Stop the slime, Della

Seattle City Councilmember David Della should cease and desist with the phony rhetoric about his highly qualified challenger being — ah, shhhhhh — a Republican.

Tim Burgess is a Democrat, a pro-choice, pro-gay-marriage candidate with exemplary credentials. He was a Seattle police officer. He ran an advertising and marketing firm. He chaired the city Ethics and Elections Commission. And, boohoo for Della, Burgess is ready to be a very thoughtful councilman. Burgess' résumé is so good it is bugging Della, who cannot find the theme that will put this pesky opponent down.

So Della keeps pretending he has the goods on Burgess: Didn't you know that many years ago Burgess, or actually, his firm, represented a group called Concerned Women for America, which is anti-choice and anti-gay marriage?

A person who manages a company, who makes his concerns known about a client, as Burgess did, is not guilty of much. Burgess asked his partners to fire the client. They refused for several years but later they did.

Burgess instituted an opt-out program so employees, including Burgess, could refuse to work on that particular client's projects.

The other embarrassing entity here is Washington NARAL, which is making a monumental big deal out of Burgess' firm and its association with the client. NARAL has better things to do than distort the candidate's beliefs.

Somebody wake Della and his slime machine and tell them to stop. Thinking Seattleites can see the numerous degrees of separation in Burgess' circumstance.

Della should campaign on the issues. He pretends Burgess is out of sync with Seattle. Actually, Burgess has solid liberal and progressive values.

Della is the one who is out of step. Seattle voters really do not have time for distortion and smear tactics.