Erica C. Barnett

publicola.comGreater Seattle: Wilson's Sweeps and Nelson's Disappearing $30,000 - PubliColaBy Josh Feit 108 < 112 < 151 In her press conference last Wednesday, Mayor Wilson debuted a new homelessness…

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In his latest Greater Seattle column, @joshfeit.bsky.social discusses Mayor Katie Wilson's continuation of encampment sweeps and an ephemeral $30,000 contribution from former councilmember Sara Nelson's dark-money effort to elect North Seattle council candidate Julie Kang.

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yikes

Merriam-Webster@merriam-webster.com

We acknowledge that no one has the bandwidth for this, but if it helps: -It’s ‘sleight of hand’ -It’s ‘bated breath’ -It’s ‘lo and behold’ -It's 'buck naked' -It’s ‘brass tacks’ -It’s ‘free rein’ -It’s ‘toe the line'

seattlered.comDemocrat blames his party for Seattle drug crisisWashington Policy Center’s Eric Zimmerman, an elected Democrat, says activist ideology keeps Seattle from enforcing drug laws as Wilson rolls out a new plan.

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ah yes the libertarian Washington Policy Center, famously a Democratic Party organization (this guy, a city council member in Normandy Park currently serving as mayor, has the totally original view that Seattle needs to arrest and jail people using drugs in public)

so glad to hear two conservative men assure voters that, much as they personally may hate the idea of reproductive freedom, abortion rights are settled law and certainly will never go away (so how dare anyone ask about a judicial candidate's anti-choice views) mynorthwest.com/john-curley/...

nytimes.comStudents at an A.I. School Were Supposed to Learn Faster. Many Aren’t. (Gift Article)Alpha School, a private network, is spreading into public education. While its students’ test scores are high, some parents and educators say it doesn’t live up to the hype.

It's telling that the only pro-AI "learning" comments on this article are from people who still strongly identify with being called "gifted" as children, like the guy who claimed to have "worked out a deal" with his teachers that he could ignore their lessons and read because he was so smart

I find this claim so weird. Why does Dudley think "newspapers" (print publications exclusively) are uniquely challenged by "thievery" and an "ephemeral audience"? Online publications have been thriving for decades. www.seattletimes.com/opinion/midw...

The aggrieved nature of this column shows the author thinks newspapers are uniquely beleaguered. But they aren't—they've just failed (in many cases) to evolve in ways that make people want to support them with our money! Does anyone think the Seattle Times has markedly improved in the last 20 years?

Also, the kind of stories this tiny, hyperlocal paper covers—a youth sports event, a car crash—are not going fall victim to "persistent thievery" or "ephemeral audiences." I'm not sure what the lesson is here, beyond "paper good, online bad"

Dudley's columns are typically about older white men who run newspapers in small markets who are somehow making it work; he uses these examples as hopeful proof that print newspapers are important and unique. He has a lot of contempt for online-only publications for some reason.

youtu.beCouncil Edition: Rinck & Strauss talk budget concerns, RV parking & moreYouTube video by Seattle Channel

Watch this for a contrast between how Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and RV ban sponsor Dan Strauss describe the legislation (which passed this past week), which will include a one-time, door-slamming census to determine who can get the city's highly conditional permits.

I completely agree with Nilu Jenks about shoplifting food, and I also think it makes her look savvy not to gobble up corporate claims about shrink being the reason they close stores in poor, largely minority neighborhoods ("sorry, you stole too much")

publicola.comThis Week on PubliCola: Council Approves Phased-In RV Ban, Council Candidates Describe Their Plans for D5, Dark Money Returned to Sender, and More - PubliColaBy Erica C. Barnett Monday, October 19 Greater Seattle: We’re Number 1 (in Home Listings Jump); Small Biz is in…

This Week on PubliCola: Council Approves Phased-In RV Ban, Council Candidates Describe Their Plans for D5, Dark Money Returned to Sender, and More

seattletimes.comWA lifts caps on big-dollar campaign spending days before midtermsThe Washington State Public Disclosure Commission announced Friday it will not enforce the $75,000 cap on contributions for statewide campaigns.

My phone was blowing up over this last night. (Progressives are pissed!) One potential outcome could be lots more last-minute money pouring into local independent expenditure campaigns, since the $7,500 limit no longer applies.

pdc.wa.govSpecial Limits and Reports for Last-Minute Contributions | Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC)

Here's the PDC's reasoning, posted late yesterday.

seattletimes.comWhy isn’t Seattle hiring parking enforcement officers if they make money?As one of the few revenue-generating city jobs, they should be a budget writer's best friend. Not this year.

Strangely missing from this article is that the main reason parking enforcement officers say it's hard to hire more of them is the low pay— $69,000 to $77,000—for jobs that are largely outdoors and involve more than just writing tickets. (Reposting thread to reflect update wages.)

This has been a truly perennial issue. Last year, the council nixed Bruce Harrell's proposal, very similar to Katie Wilson's proposal this year, to stop funding these positions.

SPD likes to have funded vacancies not just so they can "show that they've saved money," as this story says, but to pay for extra overtime for its officers, who make time and a half on six-figure salaries. That's what the money is primarily spent on.

seattletimes.comWhy isn’t Seattle hiring parking enforcement officers if they make money?As one of the few revenue-generating city jobs, they should be a budget writer's best friend. Not this year.

publicola.comParking Enforcement Officers On Work Slowdown After Contract Negotiations Stall - PubliColaBy Erica C. Barnett Seattle’s parking enforcement officers have been engaged in a work slowdown since mid-November, after failing to…

I wrote about the PEOs and their labor complaints late last year, when they were trying to get things like paid lunch breaks (since they often get called away during these breaks to work) and better pay, last year. (The pay I mentioned above reflects the more recent contract.)

publicola.comCampaign Fizz: The More We Love Promotes Anti-Tax Initiative, Former Candidate Spams Voters With Text Promos for "Lefty Cheat Sheet" - PubliCola1. Kristine Moreland, whose group The More We Love received city funding last year to run shelter in Renton for…

Campaign Fizz: The More We Love Promotes Anti-Tax Initiative, Former Candidate Spams Voters With Text Promos for "Lefty Cheat Sheet" Today’s Afternoon Fizz, state campaign edition!

publicola.comPro-Julie Kang PAC Returns Dark Money Contribution from Ex-Councilmember Nelson's Pass-Through Group - PubliColaBut it looks like the money’s already been spent. By Erica C. Barnett Seafor, the political group created by former…

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.

This will be in Fizz today, but I also reported it on the Seattle Nice we recorded Wednesday: North Seattle Neighbors, the PAC that's supporting District 5 council candidate Julie Kang, returned a $30,000 contribution to Seafor, the pass-through group created by former councilmember Sara Nelson. 1/

seattle-nice.beam.lyLive from Ballard: Wilson’s Homelessness Plan and the District 5 Race | Seattle NiceOur planned District 5 debate had to be canceled after one of the candidates came down with COVID. But we got together and blabbed in front of the folks who...

Burn on me: That episode is already up, thanks to the people who actually do the work to make our podcast happen (I just show up and talk)! seattle-nice.beam.ly/episode/live...

Look for more election fizz, including a more detailed version of this story, on PubliCola later today (when I hope to be able to also post the Seattle Nice taping that replaced our live debate when one of our candidates got COVID).

seafor.liveSeaFor · What City Hall spends, passes, and gets for itWhat City Hall spends, what it passes, and what Seattle gets for it. Sourced, in plain English.

Seafor posted a statement on its website today, at the bottom of its FAQ: "SeaFor's donation to North Seattle Neighbors for the 2026 election was rescinded to comply with all applicable laws and statutes." In other words, they are effectively admitting they were not following the law.

The issue here is that it's illegal to conceal the source of political donations by creating a pass-through organization that effectively launders the money by anonymizing it.

As a one-person operation, I would have loved to get this story up on Wednesday when I did the reporting on it, but as you can see from PubliCola I was writing about an all-day meeting the previous day and posting a candidate interview in anticipation of our live debate recording that night!

"... In light of those reports, North Seattle Neighbors over the weekend refunded Seafor's contribution."

publicola.comComplaints Filed Against Pass-Through Campaign Funding Group Created by Former Councilmember Sara Nelson - PubliColaBy Erica C. Barnett The Progressive People Power (P3) PAC, a group that supports lefty candidates and causes, has…

As I reported last week, Seafor solicited donations for "pragmatic" centrist candidates on its website and promised donors they would keep their identities "private." Then they donated that anonymous money to the pro-Kang PAC, prompting two complaints in rapid succession.

Here's the statement N Seattle Neighbors leader Jordan Royer gave me Wednesday morning: "North Seattle Neighbors recently became aware of complaints filed against Seafor, alleging that Seafor had made a non-compliant donation to North Seattle Neighbors. ..."

Seattle folks, this is Matt Calkins, who rage-quit after the local daily wouldn't run his transphobic rants

Rodger Sherman@rodger.bsky.social

In case you’re wondering what the Outkick guy is up to with the Finals credential WNBA PR gave him: He saw two WNBA PR employees sitting at their desks during the national anthem and posted their photo to Twitter and has followed up with additional posts attempting to dox them

seattlered.comMatt Calkins says Seattle Times felt like a cult by the endFormer Seattle Times columnist Matt Calkins says nearly every column he has written at OutKick would have been spiked by the paper he says felt like a cult.

you mean FOX (owner of Outkick) allows ill-informed right-wing commentary by bad writers? shocked

FWIW, the Lefty Cheat Sheet also shits on Fuse Washington's Progressive Voters' Guide (which did not endorse Ron Davis ro Hannah, notably) by putting out misinformation about it. The PVG is another great guide to local elections and I'm not sure why LCS is putting out false info about them.

pdc.wa.govCommittee Finance Report | Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC)

Fuse Votes isn't a Super PAC (raising and spending unlimited money to promote candidates and campaigns with no coordination); they're a regular old 501(c)(3) nonprofit that can and does give money directly to campaigns. You can see their expenditures here. www.pdc.wa.gov/political-di...

Sorry, I did mean 501(c)(4)

pdc.wa.govCommittee Finance Report | Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC)

To be technically correct, their 501(c)(3) is a PAC, it's just not a super PAC

I keep getting lectured that the people shitting on the Progressive Voters Guide/Fuse and speculating about who's friends with whom and shit talking about me and Eileen Pollet are terrified of identifying themselves because of potential attacks. All while attacking other progressives.

I think people should learn as much as they can about candidates and issues before voting, using multiple sources! It's very unusual for a voters' guide to spend so much time and energy telling you why you should reject other sources and rely only on them!

When you're starting a group that makes "lefty" voting recommendations, it's pretty weird to focus your energy on shitting on other groups and organizations that make endorsements and suggesting they're corporate, bullshit, bought and paid for, etc.

This is especially true when the groups you're shitting on (I'm talking now about the Stranger and Fuse) are known entities whose leaders and endorsing individuals are known and public, and you're doing all the shit talking from behind a cloak of anonymity.

And perhaps most importantly, Fuse's board isn't their "financial donors," which is how the LCS defines them—again, implying nefarious influence from rich people or something. In fact, NOT ONE OF THEM has given money to Fuse Votes, so this is probably their biggest false insinuating claim.

fusewashington.orgMeet the Team | Fuse WashingtonFuse’s work is made possible by these awesome leaders.

Here's the board; you can look up how much money each of them have given to Fuse Votes. (Hint: It's $0.) fusewashington.org/about-fuse/m...

First, the board doesn't make the call on controversial elections, according to the website. Rather, the site says they're consulted. I worked at an endorsing pro-choice nonprofit (which is omitted from the LCS along with any women's rights or pro-choice groups) and this is also standard.

Sorry, I meant to say they don't make the call on controversial "endorsements," as the LCS claims.

The board isn't consulted on "controversial endorsements," again per Fuse's website. They're consulted in races that are likely to be controversial, which Fuse says is around 5% of races. That's also completely standard and innocuous. "Important" is LCS' invention.

They explain their endorsement process at length here; it's a pretty typical process for a nonprofit without a lot of staff. The comms director does the research (the site explains how this process works) and then makes the recommendations, consulting with the ED and political director.

progressivevotersguide.comHow Do We Make Our Recommendation Decisions?Get the facts before you vote!

Sorry, left out that link; here it is! www.progressivevotersguide.com/washington/n...