Category: Mayor Harrell

Elections, homelessness, Mayor Harrell, Police, Seattle Nice, Trump

This Week on PubliCola: November 2, 2025

Exclusive election reporting, a Seattle City Attorney debate, SPD participates in Trump’s “Operation Take Back America,” and more.

Monday, October 27

Seattle’s Nicest City Attorney Debate

Seattle Nice moderated a debate between incumbent Ann Davison and challenger Erika Evans, and you can still listen to it before Election Day! The candidates debated the uses of Davison’s “high utilizers” list of frequent misdemeanor offenders, the elimination of community court (a therapeutic alternative to prosecution), and banishment zones for drug users and sex work.

City Official Used Internal Teams Chat to Solicit Department Directors’ Contact Info on Behalf of Harrell Campaign

PubliCola reported exclusively that the Office of Economic Development director under Mayor Bruce Harrell, Markham McIntyre, used an internal city of Seattle system to solicit department heads’ contact information on behalf of Harrell’s campaign; department heads who provided their information through the city Teams chat got emails from the campaign asking to help get Harrell reeelected.

Tuesday, October 28

A Closer Look at Mayor Harrell’s Rickety 2026 City Budget Proposal

We took a deep dive into Mayor Bruce Harrell’s 2026 budget, which uses a series of short-term budget tricks to pay for a ton of new spending next year while creating massive budget shortfalls for the future mayor and city council. The council’s proposed budget amendments only make this structural problem worse by piling on still more new spending.

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Harrell Campaign Paid a Consultant $5,000 a Week for “Outreach and Engagement,” Won’t Say Why

Another PubliCola exclusive: The Harrell campaign paid Abdul Yusuf, a rideshare company owner active in the Somali community, $5,000 a week—the same amount Harrell’s consultant Christian Sinderman gets from the campaign in a month—to do unspecified “outreach and engagement” to the Somali community. The nature of this outreach is unclear; Yusuf is not authorized by the city to collect vouchers for the campaign.

With Their Jobs on the Line, Half the City’s Department Heads Gave to Harrell’s Campaign

It’s not unusual for some city employees to give money to the incumbent. What is highly unusual is for more than half the city’s department heads and director-level employees to donate to their boss, as they have to Harrell. The donations suggest less a spontaneous outpouring of support for the mayor than an expectation that donating to Harrell’s campaign is a good form of job security.

Friday, October 31

UPDATED: Homelessness Authority Cuts 28 Positions, Including Deputy CEO, Finance Director, and General Counsel

The King County Regional Homelessness Authority laid off 13 staff and cut 15 vacant positions, citing a need to save nearly $5 million in administrative costs the city has declined to fund. These jobs include several top executive roles, including the deputy CEO with whom CEO Kelly Kinnison clashed over Kinnison’s hiring decisions. In an internal email announcing the layoffs, Kinnison also said she was hiring five new positions, including three executive-level staff.

SPD Drug Arrests Were Part of Trump’s Anti-Immigrant “Operation Take Back America”

In a press release from the Trump Department of Justice, SPD Chief Shon Barnes thanked “federal partners” for aiding in the arrests of 10 people accused of participating in a drug-trafficking ring earlier this week. The arrests were part of an anti-immigration effort by the Trump Administration called “Operation Take Back America,” whose top goal is to “repel the invasion of illegal immigration.”

Drugs, Mayor Harrell, Police, Trump

SPD Drug Arrests Were Part of Trump’s Anti-Immigrant “Operation Take Back America”
Police Chief Shon Barnes speaks at a recent press conference.

By Erica C. Barnett

Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes celebrated earlier this week after an anti-drug trafficking operation recovered fentanyl, guns, and cash from a stash house in Sammamish. The operation resulted in at least 10 arrests.

“This violent organization not only trafficked dangerous drugs but was responsible for putting firearms on our city streets,” Barnes said in a press release. “I’m thankful for the great work of our Seattle Police officers and our federal partners.”

Which federal partners was Barnes referring to? The arrests, conducted in collaboration with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, were part of a Department of Justice effort called Operation Take Back America established in a Trump executive order whose primary purpose is “Repelling the Invasion of Illegal Immigration.” All 10 people arrested in the operation have Hispanic surnames.

Trump’s order, according to the press release for which Barnes provided a quote, is “a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.” In addition to focusing on “Transnational Criminal organizations… such as Tren de Aragua (TdA) and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13 ),” the order expresses support for “bringing back the death penalty” for certain drug-related capital crimes.

Court records do not yet indicate what penalties the DOJ plans to seek against the men, who have all been indicted on felony charges in the US District Court of Western Washington. But the Trump Administration’s approach to both drug trafficking and immigration, in general, has been appalling.

In addition to just straight-up killing people on boats and claiming they were “traffickers,” the Trump administration has falsely accused many immigrants of being members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13, including Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador and is currently fighting a second deportation attempt. Operation Take Back America has resulted in thousands of arrests so far, including “1,300 illegal aliens,” as the DOJ put it in a different press release, during a single operation in May.

State law prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from participating in civil immigration enforcement—for example, by helping out in ICE raids. Earlier this month, Harrell issued two executive orders on immigration—one affirming and strenghtening the city’s commitment to the state law, and one committing to spend more money on immigration services and ban law enforcement officers from wearing masks to conceal their identities.

Neither Harrell’s office nor SPD responded to our questions about the Operation Take Back America arrests.

Elections, Mayor Harrell

With Their Jobs on the Line, Half the City’s Department Heads Gave to Harrell’s Campaign

By Erica C. Barnett

The directors of 20 Seattle departments have donated money to Mayor Bruce Harrell’s campaign effort—about half the city’s department directors, almost all of whom were appointed by Harrell. Most have given between $500 and $650, which is the maximum amount the campaign can accept under city campaign finance law. Deputy directors, mayoral staff, and the directors of various ad hoc initiatives, including Harrell’s One Seattle Graffiti Plan and FIFA World Cup planning, have also pitched in to help their boss’ election chances.

It’s likely that not all the contributions represent a spontaneous outpouring of support for the incumbent. According to multiple City Hall sources with direct knowledge of the situation, Harrell has not-no-subtly encouraged his appointees to back his campaign, leaving some with the impression they’ll have more job security in a second Harrell term if they help him defeat his challenger, Katie Wilson. As head of the city’s executive branch, the mayor has the authority to hire and fire department heads at will. He also negotiates pay and working conditions with the unions that represent city employees.

Because Harrell is the first mayor to both run for reelection and make it out of the primary since Greg Nickels, there is no precisely comparable data showing campaign contributions from city department heads for a mayor seeking reelection. The closest recent comparison is former mayor Jenny Durkan, the establishment choice against lefty activist Cary Moon in 2017. Durkan received a single contribution from one city department director,  and pulled in $8,750 from all city employees.

The city of Seattle department heads who have given at least $500 to Harrell include: City Budget Office director Dan Eder; Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Director Hamdi Mohamed; Human Services Department Director Tanya Kim; Seattle Parks Director A.P. Diaz; Office of Police Accountability Director Bonnie Glenn; Office for Civil Rights Director Derrick Wheeler-Smith; Seattle Department of Transportation Director Adiam Emery; Seattle Office of Planning and Development Director Rico Quirindongo; and Information Technology Director Rob Lloyd.

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Staffers for the mayor himself—including communications director Jamie Housen, chief of staff Andrew Myerberg, deputy chief of staff Dan Nolte, and deputy mayors Greg Wong and Tim Burgess (who also contributed $2,500 to the Bruce Harrell for Seattle’s Future PAC and is one of its leaders)— have also contributed thousands of dollars, collectively, to their boss’ campaign. Paul Jackson, Harrell’s Graffiti Policy and Initiatives director, has also maxed out to Harrell.

As we reported Monday, Seattle Office of Economic Development director Markham McIntyre—one of the directors who maxed out to Harrell—used the city’s official Teams platform to ask department directors for their contact information on behalf of the Harrell campaign, whose campaign manager a solicitation to help Harrell get reelected to every department director on the list. This week, the city council will discuss OED’s 2026 budget, which Harrell proposed increasing next year by a startling 30 percent—a larger increase, on a percentage basis, than any other department.

City council staff highlighted this discrepancy in a budget memo, noting that almost all of the new business programs Harrell is proposing are billed as “one-time additions,” despite being the kinds of programs that are likely to “create expectations in community for ongoing support beyond 2026.” Like many other “one-time” adds in Harrell’s budget, this new spending provides a burst of funding for key constituencies (small businesses, retail stores, and business groups in specific neighborhoods, like Lake City and Little Saigon) while creating a fiscal cliff that the next mayor and city council will have to address next year.

Wilson, who was endorsed by a union that represents thousands of city workers, PROTEC17, has received a little over $5,000 in contributions from city employees—about a quarter of the $20,000 city employees have given to their current boss.

erica@publicola.com

Elections, Mayor Harrell

Harrell Campaign Paid a Consultant $5,000 a Week for “Outreach and Engagement,” Won’t Say Why

By Erica C. Barnett

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s campaign finance filings for October include an unusual series of five $5,000 payments, each one representing one week of work, to a Tukwila-based company called FF and J Consulting. According to Harrell’s public campaign records, the $25,000 was for “Management and consulting services: Community Engagement Consulting.”

For comparison, Harrell’s chief political consultant, Christian Sinderman of NWP Consulting, receives $5,000 for his services every month.

According to state incorporation records, FF and J is a one-person firm run by Abdisalam (Abdul) Yusuf, a prominent member of the Seattle-area Somali community who has frequently advocated on behalf of rideshare drivers as the founder of the company Eastside for Hire. Neither FF and J, , nor Yusuf as an individual, has ever done any paid work for any campaign in the state prior to this year. Yusuf is also the  vice president of Drive Forward, the Uber-funded lobbying group that advocated for Seattle legislation that would have reduced the minimum wage for delivery drivers.

It’s unclear what kind of outreach Harrell is paying Yusuf $5,000 a week to do on his behalf. Harrell’s campaign did not respond to detailed questions on Wednesday, and Yusuf did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.

Yusuf was also involved in a previous Harrell campaign controversy. In 2015, when then-city councilmember Harrell was being challenged by Tammy Morales, Harrell was accused of paying for 15 of Yusuf’s Eastside for Hire employees to join the 37th District Democrats in order to sway their endorsement in favor of Pam Banks, then running against Kshama Sawant, and Harrell.

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According to reporting in the South Seattle Emerald, the memberships were paid for in one batch using sequential money orders from the same store. After some of the new members were disqualified because they didn’t live in the district, about 10 showed up to the endorsement meeting wearing Harrell t-shirts and helped both him and Banks win endorsement by one-vote margins. In response to the controversy, NWP Consulting sent out an “open letter” accusing members of the 37th District Democrats who raised concerns of attempting to “silence” “our East African members.”

Several people active in East African communities in Seattle told PubliCola they’ve observed Yusuf (along with Harrell’s director of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, Hamdi Mohamed) working to drum up support in their communities, hosting meetings with Harrell and extending assurances about what Harrell will do for their communities in a second term.

The $25,000 Harrell has paid Yusuf’s firm so far this year is ten times the $2,500 he paid a different community leader, Somali Independent Business Alliance president Nafiso Samatar, for community engagement and outreach when he first ran in 2021.

Harrell’s campaign has raised just over a million dollars so far; among individual contributors the top three employers are “not employed,” the city of Seattle, and Amazon. A PAC supporting his campaign has raised $1.75 million so far, most of it from real-estate developers and building managers.

erica@publicola.com

City Council, Elections, homelessness, Mayor Harrell, Police

This Week on PubliCola: October 25, 2025

 

New police contract boosts rookie salaries to almost $120,000, Harrell blasts Katie Wilson’s housing plan, controversial cop still in charge at East Precinct, and much more.

By Erica C. Barnett

Monday, October 20

Ex-Police Chief Diaz Seeks to Toss a Third Judge from His Case

First up in Monday’s Morning Fizz: Former Seattle police chief Adrian Diaz got another superior court judge tossed off his lawsuit against the city this week (that’s an update since we posted), arguing that Judge Nelson Lee is biased because he admitted reading news reports about Diaz.

County Council Candidate Claims Planned Parenthood Endorsement After Losing it Over Anti-Trans Views

King County Council candidate Peter Kwon told the King County Republican Party he thinks trans girls should have to play on boys’ teams and use boys’ locker rooms in schools. Then, when Planned Parenthood pulled their endorsement over Kwon’s anti-trans views, he claimed it on his campaign mail anyway.

Tuesday, October 21

New Police Contract Will Boost Starting Salaries to Almost $120,000—a 42 Percent Pay Increase in Just Five Years

PubliCola got an early look at the city’s new contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild. The new deal gives cops another hefty raise, which, combined with last year’s big salary increase, will raise officer salaries to $126,000 after an initial training period. That’s not counting the bonuses new officers get when they sign on—$7,500 for new officers, $50,000 for those who are already trained.

Wednesday, October 22

New Police Contract Includes Few Accountability Concessions In Exchange for Another Hefty Pay Increase

Mayor Bruce Harrell and Police Chief Shon Barnes publicly announced the new contract on Wednesday, including details about the minimal new accountability provisions it contains. The contract sends questions about arbitration—a process where officers appeal disciplinary decisions to an outside lawyer—to interest arbitration, which could result in even more pay for officers. It also straitjackets the CARE Team of unarmed first responders, limiting the circumstances in which they can respond to 911 calls to an almost comically narrow range—basically, if someone is outdoors, not using drugs, not having a crisis that bystanders consider confrontational, and not committing any crime, CARE can help. Otherwise, the call goes to cops.

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Thursday, October 23

Tietjen Still at East Precinct

Two weeks ago, Police Chief Barnes said he was removing controversial Captain Mike Tietjen, who was disciplined for several serious violations during the 2020 protests against police brutality, from his new role as commander of Capitol Hill’s East Precinct. But Tietjen’s still there, and SPD said they had no timeline for showing him the door.

Harrell Overheard Discussing Tip Credit Rollback

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s staff said he will not consider any exemptions to Seattle’s minimum wage, such as a return of the so-called tip credit, if he’s reelected. But a bystander to a meeting he held with restaurant owners caught him promising to “re-discuss” the tip credit, which allows businesses to pay workers sub-minimum wages as long as customer tips raise their pay to minimum wage.

Mayor’s Budget Preserves Cut to Tenant Services

Harrell’s proposed 2026 budget adds tens of millions in new spending on the police department, expands the encampment removal team, and adds funding for his ever-growing graffiti removal team. Meanwhile, services for tenants, including

Friday, October 24

Harrell, Wilson Disagree Over Whether Formerly Homeless People Can Thrive In “Workforce” Housing

Affordable housing providers joined Mayor Harrell to decry his opponent Katie Wilson’s proposal to move homeless people from shelters to vacant apartments in affordable housing. Wilson said they’re mischaracterizing her plan.

Sara Nelson Said She “Chuckled” At Opposition to Police Surveillance

In a candidate forum this week, City Councilmember Sara Nelson remarked that she and her appointed colleague Debora Juarez had “chuckled” at public commenters opposed to police surveillance cameras.

Burien City Manager Files Complaint About Accurate Quote

Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon filed a complaint—quickly dismissed by the Public Disclosure Commission—about a campaign mailer opposing 33rd District Legislative candidate (and Burien Mayor) Kevin Schilling, claiming it was libelous to quote a letter signed by the Burien Police Department expressing a lack of confidence in both Schilling and Bailon.

 

Elections, homelessness, housing, Mayor Harrell

Harrell, Wilson Disagree Over Whether Formerly Homeless People Can Thrive In “Workforce” Housing

By Erica C. Barnett

On Friday, several private and nonprofit affordable housing developers joined Mayor Bruce Harrell to criticize his challenger Katie Wilson’s proposal to move unsheltered people into vacant units in “workforce” housing developments, saying it would be a “disaster” to try to mix chronically homeless people in with the general population in these buildings.

“Our experiences and independent data have shown that people struggling on the street with behavioral health challenges cannot just be placed in an apartment and succeed,” Harrell said.

“According to the 2024 Point in Time Count, most people living unsheltered in King County have a physical, cognitive or general disability, a third of those surveyed said they live with severe mental illness, and nearly half said they struggle with substance abuse. … Scattering people in buildings across the city where the services to address addiction and mental health health issues do not exist, will be a disaster.”

Currently, thousands of units funded with city dollars, many of them small studios with rents comparable to what’s available in the private market, are sitting vacant. Some developers have argued that these will fill up as construction slows and rents for market-rate studio apartments increase.

Karen Lee, the CEO of Plymouth Housing, described the intensive services provided in Plymouth’s buildings, which are designed to serve chronically homeless people who, by definition, have disabling mental or physical conditions. “For them to rejoin society, it takes care, it takes compassion, it takes knowledge, and it is doable. But [living] in an apartment building for working-class folks that is staffed with a building manager and some cleanliness staff—that is not the environment” for success, Lee said.

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Wilson, contacted this afternoon, said she never proposed putting people who need permanent supportive housing in empty apartments at buildings that lack supportive services—an approach that helped doom the “Partnership for Zero” program to swiftly end visible homelessness downtown, which Harrell supported, last year.

Instead, Wilson said, she wants to create subsidies for “low-acuity” people who don’t require intense, round-the-clock care, freeing up shelter beds by helping people who’ve been stuck in shelter for long periods move on to housing. “Obviously, we need to pay close attention to who we’re placing where, and we don’t want to replicate the kind of problems that have ben happening recently with putting high-acuity homeless folks in buildings that aren’t equipped to handle them and without the supportive services that they need on site,” Wilson said.

“If you look across our shelter system, there are a lot of low-acuity homeless folks who are kind of stuck in the system because we don’t have throughput to affordable units for them. … The success of this plan is going to rely on appropriately placing people” in housing that fits their needs, Wilson continued.

Harrell has repeatedly said that recently homeless people do not belong in the same living environment as the “teachers and baristas” for whom workforce housing is designed. Wilson’s strategy, he said, “will actually create more vacancies as these buildings experience the well-known issues” seen in permanent supportive housing, such as fights, overdoses, and frequent 911 calls. “[It] will be a disaster.”

Wilson disagreed that formerly homeless people can’t thrive in regular affordable housing.  “If you have someone who is coming out of homelessness, who doesn’t have serious behavioral health problems, who maybe has a disability, they’ll be a fine neighbor,” Wilson said. “Obviously we need to assess people, but the idea that, categorically, these are different kinds of people [is wrong]. There are teachers and barista who are homeless.”