Tag: Alexis Mercedes Rinck

City Council, immigration, Jails, King County

As City and County Consider Banning New ICE Facilities, Local Jails Are Exempted from Seattle’s Ban
Alexis Mercedes Rinck (l) and Teresa Mosqueda (r)

By Erica C. Barnett

City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck’s proposed legislation to bar new detention centers in Seattle, originally introduced in February, has been delayed and amended to accommodate other council members’ concerns about prohibiting new local jails even temporarily, as the original legislation would have done. The new version of the bill, which would explicitly exempt jails from the moratorium, went up online yesterday.

A brief recap: On February 13, Rinck announced legislation that would ban new detention centers, as well as jails, in the city of Seattle for one year. The bill, announced in tandem with King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda’s similar legislation prohibiting detention centers in unincorporated King County for a year. Both proposals contains an emergency clause to illustrate the urgency of passing the ban; in December, ICE quietly posted a solicitation for contractors to build a new 1,635-bed detention facility in the Seattle area.

Legally, because of the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, federal law trumps state law—meaning that ICE, putatively operating in compliance with federal law, can violate any or all of the local and state laws blue cities and states put in their way. But laws like regional bans on detention facilities—and other anti-ICE legislation, including an executive order from Mayor Katie Wilson barring ICE from using city property  and a proposal from Mosqueda that will have the same effect for county land—can create friction, Rinck said.

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“We still will have a law on the books, and if they try to challenge our decision, we will see them in court over this,” Rinck said. “It does force a conversation.”

Both bills are based on local land use regulations. They argue that any new detention center could have major impacts on “water, sewage and wastewater, transportation and parking, public safety, and public health” and that a moratorium would provide time to create permanent legislation on detention centers.

“Here at the county, we have explicit authority in our statute to ensure that land is being used in the public’s interest,” Mosqueda said. “Any detention center in King County is going to not only disrupt the local community, but it goes counter to King County’s interests in making sure that we’re promoting safety and well-being.”

Both bills are classified as “emergency” legislation, allowing them to move forward without the usual committee process. On both councils, emergency legislation requires seven of nine votes to pass—which gets us back to why Rinck’s proposal exempts jails from the one-year moratorium while Mosqueda’s does not.

According to multiple city council sources, at least two council members indicated that they would vote against Rinck’s proposal if jails were included in the ban, even though King County has no current plans to build a new jail in Seattle, or anywhere, in the near future. Banning new jails for a year could create an impression that centrist council members who will be up for election next year, including Maritza Rivera and Bob Kettle, are soft on crime.

Rinck can afford to lose two votes, but not three, and several other council members’ votes can be unpredictable when it comes to legislation perceived as “progressive,” as any legislation proposed by Rinck, one of the council’s most progressive members, inevitably is.

Kettle, the chair of the council’s public safety committee, did not respond to questions PubliCola sent on Monday.

Mosqueda said on Tuesday morning that no one on the council had raised an issue about the inclusion of new jails in the ban, noting that her legislation does explicitly allow renovations at Echo Glen, a youth detention center in unincorporated eastern King County.

Rinck’s legislation will be up for a full council vote on March 10. She said the bill will “buy some time” for the city if ICE does propose building a detention facility here. “I think this is worth fighting over,” she said.

erica@publicola.com

City Council, Courts, Elections, King County, Trump

Poll Tests Message that Katie Wilson is “Angry,” “Divisive,” and “Loud”; No Charges Yet for County Assessor Accused of Stalking
Screenshot from poll testing messages against mayoral candidate Katie Wilson.

And: Three City Councilmembers declined to sign on to an anti-Trump letter; guess which ones!

1. Two online polls that went out to voters via text this week tested messages for Mayor Bruce Harrell and against Transit Riders Union leader Katie Wilson, who’s challenging Harrell. While one of the polls included some messaging against another Harrell challenger, Joe Mallahan, the two surveys focused on anti-Wilson messaging. (Pollsters use messaging polls to see what kind of talking points voters find persuasive.)

Survey takers were asked to respond to each negative message by indicating whether it made them more or less likely to vote for Wilson, and how much each message moved voters away from Wilson. (The poll also included a handful of pro- and anti-Harrell messages).

The questions generally portrayed Wilson as an “angry and divisive,” Kshama Sawant-aligned socialist who wants to disband the Seattle Police Department and tax businesses and residents out of the city.

“Katie Wilson will raise taxes on working families and small businesses,” one test message said. “We can’t afford a self-described socialist who plans to raise taxes even higher when so many working families are struggling to make ends meet in our city.

“Katie Wilson is an advocate for the ‘defund the police’ movement that is out of touch with what our city needs,” another survey question said. “We can’t afford a mayor who thinks policing is unnecessary.”

One question asked respondents to weigh in on messaging about Wilson “supporting former city councilmember Khama [sic] Sawant” and “the politics of shouting, accusing, and undermining fellow Democrats.” Another message claimed Wilson is “more interested in being the loudest voice in the room and less interested in bringing Seattle together and actually solving our problems.”

If Harrell (or his independent expenditure campaign) decides to paint as Wilson loud, angry, and divisive, that will be news to anyone who’s ever met her. A soft-spoken, thoughtful policy nerd, Wilson’s chief political flaw is that she prefers long policy explanations to easy soundbites and is incapable of adopting the glad-handing, style-over-substance approach of lifelong politicians like Harrell.

2. The Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office has declined so far to file charges against King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson, who was arrested last week for stalking and violating a protection order obtained by his ex-partner Lee Keller. The prosecutor is still weighing the evidence and could file charges in the future.

Wilson is running for King County Executive. The King County Prosecutor’s Office handed the case over to Snohomish County to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Keller went to King County District Court on Monday seeking an extension of a restraining order from May that prevents Wilson from contacting or coming within 1,000 feet of Keller. According to Keller, Wilson has repeatedly violated the restraining order by texting Keller and showing up at her house, church, and events where she is present.

However, a court commissioner denied that request and granted a 90-day continuance on the case, which leaves the restraining order in place for at least 90 days but offers no guarantee that Keller will remain protected after the court takes up the restraining order again.

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The Snohomish County prosecutor has not given any timeline for considering additional evidence, and can decline to press any charges against Wilson if they choose. Wilson was arrested when he returned to Keller’s home after showing up there earlier in the evening last Wednesday night; he stayed overnight in jail but was released the next day after paying bond on $50,000 bail.

3.  On Tuesday, City Councilmembers Sara Nelson, Maritza Rivera, and Bob Kettle declined to sign a letter denouncing the Trump budget, which will take health care, cash assistance, and food benefits away from millions of Americans while giving massive tax breaks to the rich and spiking the federal budget deficit to unprecedented levels. So far, the letter has been signed by 80 elected officials from across the Puget Sound region.

The letter, which progressive Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck distributed and sent to local media last week, also calls out “austerity measures” advanced by Governor Bob Ferguson and imposed by state legislators earlier this year. It calls on state and local leaders to “develop meaningful solutions to protect residents,” including progressive revenue measures like the “Seattle Shield” business and occupation tax increase Rinck and Harrell proposed last month.

Kettle said that as someone who has spoken about the need to preserve and de-politicize federal disaster relief, “I appreciate the intent of this,” but said he is “not one to sign on letters like this… just as a matter of fact of how I do business.”

Rivera echoed Kettle, saying that while “I agree with the spirit of the letter,” she was also choosing not to sign it. “I wanted to, for the record, state that I do not agree with this federal administration… it is just gross and disgusting,” Rivera said.

Nelson gave the most detailed explanation for her decision not to sign on to the letter: “I feel uncomfortable calling out the governor when he signed legislation that came from, obviously, the legislature,” she said. Nelson also said she wasn’t sure about putting the city of Seattle seal on the letter (alongside those of a dozen other cities) or about encouraging other governments to enact progressive revenue like the Seattle Shield proposal, which Nelson has raised skeptical questions about.

Like Kettle and Rivera, Nelson took pains to say that she doesn’t support the Trump budget either. “I’m not going to sign the letter, but I do want to express that I share in the spirit and the thoughts that are that I believe are motivating the expression of this outrage,” Nelson said.

Business, City Council, Elections, Mayor Harrell, Taxes

Seattle Nice: What’s Behind the Proposed New Business Tax?

By Erica C. Barnett

This week, we’re talking taxes—specifically, the new business and occupation (B&O) tax proposal that City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Mayor Bruce Harrell dropped, seemingly out of the blue, last week. The tax includes a big exemption that the business community has been seeking for a long time; however, above that threshold—$2 million in gross receipts—the tax will go up substantially.

Because B&O taxes are based on gross receipts, they hit high-grossing, low-margin businesses like restaurants and grocery stores hardest, often leading to higher prices—which is one reason they aren’t generally considered progressive. In fact, neither of the groups the city set up to come up with new progressive revenue sources recommended a higher B&O tax.

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On Monday, as I was posting the podcast, I received a poll testing messages for and against the tax measure. The Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce is pushing the message that higher B&O taxes will drive up prices and drive larger businesses out of Seattle. “If the City continues to drive away large employers, it will create a domino effect hurting the small businesses this plan is supposed to help while also causing unemployment to rise, office vacancies to increase, and tax revenue to shrink,” one of the test messages claimed. The Chamber is also using some  dodgy math to claim that the city has more than $500 million just sitting around, up for grabs, so expect to hear that message when this thing goes to the ballot.

So what’s really behind the new proposal? The mayor’s up for reelection, facing a progressive challenge from Katie Wilson. Seattle’s facing a budget hole of $250 million even without federal cuts. And supporters of the tax measure may be gambling the Chamber won’t fight too hard against the tax, because it includes a big tax exemption that small- and medium-size businesses have been seeking for years.

With David still away gamboling in parts unnamed, Sandeep and Erica take up these questions and more on this week’s episode of Seattle Nice.

City Council, Elections

Newest City Council Member “Deeply Saddened” By Morales’ Decision to Step Down
City Councilmembers Tammy Morales and Alexis Mercedes Rinck

“I sincerely hope that [the council will] take a breath and commit to trying something a bit different, since things were not working for at least one of their colleagues.”

By Erica C. Barnett

New Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck was as surprised as anyone to learn that progressive Councilmember Tammy Morale will resign in January, barely a year after defeating Tanya Woo, but she said she “obviously” respects Morales’ decision “to do what’s best for her, her team, and her humanity.”

As we reported on Wednesday, Morales said she decided to step down after nearly a year of “being undermined” by her colleagues, starting with their decision to install Woo into a vacant citywide council position after she was the only centrist candidate to lose last year. Rinck defeated Woo in November, winning more votes than any local candidate in modern Seattle history.

Rinck told PubliCola she was “deeply saddened” when Morales let her know on Monday that she was stepping down. “In so many ways, Councilmember Morales has been a beacon for progressive values, and I was hoping to be able to join her and partner in this work,” Rinck said.

New council members, including Bob Kettle and Cathy Moore, frequently used Morales as a synecdoche for the entire previous city council—which passed landmark progressive legislation, including the JumpStart payroll tax—and a one-for-one stand-in for socialist firebrand Kshama Sawant). Reflecting on her decision to leave, Morales said she hoped her next elected replacement will be able to come in fresh, unburdened by any association with the previous council, and that Rinck will be able to build better relationships as a newcomer coming in with such an overwhelming mandate.

Rinck said she spend much of her first two days going around and talking to her new colleagues about “the work ahead of us to and how we can work together.” But, she said, “I’ve been very clear to say that I hope we can take this time to all reflect on our own behaviors and the kind of work environment we’d like to have. I can understand feelings of defensiveness and how people might see their own perspectives on how the last 11 months have gone, but I sincerely hope that [the council will] take a breath and commit to trying something a bit different, since things were not working for at least one of their colleagues.”

The council will appoint a replacement for Morales after she steps down early next year, and the position will be on the regular 2025 primary and general election ballots. It seems unlikely the council would welcome Woo back into the fold right after she lost an election so overwhelmingly (her fourth second-place finish in a row), but they already showed their willingness to ignore the will of the voters when they appointed her in the first place, so there’s a precedent—and Woo would only have to win reelection in District 2, where she lost more narrowly to Morales in 2023.

Business and labor allies are already scrambling to find candidates for next year’s election. In the meantime, Rinck said, “I’m really focused on making sure that my office is spending dedicated additional time in District 2 to support community dialogue and make sure that we have a true champion to represent their needs in city hall.”