Aggressive attacks frequent as Della, Burgess square off

In Seattle, a city known for passive aggressiveness, two City Council candidates have gone purely aggressive.

David Della, now finishing his first term on the council, has launched repeated attacks on challenger Tim Burgess. At speaking engagements and on a Web site, Della claims Burgess' politics are too far to the right for Seattle. As evidence, he points to work Burgess' ad agency did for a conservative Christian group that opposes abortion and gay marriage. The Della campaign even launched a special Web site called www.twistertim.com.

Della said Burgess "doesn't reflect the values of Seattle."

Burgess retaliated with www.tellthetruthdaviddella.com and takes every chance he gets to hammer Della. He calls Della a poor leader who turned down chairmanship of the energy committee after running a campaign criticizing council oversight of Seattle City Light.

"We need really strong, effective leaders on the council, and David hasn't been one, in my view," Burgess said.

Burgess said he is both pro-choice and pro-gay marriage, calling the debate about his agency's work a "distraction."

"Karl Rove is finally out of the White House," Burgess said, referring to Della's campaign strategy. "Let's not let him sneak into Seattle."

At stake is Position 7, the only council race involving an incumbent to draw a well-financed challenger. Both candidates have lengthy civic résumés.

Della served as community-affairs director for United Way of King County before he was elected to the council in 2003, and before that he served as head of the state Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs. He started as a union organizer for cannery workers.

Burgess, whose ad agency specializes in nonprofits, served on the city's Ethics and Election Commission for 12 years, and he worked as a Seattle police officer in the 1970s. He recently organized neighbors against a supermarket development at the top of Queen Anne Hill and served on a council-appointed committee that reviewed police conduct during the 1999 WTO riots.

The Municipal League of King County rated Burgess "outstanding" and Della "very good." Each campaign has raised more than $200,000; Burgess leads by about $8,000.

"I've been about trying to keep Seattle a city of opportunity for all people," Della said. If re-elected, he said, his concerns will be working families, safe and reliable transportation and public safety. He is working on passing a pedestrian-safety package for the 2008 budget that would include more red-light cameras and vans to monitor traffic speeds around school zones.

During his term on the council, Della has chaired the Parks, Education and Libraries Committee. He said he is most proud of reducing electricity rates, adding a recycling program in parks, and putting together the $116 million Families and Education seven-year levy that voters renewed to fund after-school programs.

Della used to support rebuilding the Alaskan Way Viaduct because it was more affordable than a tunnel. He now supports continuing a study on a surface replacement as long as it does not increase congestion. Burgess wants a surface replacement with more transit.

Dispute over energy

In Della's campaign four years ago, he repeatedly accused then-Councilmember Heidi Wills of not paying attention to Seattle City Light during the 2000-01 energy crisis. "Rate-Hike Heidi," his campaign called her.

Once elected, Della turned down the chance to chair the energy committee when then-Council President Peter Steinbrueck offered it to him, Steinbrueck said.

"I cringed," said Burgess, who supported Della in 2003. "What kind of leader had we just elected?"

Della counters that he worked effectively as vice chairman of the energy committee to lower electricity rates. "The proof is in the pudding," he said.

Burgess is also critical of Della's performance as parks committee chairman. Burgess points out that the parks commissioners resigned in protest this year after Della supported changing how board members are appointed.

"All the natural constituencies you would think would be supporting him as chair of the parks committee are endorsing me," such as environmental groups and parks advocates, Burgess said.

Washington Conservation Voters endorsed Burgess over Della in part because Della had not worked on renewing the Pro Parks Levy, which expires at the end of next year, said executive director Kurt Fritts. Mayor Greg Nickels is not seeking the levy's renewal.

Della said he wants to renew the parks levy and is waiting for a new master plan from the department. He said he is proud of his record on parks, especially stopping pesticide use in the parks and starting the recycling programs.

Della recently told radio station KUOW that Washington Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club endorsed Burgess, who is white, "because he looks like them. I'll be crass and say because he looks like them."

Della, who is Asian American, explained later that "the statement was made out of frustration. It was a broad, sweeping statement and I apologize." Washington Conservation Voters snubbed him in 2003, Della said, when they did not invite him to interview for an endorsement.

The group did meet with Della this year. Fritts, who started his job this year, does not know whether Della was invited to meet with the group in 2003.

Public-safety issues

With experience as a police officer, Burgess said he would want to work on public-safety issues. Although the council and mayor already plan to add 105 officers in the next five years, he says that is insufficient and considers the department understaffed by 220 officers.

The department already has had trouble filling positions, and Burgess said it's because salaries are too low.

"There will be fewer police officers at the end of this year than last year," Burgess said. "There will be fewer police officers at the end of this year than when I left the department at the end of 1978."

Della criticizes Burgess for not having a plan to pay for the extra officers. He wants to make sure "not only that we have enough police officers, but that we have public trust. That system has to be accountable."

He wants to make changes to police oversight and move the civilian director of internal investigations, who now reports to the police chief, outside of the Police Department.

The two candidates also differ on the how to reduce violence and noise at problem nightclubs. Della voted to require a license, while Burgess said the existing criminal code could be used to address the problems.

But the central theme of Della's campaign is that Burgess' politics are out of step with the city's Democratic voters.

"I've always been a progressive Democrat, been pro-woman, pro-choice, pro-gay-lesbian and pro-public education," Della said.

After a year of working with Concerned Women for America, Burgess said, he tried to get his business partner to drop the conservative Christian group. When Burgess failed to convince him, he said he started a program that allowed employees to choose not to work on the account. He said he opted out, and his partner, Richard Perry, confirmed that.

Anyway, Burgess said, "My clients are not running for City Council. I am."

Della said that even if Burgess didn't work on the account, he made money on it.

Burgess wrote in a 2005 op-ed for The Seattle Times about himself and other "faith-driven values voters" in Seattle: "We don't like abortion. We value the sacredness of marriage between a woman and man. ... We know that the law isn't a good mechanism to resolve these issues, but moral persuasion is."

Burgess now says that he believes "abortion should be legal, safe or rare."

He used to support only civil unions for same-sex couples but has changed his mind, and he has been endorsed by leaders in the gay and lesbian community. "As I talked to my gay and lesbian friends about that issue, I was persuaded that full marriage equality was a better solution."