson’s Sweeps and Nelson’s Disappearing $30,000

By Josh Feit

108 < 112 < 151

In her press conference last Wednesday, Mayor Wilson debuted a new homelessness approach that focuses on identifying homeless people by name and then prioritizes getting them into shelter and formulating individualized plans. Prompted by successful examples, like a joint Downtown Seattle Association/Purpose Dignity Action encampment resolution in Pioneer Square during the World Cup this summer, social service workers will hit the streets neighborhood by neighborhood and connect people to services and shelter that work for them. Erica has a full report.

In addition to this empathetic effort, Wilson also went on record at a press briefing last week to say the city has not—counter to Councilmember Dan Strauss’ claims—backed off on sweeps, telling two different reporters that she has no plans to change the city’s encampment removal policy. “Our Unified Care Tam has continued doing encampment removals at basically the same rate that they were doing removals before I entered office,” Wilson said. 

Wilson’s buy-in on sweeps was not news to us!

The subject of sweeps and how they beget more sweeps was actually the very first item in last Monday’s installment of this column, which also noted that lefty mayor Wilson had done more sweeps in her first year so far than her predecessor, Mayor Harrell had done by the same point in his first year.  Wilson’s 151 > Harrell’s 112. This, despite Harrell’s tough-love, football-coach reputation that endeared him to the pro-sweeps establishment.

It turns out Wilson’s 151 sweeps tally so far also bests Harrell’s tally for the same period (January through September) throughout his entire term, including in 2025, when the number of sweeps under Harrell was 108. In 2024, there were 112 sweeps under Harrell during the same period. In 2023, there were 95. And as I noted, during his first year in 2022, there were 112 sweeps.

These persistent numbers reiterate the main point I was making all along: Sweeps obviously aren’t a solution to homelessness.

Good on Mayor Wilson for at least adding a proven, humanist policy to the otherwise vicious circular logic of sweeps.

$30,000 > $15,000

We could soon find out who contributed to SeaFor, the shadowy entity former Seattle city council president Sara Nelson set up to raise money for local candidates while concealing donor’s names in order to “protect the privacy of businesses and individuals” (as its own website boasted.) That’s the possible silver lining, anyway, after the lefty Progressive People Power PAC  filed two complaints about a $30,000 donation Nelson’s fund made to a local PAC, North Seattle Neighbors. NSN is supporting the establishment-backed choice in this fall’s council race, Julie Kang, against progressive favorite Nilu Jenks.  The complaints convinced NSN to return the mystery money, which accounted for about two-thirds of the money NSN had raised to date.

How would returning the check reveal whose money SeaFor collected and passed through to NSN? Well, NSN effectively already spent the $30,000 by sending out an initial round of anti-Jenks mailers. As a result, in order to pay off the debt they incurred on those mailers, which they originally planned to cover in part with Seafor’s check, they’ll now have to go out and raise more money themselves. And it’s likely NSN will simply turn to the same conservative donor base that Nelson did. The public should keep an eye on NSN’s upcoming disclosure reports to see who their donors are in the next few weeks. NSN has until election day to cover the mailers; they’ve only reported $15,000 raised to date beyond the elusive $30,000.

I say “silver lining,” because on balance, this is an ethically-challenged turn of events for Seattle. Nelson got exactly what she wanted without having to spend any of her PAC’s money. Sure, NSN was going to buy the mailers before they had the money in hand, as political campaigns often do, operating on the assumption that they’d be able to raise the money in time to pay the eventual bill. But the bad actor in all of this, Nelson, hasn’t faced any consequences for her cynical chicanery. Her group’s ephemeral check, which as of last week accounted for two-thirds of NSN’s money “raised” to date, was on NSN’s books—and now it’s not.

By Monday, NSN had reported raising another $15,000 or so from individual donors, including former deputy mayor Tim Burgess, Vulcan chief real estate officer Ada Healey, Fremont industrial landowner Suzie Burke, and real estate investor Judith Runstad. By that time, though, NSN had already sent out another mailer accusing Jenks of being “clueless” on crime.

And as we were going to press, Jenks’ campaign announced they’d filed a complaint with the state Public Disclosure Commission and the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission calling on NSN to halt any more mailings until the names of their donors are released. They note in their complaint that the NSN’s mailers themselves list Nelson’s group as their top donor.

Josh@PubliCola.com

City Council, Elections, homelessness

This Week on PubliCola: Council Approves Phased-In RV Ban, Council Candidates Describe Their Plans for D5, Dark Money Returned to Sender, and More
Behold the Photoshop skills on display in the latest cut-and-paste scare tactic mailer

By Erica C. Barnett

Monday, October 19

Greater Seattle: We’re Number 1 (in Home Listings Jump); Small Biz is in a Bad Mood; and Sweeps are Not a Solution

As council members continue to speculate that Mayor Katie Wilson is sweeping fewer encampments (a bad thing, in their view), Josh argues in his column that the ongoing presence of encampments shows that sweeps don’t work. Also this week: Storefront businesses say they want more from the city, and Seattle is now a buyer’s market (though you still have to be rich to buy a house).

Tuesday, October 20

PubliCola Questions: Seattle City Council District 5 Candidate Julie Kang

I sat down with Julie Kang, one of the two city council candidates in North Seattle’s District 5, to discuss her plans for the district if she’s elected. Kang supports surveillance cameras, more police, and the use of SOAP orders to keep men caught paying for sex off Aurora; she also wants to slow down housing growth and require more “accountability” for spending on human services.

Wednesday, October 21

PubliCola Questions: District 5 City Council Candidate Nilu Jenks

The second candidate in the D5 race, Nilu Jenks, says she’d take a different approach than her opponent on almost every issue. She opposes surveillance on Aurora, says the city should invest in violence interruptors in North Seattle, wants to invest in streetscape improvements to make Aurora safer, and would consider a tax on AI tokens to fund small business improvements in neighborhoods like Lake City.

Council Supermajority Passes New Licensing Law That Will Gradually Ban RVs in Seattle

The Seattle City Council approved a package of legislation sponsored by Dan Strauss that, among other changes, broadens the definition of “junk vehicle” and creates a new licensing scheme designed to prohibit people living in RVs from parking overnight in Seattle over time. RV owners who get the new licenses will have to follow all laws, participate in mandatory services, and agree to eventually leave their RVs for a shelter bed.

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Thursday, October 22

Mayor’s Homelessness Proposal Would Bring Hundreds Out of Tents and Into Shelter That Works for Them

Mayor Wilson announced a new approach to homelessness designed to move people out of tents and into dedicated, service-rich shelter over time, replacing haphazard and inconsistent shelter offers with individualized connections. This approach has worked locally when appropriate shelter has been available, so a key component of the plan is Wilson’s push to fund 960 new shelter beds.

Friday, October 23

Pro-Julie Kang PAC Returns Dark Money Contribution from Ex-Councilmember Nelson’s Pass-Through Group

If you were at our live recording of Seattle Nice on Wednesday, you got this news a little earlier than other PubliCola readers: North Seattle Neighbors, a business-backed group supporting Kang, returned a $30,000 contribution from Seafor, a group created by former city councilmember Sara Nelson that attempted to fund the pro-Kang campaign while disguising who its donors were.

Although Seafor appeared to acknowledge its contribution was illegal, it remains to be seen whether and how they intend to fund pro-business candidates next year, when seven councilmembers will be on the ballot.

Campaign Fizz: The More We Love Promotes Anti-Tax Initiative

The More We Love, a group that runs a controversial (and trans-exclusionary) women’s shelter out of a motel in Renton, filmed ads for the campaign against the state income tax on people who earn more than a million dollars a year. The two videos argue that the group is losing donations because of the tax—a dubious claim, since the tax has not gone into effect.

Former Candidate Spams Voters With Text Promos for “Lefty Cheat Sheet”

Ron Davis, who challenged 46th District state Rep. Gerry Pollet and got knocked out in the primary, hasn’t stopped blaming the Stranger for his loss. He has raised tens of thousands of dollars for a new PAC that has been bombarding voters with texts criticizing the Stranger and promoting the Lefty Cheat Sheet—an anonymously created alternative to the Stranger’s “cheat sheet” that aggregates selected endorsements that are supposedly more “lefty” than the Stranger and the existing Progressive Voters’ Guide.

Also this week: Although our planned live District 5 candidate debate had to be canceled at the last minute because of COVID, the show went on at the National Nordic Museum in Ballard. Our live show included a discussion of the D5 race, Strauss’ RV legislation, and Wilson’s new encampment plan—and we answered live audience questions!

 

Elections, legislature, Media, Uncategorized

Campaign Fizz: The More We Love Promotes Anti-Tax Initiative, Former Candidate Spams Voters With Text Promos for “Lefty Cheat Sheet”

1. Kristine Moreland, whose group The More We Love received city funding last year to run shelter in Renton for women leaving the sex trade, stars in ads supporting an initiative from MAGA multimillionaire Brian Heywood that would overturn the state’s “millionaire’s tax,” a marginal tax on annual income above $1 million. So does at least one woman who says she was helped by Moore’s nonprofit, The More We Love—a controversial group that received around $600,000 from the city of Seattle last year.

In the videos for the Yes on I-645 campaign (top five donors: A venture capital fund, a retired tech executive, two trucking company executives, and Bellevue megadeveloper Kemper Freeman), Moreland, “fewer families in need are being helped today because of Olympia’s income tax. Fewer kids are being rescued from fentanyl exposure. Fewer battered women have a safe place to go.” 

In the second video, set against the same generic kitchen background, a woman named Marisa says she became addicted after a car crash and ended up a victim of sex trafficking. “A local charity”—The More We Love—”got me back on my feet. … Now, the same program is losing funding because Olympia’s income tax is pushing away the people who donate to places like this.” 

No one has been impacted by the tax on income above $1 million because no one has paid the tax yet.

Many of The More We Love’s former shelter clients spoke to PubliCola earlier this year. They said they felt abandoned once they moved into the Renton motel where the group ran its shelter for women trying to leave the sex trade, describing unlivable conditions and scarce help obtaining counseling, addiction treatment, transportation to appointments, and assistance with housing and jobs. Women also said the shelter staff pressured them to participate in religious ceremonies, including an exorcism.

The More We Love also refuses to serve trans women, according to a report on the contract produced by the Seattle Human Services Department—a position that puts them right in line with another Heywood initiative—I-638, which would exclude trans girls from playing sports and require some girls, including those who don’t have personal pediatricians, to submit to invasive genital exams.

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2. Voters for Honest Endorsements, a PAC created by former 46th District state house candidate Ron Davis after the Stranger didn’t endorse him, sent a second round of texts to voters in the 43rd and 46th Districts last week, lambasting the Stranger and promoting a site called the Lefty Cheat Sheet as the true progressive alternative to the Stranger’s endorsement “cheat sheet

“By now you’ve heard the Stranger was bought by investors in 2024, including by Amazon’s top Lobbyist, and they have started endorsing more corporate-friendly candidates in many races,” both texts begin. “Fortunately, the Lefty Cheat Sheet has stepped in to fill the gap.”

Davis, safe to say, is a little obsessed with the Stranger, which endorsed his fellow challenger, Will Dreher, in the race against 46th District incumbent Gerry Pollet. The paper also endorsed longtime 43rd District incumbent Jamie Pedersen over his challenger, Hannah Sabio-Howell. (Also: Militant socialist Kshama Sawant).

Davis’ preoccupation with the Stranger’s Dreher endorsement came through, inadvertently, in his text supporting Sabio-Howell, which includes a paragraph complaining that Dreher (running in a different district) is “personal friends” with Stranger CEO Brady Walkinshaw. The Stranger’s entire unionized editorial staff put out a statement earlier this year saying management had no say in their endorsement decisions.

The claim that the Stranger is owned in part by “Amazon’s top Lobbyist” appears to stem from the fact that one of the board members for the company that owns the Stranger, Lynn Hubbard, is the wife of Amazon’s general counsel.

The Lefty Cheat Sheet, which describes itself as “a quick guide on how to vote lefty” in Seattle, is a website that makes voting recommendations based on an aggregation of selected endorsements. Generally, the “cheat sheet” excludes groups that endorsed Dreher or Pedersen.

It’s unclear who is behind the site or what criteria they used to choose and exclude endorsements from the “lefty” list; when we asked these questions, the group did not respond. On Bluesky, an account representing the site called our questions offensive and said disclosing who was making the recommendations would put people in danger and could harm people’s future political careers.”

Whatever the criteria, no reproductive rights, gun control, climate change, or civil liberties groups made the “lefty” list, and the urbanist groups that made the cut are the ones whose picks align with the Lefty Cheat Sheet’s. Fuse Washington’s Progressive Voters’ Guide, which is excluded, comes in for some pretty harsh, and inaccurate, criticism, while.unions are listed but excluded by default as too “risk-averse.”

Davis did not respond to our questions o n Friday. Voters for Honest Endorsements has reported raising nearly $20,000, most of it from programmers and software engineers; former city councilmember Mike O’Brien contributed $2,000 to the effort.

The Stranger endorsed Dreher and Pedersen in the primary, which led Davis and many of his supporters to conclude that their new-ish owner, former state legislator and Grist CEO Brady Walkinshaw, had tipped the scales.

 

City Council, Elections

Pro-Julie Kang PAC Returns Dark Money Contribution from Ex-Councilmember Nelson’s Pass-Through Group

But it looks like the money’s already been spent.

By Erica C. Barnett

Seafor, the political group created by former Seattle City Council member Sara Nelson to funnel anonymous contributions to groups supporting “pragmatic” centrist candidates, has taken back the $30,000 it contributed to North Seattle Neighbors, a local PAC supporting District 5 City Council candidate Julie Kang.

Contacted on Wednesday, North Seattle Neighbors leader Jordan Royer said the PAC returned the contribution after learning about two complaints by the Progressive People Power (P3) PAC alleging that the anonymous contributions violated state and local election laws (the local complaint, to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, also alleges that Seafor failed to register as a grassroots lobbying group.)

“North Seattle Neighbors recently became aware of complaints filed against Seafor, alleging that Seafor had made a non-compliant donation to North Seattle Neighbors,” Royer said. “In light of those reports, North Seattle Neighbors over the weekend refunded Seafor’s contribution.”

As PubliCola reported last week, Seafor’s pitch to donors is that they can support candidates for office without disclosing who they are. Structuring the group as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, the website claims, “protects the privacy of businesses and individuals historically punished for backing fiscally responsible causes. Many of our supporters operate businesses, sit on boards, or hold positions where political activity isn’t tenable.”

Put another way, if you don’t want anyone to know you’re supporting a political candidate or trying to tip the scales on an initiative campaign, you can give to Seafor, which will clean your money and funnel it to the campaign without your name attached.

Under state election law, you can’t set up a pass-through to avoid disclosing political donors.

On its own website, Seafor more or less explicitly acknowledges they broke the law. “SeaFor’s donation to North Seattle Neighbors for the 2026 election was rescinded to comply with all applicable laws and statutes.”

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Nelson did not respond to questions sent late Friday morning, including a question about whether the group will make similar, anonymous campaign contributions in the future. Seafor called the Julie Kang race a “test run” for the seven council races that will be on the ballot next year (whoever wins in D5 will have to run for a full four-year term). But if their model depends on using anonymous donations to fund independent expenditure campaigns, it may be cut off at the knees long before then. The two complaints are still pending at the state Public Disclosure Commission and the Seattle elections commission, which is more likely than the PDC to take up P3’s case.

North Seattle Neighbors already spent more money than they have without Seafor’s contribution, so they’ll have to raise enough by Election Day, November 3, to make up the difference. Under state election law, no individual or group can give more than $7,500 to a candidate or committee like (North Seattle Neighbors) in the three weeks before election day. As of Friday, the pro-Kang campaign had reported just over $15,000 in contributions from non-Seafor sources, including private equity director Collin Hathaway, developer Martin Smith, and philanthropist Michele Rosen, whose husband Stan Rosen is a real-estate developer. Royer said Friday he anticipates the group will make up the remaining debt with new donations.

Separately, the campaign for Nilu Jenks—Kang’s progressive opponent, who won 54 percent in the primary—filed a complaint against North Seattle Neighbors. In addition to complaints related to Seafor’s contribution, the campaign alleges that a mailer that went out on October 19 inaccurately reported the top five donors. Of the five, one—hotel owner Craig Schafer—isn’t listed as a contributor in North Seattle Neighbors’ campaign filings. Another, Martin Smith, didn’t donate until after the mailer went out, which Jenks’ complaint calls an “impossible timeline.”

A representative from North Seattle Neighbors said, ‘“Smith and Schafer’s contributions were disclosed on the mailer because they were pledges received on October 13. They said Smith’s contribution hit their bank on the 20th, after the mailers were printed and heading out. Smith’s donation, which they received on the 14th, will be in their next filing on the 27th, they said.

So you may be wondering what North Seattle Neighbors is doing with its contributions. So far, they’ve sent out the mailer in the image at the top of this post, insinuating darkly that she supports doing nothing on gun violence “open-air” drug sales, and human trafficking. Here’s the flip side, which claims that a vote fro Jenks is a vote for cutting the police budget—which, reality check, progressive mayor Katie Wilson’s budget increases by more than $68 million next year.

Tents across from bungalows, wild claims about gun violence, and misleading claims about the enforcement of local laws? Sounds very 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025. Although the graffiti-covered surveillance camera, apparently yanked from its perch by hooligans, is new.