Accusations fly through mailers in Seattle City Council race

In a Seattle City Council campaign getting more negative as Election Day nears, Tim Burgess and David Della each recently sent out mailers attacking each other.

One side of Della's mailer — which reads, "Burgess supports values Seattle has consistently rejected" — paints Burgess as a right-wing candidate.

Burgess' mailer, which describes his environmental leadership, devotes a corner to "David Della — failed leadership threatens our parks and environment."

The two candidates are running for Position 7 in the Nov. 6 election. Burgess and Della did not provide numbers on how many mailers have been sent.

Here are some of the claims included in the candidates' mailings and how accurate they are:

Della's claim: "Burgess took millions from the radical right." Burgess' ad agency, The Domain Group, worked for Concerned Women for America.

Burgess' ad agency did work from the mid-'90s until 2004 for Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian group that opposes abortion and gay marriage. Burgess said that, after the first year of the account, he tried unsuccessfully to persuade his business partner to drop the group.

Burgess started a program allowing employees to decline to work on the account. Burgess opted out. Burgess says it's false to say he made millions, but won't disclose how much he did make.

According to a tax filing, Concerned Women for America paid $328,479 to the Domain Group in 2003. The tax filings available for other years do not list The Domain Group.

Burgess says the 2003 amount is a gross-revenue number, and "My clients aren't running for office, I am." Burgess says he supports a woman's right to an abortion, as well as gay-marriage rights.

NARAL Pro-Choice Washington and a Seattle Gay News editor plan a joint news conference today to discuss Burgess' work for Concerned Women.

Burgess' claim: Della "failed to consider renewing critical funding for parks and open space — even though he knew it was in jeopardy."

The Pro Parks Levy expires at the end of 2008 and Mayor Greg Nickels does not intend to seek its renewal. Della says he plans to work on getting the levy renewed and is waiting for a master plan from the parks department.

Della's claim: "Burgess gave thousands to anti-choice candidates."

The mailer lists state Attorney General Rob McKenna, U.S. Sen. John McCain and a political-action committee that supported Republican U.S. Sens. Rick Santorum, George Allen and Conrad Burns.

Burgess donated $1,350 to McKenna's campaign, but says he did not know McKenna's position on abortion. In an October 2004 debate, McKenna said he would defend state laws protecting a woman's right to an abortion, even though he would not choose one if he were a woman. Burgess says he gave $1,000 to McCain's presidential campaign in 2000 to protest what he called the far right's accusation that McCain had a child outside of marriage, which turned out to be his adopted daughter from Bangladesh.

Burgess donated $1,000 to the Direct Marketing Association's political-action committee, which supports Democratic and Republican elected officials who endorse policies helping direct-marketing firms. The three senators mentioned in the mailer received donations from the group.

Burgess said he gave to the group because it was lobbying to keep postage rates low for nonprofits, which his ad agency specializes in serving.

Burgess' claim: "Della continues to oppose waterfront policies that would reduce Puget Sound pollution."

Burgess says he is referring to Della's support for rebuilding the Alaskan Way Viaduct as an elevated highway. Della previously supported the rebuild because it was more affordable, but now supports a surface replacement as long as it does not increase congestion.

Burgess supports a surface road with more transit.

Della's claim: "Burgess supports parts of the Bush Patriot Act, and he wrote that as a 'values voter' we don't like abortion and value the sacredness of marriage between a woman and a man."

According to a 2007 King County Democrats questionnaire, Burgess supports the provisions in the Patriot Act that allow for sharing of criminal intelligence among law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. That provision, he says, is also in the Democratic alternative to the Patriot Act.

He also said in the questionnaire he does not support provisions that reduce judicial review of search warrants or wiretaps, or parts of the act that weaken civil-liberties protections.

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." Again, Burgess says, he now supports a woman's right to an abortion and gay-marriage rights.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com