In 2009, Seattle City Council hopefuls faced a crowd of competitors. The four people who won in that election now face hardly any competition at all.
When councilmember Sally Bagshaw was first elected to her council seat in 2009, she did so by defeating four other candidates. Councilmember Mike O’Brien defeated five people on his way to the city council that same year, despite the fact that O’Brien raised $100,000 less than opponent Robert Rosencrantz.
Incumbent Nick Licata, first elected in 1998 and long the popular candidate among Seattle’s progressives, squared off against two opponents in 2009.
In 2013, when four of the nine city council members are up for reelection, the slim roster of candidates is creating an easy path for these incumbents.
A total of four people have filed against all four city councilmembers up for re-election. Licata remains unopposed. Some campaigns have been raising money for months, so any new candidates who file by the May 12 deadline are at a great disadvantage. The scales are tipped in the favor of incumbents.
There’s a good reason for this. Christian Sinderman, a long-time Washington political strategist, said it’s not the time to seek a seat on the Seattle City Council. None of the councilmembers are vulnerable, and all of the attention is on the crowded race to unseat Mayor Mike McGinn. Sinderman said any newcomer interested in the $120,000-a-year job should wait for another election.
Sinderman, who is consulting for incumbent Sally Bagshaw and mayoral hopeful State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, said council hopefuls “may want to take a look at the landscape in a couple of years.”
It might be strategic for candidates to wait this election out, but a lack of viable opposition leaves voters with no real way to make a statement with their ballots. The four incumbents are now on an easy path to victory.
What have they done to earn it?
Richard Conlin v. Kshama Sawant To Councilmember Richard Conlin, the lack of opposing candidates reflects how well councilmembers have worked together in the past four years. None of the incumbents have attracted much controversy, he said.
During that time, Conlin, who has served on the council for the last 14 years, proposed a Seattle Public Library levy that has allowed branches to open on Sundays and prevented a week of furlough closures this year. In office since 1998, Conlin is a veteran member of the city council, having previously served as council president.
When it comes to issues of poverty and homelessness, however, Conlin has raised some hackles. As a member of the Planning and Land Use Committee overseeing the redevelopment of South Lake Union, he became embroiled in a debate on whether to include low-income housing on site or move it into another neighborhood with lower property values. Rather than add affordable housing in South Lake Union, Conlin suggested building it along Rainier Avenue, where property is cheaper.
Critics quickly compared this to a kind of economic redlining.
“The poor people are being shunted into the outlying areas of the city,” said Conlin’s opponent, Kshama Sawant.
Conlin’s comments came just days after Occupy-inspired Sawant announced she was running against him. Sawant, an economics professor at Seattle Central Community College and Seattle University, gained attention last fall when she ran against House Speaker Frank Chopp. She received 29 percent of the vote, the largest opposition Chopp has faced during his time in the Washington State House.
Chopp had a good reputation among progressives, but Sawant said he wasn’t doing enough. Now, she’s taking the same approach to her race against Conlin.
Sawant said Conlin is much like the rest of the city council, who she says are allied with the Democratic Party but fail to enact policies that benefit the homeless and working poor.
Sawant said Conlin was the strongest example of the city council ignoring the needs of poor people.
“He was the lone council member who voted against paid sick leave,” she said.
Sawant’s strategy of attacking Conlin seems to be working; Conlin is already on the defensive: “I remember standing up to the Mount Baker Community Council when Casa Latina wanted a facility there,” Conlin said. “I think I have a track record of supporting affordable and low-income housing.”
Mike O’Brien v. Albert Shen v. Sam Bellomio Of all the council incumbents, O’Brien’s campaign strategy is the most populist. He raised his first $10,000 of campaign donations in $10 increments. He’s hoping to break former Councilmember Heidi Wills’ record of 2,000 individual supporters, he said.
O’Brien started his career as McGinn’s ideological match on the city council. But where McGinn appeared strong-willed, O’Brien came across as amiable. And over time he has gained more support among housing advocates and campaign reformers.
In the past year, O’Brien has advocated limiting how long sitting council members can raise funds for re-election and is supporting an effort to put a public financing initiative on the ballot this November. He has also promoted a safe parking program, which designates parking spaces at churches with bathrooms for people living in their cars.
And yet O’Brien is the only candidate to attract two opponents in his bid for re-election. O’Brien’s opponents offer a sharp contrast to him, and to each other. Construction consultant Albert Shen is the most well-financed of all the challengers. Activist Sam Bellomio is the most bombastic, known for lambasting the city and county councils for not being open and accessible to constituents.
Shen, who has raised $40,000 so far and is aiming for a $200,000 campaign, said he chose to run against O’Brien for strategic, not ideological reasons. He said he wants a small business owner such as himself on the city council to work on economic development and job creation. Shen sits on the Seattle Community Colleges Board of Trustees and owns Shen Consulting.
Bellomio is a regular at Seattle City Council meetings, along with fellow activists from StandUp-America, a local government accountability group. At each meeting, Bellomio calls on the council to allow people more time to comment on legislation and for individual members to hold regular town hall meetings in the community.
Bellomio said incumbents are almost guaranteed a win. Because it takes a minimum $100,000 to run, he and others have little chance, he said. Bellomio gives city and county leaders a dressing-down each week, and he’ll continue to do that as he campaigns, he said.
Sally Bagshaw v. David Ishii City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw said few people are challenging councilmembers because the council is working hard and doing good work. As examples, she highlighted her work building pathways for bicyclists and pedestrians and her support for Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), a 2006 program based on a pilot project promoted by Nick Licata that directs downtown drug offenders into counseling services rather than jail.
Most of the personal accomplishments Bagshaw cites are still works in progress. She has helped to create pedestrian and bicycle arterials around Seattle called “greenways” and participated in a group of downtown social service providers and businesses that discuss how to serve the area’s homeless and poor.
Bagshaw hasn’t elicited much controversy in her first term, as evidenced by her unassuming presence at city council meetings. During committee sessions and discussions with the public, she presents herself as having a willingness to listen and confidence that the city can solve everyone’s issues if they work together. She often asks people “What can we do?” and frequently begs forgiveness if she comes across as “Pollyannaish.”
Her only opponent, longshot candidate David Ishii, recently stepped out of the mayor’s race to focus on the city council, where he thought he had a better chance.
A self-described West Seattle character, Ishii’s main platform is the goal of creating a Seattle-based search engine to compete with Google, Yahoo and Bing. He said search engines are a trillion-dollar industry and that the city could generate revenue by creating its own.
Ishii said his first challenge is to either get 1,200 signatures or $1,175 by May 13 to qualify for the ballot. He’s discussing getting a loan simply because he doesn’t think he can get enough signatures.
What Ishii and Bagshaw have in common is a sunny disposition and optimism. Ishii decorated his website with flowers, exploding hearts and swirling stars and a message saying he wants to fix Seattle’s crooked reputation.
“I want to make it one of the cleanest places on this planet earth,” he said.
Nick Licata vs. No one Councilmember Nick Licata doesn’t have an opponent so far, but he’s resolved to act as if he does. Not campaigning “is like putting a for-sale sign on your lawn,” he said.
“I always expect an opponent,” said Licata. “I’ve always had an opponent. I expect I’ll have one this time.”
Unlike some of his colleagues, Licata is unwilling to assume the lack of competition is because he’s doing a great job. Opponents, he said, go where the incumbents look vulnerable. And this year, that’s the mayor’s race.
“There’s just so much attention on the mayor’s race,” he said.
Licata has gained a reputation as one of the city council’s most progressive members.
As chair of the Housing, Human Services, Health and Culture Committee, Licata passed legislation requiring inspection of rental units in the city to support health and safety for low-income renters.
Though he’s put forth some of the most progressive legislation seen by the council, Licata hasn’t always managed to get such legislation passed intact — a fact that displeases some constituents.
Licata pushed his colleagues on the city council to prevent the Seattle Housing Authority from asking for more city money to fund the Yesler Terrace Redevelopment, a project that housing advocates see as benefitting private developers. His amendment failed, and in the end, Licata did vote in favor of the redevelopment, despite protests from advocates and some residents.
After public outcry over the use of drones by the Seattle Police Department, Licata drafted legislation requiring council approval for future surveillance in the city. But the final version made exceptions for the Seattle Police Department.