Seattle Forward

Public Campaign Finance Statement

Consistent with my earlier blog post on this topic, I shared the following statement at the Full Council meeting this afternoon explaining my vote to not move forward a public campaign finance system this year:

We face a tough choice today as we consider this motion, but that’s what we are called to do.

We gather facts. We listen to various perspectives. We weigh the pros and cons of various arguments and then we decide. Sometimes our decisions are simple. Other times, like today, they are not easy; they’re complicated and require a balancing of various interests.

In the end, we make our decisions based on what’s best for the common good; what will benefit our city and region; and, in Seattle, with a special emphasis on what’s best for the most vulnerable among us.

Seattle has a strong and well-regulated campaign finance system, with individual contribution limits less than half those for King County and the State of Washington. Public financing of elections is a solid, progressive and important policy to pursue. We studied this issue extensively last year and asked the voters of Seattle to approve public financing of City Council campaigns. The voters said “no.”

Now we’re being asked to do a repeat this year. The easiest decision would be to put it back on the ballot and say, “let the voters decide again.” But, at what cost and at what risk? That’s where the decision gets difficult.

City Council to Vote on Seattle Preschool Program

The following article was sent out in my City View Newsletter, which you can sign up to receive here.

It’s not very often that local elected officials get to advance public policy with the potential to change our society so fundamentally…let alone twice inside 30 days.

On June 2nd the City Council voted unanimously to adopt Mayor Murray’s minimum wage legislation to reverse years and years of stagnant wages. That was a historic milestone designed to help workers at the bottom of the economic ladder.

This afternoon, just three weeks later, we are about to make another monumental decision that has the potential to reverse decades of lost academic opportunities. We will vote this afternoon to send the Seattle Preschool Program to voters in November.

The plan the City Council will vote on today is based on what works. It was developed through a strong partnership with Mayor Murray. We have followed the evidence and, if we implement it right, we will achieve the same results being celebrated in Boston, Jersey City, Tulsa, Denver, and elsewhere.

Public Campaign Finance: Right Idea, Wrong Time

There has been news coverage recently about how as City Council President I won’t introduce legislation that would send a measure to establish public financing of political campaigns back again to the voters in November.* The Stranger has a story about this in this week’s edition.

Public financing of campaigns is a good idea. Seattle established a system for partial public financing of campaigns in 1978. I helped oversee the later years of that program as a commissioner on the City’s Ethics and Elections Commission. In 1992 a statewide initiative put an end to this practice, but in 2008 the State Legislature allowed local jurisdictions to establish programs through a public vote.

Last year I voted to let Seattle decide if they wanted public campaign financing. The proposed system would have incentivized candidates to reach out to a wider segment of the population by providing matching public funds to small campaign donations; a property tax provided the funds. The voters said “no” by a narrow margin.

This November’s election ballot will have many candidates, issues, and multiple tax measures (including a resurrection of a tax for the monorail!). There’s always risk, however slight, that voters will experience “tax fatigue” and overreact by voting no on measures they might have otherwise supported, such as universal preschool or public transit funding.

At a time when frustration with government is running so high, I want the City to show voters that local government is focused on what’s most important. Maintaining and improving transit service and expanding high-quality preschool for our children top my list of priorities.

*In case you’re wondering, the Council President decides what legislation will be put before the Council and when, but this power is by no means absolute. Any councilmember can make a motion to introduce legislation during a Full Council meeting; councilmembers who favor placing a public finance tax measure on this November’s ballot have not done so. If a majority of the Council wanted to hold further discussions on public campaign finance legislation, that motion would succeed and the legislation would be introduced and referred to committee.

Two Vigils

Last night at 7 p.m. there were two simultaneous prayer vigils for victims of gun violence, one a quick response to yesterday’s tragedy at Seattle Pacific University and one in the Central District for the two young men—Dwone Anderson-Young and Ahmed Said—murdered on June 1 at 29^th Avenue South and South King Street. The Mayor and I went to SPU’s campus to support our police officers and firefighters and the students and staff of the university and then traveled to the vigil in the Central District.

As an elected official I have been to several of these vigils over the years to show the City’s support for the victims and their communities. Never have I had to face a choice about which vigil to go to.

Two vigils for victims of gun violence is two too many.

Seeking Candidates for Ethics and Elections Commission

The City Council is seeking candidates to fill a vacancy on the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) for a term lasting until December 31, 2016.

The SEEC is an independent committee comprised of seven volunteers. The Mayor and the City Council each appoint three Commissioners and the Commissioners select the seventh. 

The Ethics and Elections Commission is one of the City’s most important bodies. They are the guardians of our local democracy, ensuring a fair electoral process and an ethic of principled public service among City employees. I had the privilege of serving on this body more than a decade ago.