The Seattle Times: Politics Northwest

Pastor Joe Fuiten on Referendum 71: Told ya so

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:44:03 PST

Pastor Joe Fuiten, who publicly dissented with fellow religious conservatives over whether to try to get Referendum 71 on the ballot, has a few choice words to say about its defeat -- mostly along the lines of "I told you so," with a dose of sniping at the Reject 71 leaders.

In his regular "Frankly Fuiten" e-mail sent out this morning, he says the Reject 71 campaign failed because it didn't reach out beyond churches, didn't raise enough money, and leaders had no game plan.

"Maybe the main lesson to be learned from our loss is to question those who want to lead us into similar efforts in the future," Fuiten writes in the e-mail. "If you are going to claim to be the leader, you have to actually have a strategy for victory."

He takes aim at what he calls the Reject 71 leaders' spin that the campaign energized 200,000 conservative Christians statewide. "Personally, I wonder why those 200,000 didn't get financially behind the campagn we just finished. That mighty army gave about sixty cents per person to the campaign."

Focus on the Family and Family Policy Institute (of which, by the way, Fuiten is a board member), gave the most money to the effort, Fuiten says.

Fuiten also takes direct digs at his one-time ally Gary Randall, head of the Faith and Freedom organization and a leader in the Reject 71 campaign.

"Because of the lack of strategic planning on our side of the R-71 campaign, I called our side a 'leaderless army,'" Fuiten wrote in his e-mail. "Gary Randall objected to that. Maybe he was right. When you consider how little money was put into this effort by Randall's organization, maybe it should have been an armyless leader."

Furthermore, Fuiten wrote: "A great deal of effort went into claiming God's support. From the beginning, Randall claimed divine blessing and approval. ... Please pardon me for asking the obvious, did God change his mind or was the claim of divine blessing a bit overstated?"

Of course, Randall has gotten in his digs at Fuiten over the past few months as well, in his Faith and Freedom e-mails.

When Ref. 71 made the ballot, Randall wrote: "We were not dissuaded by those who referred to us as a 'leaderless army' predicting failure or those who had more money and attempted to keep R-71 off the ballot."

After the election, Randall wrote: "The relentless public attempt to undermine R-71 from within the faith community was not expected. We knew there would be those who would not support our efforts, but had no idea it would be taken to that level. We have learned from that experience."

How long will Seattle mayor's race drag out?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:30:08 PST

Update: Friday, 9:27 p.m. -- The Mallahan-McGinn contest seems to be just about over, except for the concession. No more vote counts due this weekend. So tune in Monday. (Oh, and I fixed the headline on this post.)

Original post follows:

While we wait for the latest results from King County, consider this rather irritating bit of historical perspective.

In 2001, we didn't know the winner of the Seattle mayor's race until nine days after election day, when then-City Attorney Mark Sidran finally conceded to Greg Nickels.

Though that outcome had seemed likely for days, Sidran held out for more than a week after election day in the hopes that late absentee ballots would trend his way. It didn't happen. He finally gave in when Nickels widened his lead to 2,726 votes. (Nickels eventually won by 3,158 votes.)

Right now, Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan are separated by just 462 votes. We'll see if that gap widens when King County Elections releases another big vote count in less than an hour.

County executive-elect Constantine names transition committee chairs

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:29:15 PST

State Sen. Fred Jarrett and affordable housing agency director Hyeok Kim will co-chair King County executive-elect Dow Constantine's transition committee.

Constantine announced those appointments moments before King County Elections released the latest vote count this afternoon, widening his already decisive margin over former TV news anchor Susan Hutchison.

Hutchison conceded her loss in a phone call to Constantine after the updated vote count, Constantine spokesman Sandeep Kaushik said.

Jarrett, a former mayor of Mercer Island, ran against Constantine in the eight-way primary for county executive. Jarrett said earlier today he had told Constantine he was "eager to help in any way that I can. It's really important that he can be successful."

Kim is executive director of Inter*Im Community Development Agency, a nonprofit organization that develops affordable housing in the Chinatown International District.

Constantine said he would announce the full transition committee by tomorrow. He said Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis, campaign consultant Christian Sinderman and members of Constantine's council staff will be part of the transition team.

Susan Hutchison concedes defeat in county executive race

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:44:03 PST

Susan Hutchison this afternoon conceded that her opponent, Dow Constantine, has won the King County executive election.

Hutchison, a former TV news anchor, congratulated Constantine in a written statement. "Because the new Executive has only a few weeks until taking office, I want him to be able to move forward quickly to accomplish an orderly transition," she said.

Hutchison acknowledged Constantine's victory after he widened his lead when 53,412 more votes were counted this afternoon. He had 57.5 percent of the votes, to her 42.3 percent.

"Although the outcome is not what we hoped for, it does not diminish my love of this county and its people," Hutchison said in her statement. "For nearly 29 years, I have chosen to live in King County and raise my family here. I will continue to serve this community as I have done and look forward to a bright future."

She said she had called Constantine, chairman of the Metropolitan King County Council, to congratulate him.

Read Hutchison's full statement after the jump.

Constantine taps Tim Ceis for transition team

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:59:03 PST

Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis will serve on King County executive-elect Dow Constantine's transition team, Constantine confirmed this afternoon.

Kurt Triplett, the appointed executive whom Constantine will succeed, said earlier that Ceis would be coordinating the team. Constantine said Ceis, who was once chief of staff to former County Executive Ron Sims, won't be chairing the transition team.

But Constantine said Ceis will help make staffing decisions for the new administration. "He's done several transitions before, as has Christian Sinderman," Constantine said.

Sinderman was a consultant in Constantine's successful campaign for executive. Constantine, chair of the County Council, defeated former TV news anchor Susan Hutchison Tuesday. He takes office after the election is certified on Nov. 24, less than three weeks from now.

Oops! Assessor's Web site names Lloyd Hara new assessor

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:22:04 PST

With partial returns from Election Day showing Lloyd Hara leading the race for King County assessor, a county employee accidentally updated the office's Web site at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, showing Hara as the new assessor.

On the Web site's home page, a message to the public ended with "Lloyd Hara, King County Assessor." Hara's name also appeared at the end of a message to visitors to the site's eSales Search page, which allows the public to view property sales data. And Hara was listed as the assessor on a form for businesses declaring personal property for tax purposes.

Here's a partial screen shot of that eSales Search page:

"I'm just shocked it even happened," said Interim Assessor Lynn Gering.

Hoang Nguyen, the office's IT director, was contrite about the error.

"We were just being proactive in figuring out where we needed to change things, and we accidentally pushed it out to the wrong server," Nguyen said.

The employee likely chose to use Hara's name because of his lead in the partial returns or name recognition, Nguyen said. Hara is a Port of Seattle commissioner and once served as King County's auditor.

The mistake was caught by staff at about 7 a.m. today and fixed, Nguyen said.

"We were just trying to make sure things went smoothly and we just made it worse," Nguyen said.

As of Tuesday night, Hara had about 34 percent of the vote. Behind him is Robert Rosenberger, a former appraiser for the assessor's office, with 29 percent. Elections officials, who still have thousands of ballots left to count, say results won't be certified until Nov. 24.

"We are not making any predictions," Gering said.

Thousands of King County voters apparently missed I-1033 on the ballot

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:54:03 PST

The early returns from King County on Tuesday night showed that, so far, about 22,000 fewer people voted on Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 than voted on Referendum 71.

Opponents of the measure said for weeks they were worried King County voters would have trouble finding the measure on the ballot. The initiative was placed underneath a large diagram, on the left side of the mail-in ballot, that showed people how to vote.

Matt Barreto, a political-science professor and director of the Washington Poll at the University of Washington, said last month he didn't think there would be much confusion. Now he's changing his mind.

"It appears to be the reason" for the drop-off in votes he said, adding that more analysis needs to be done.

Kim van Ekstrom, a spokesperson for King County Elections, said they're pretty sure placement was an issue.

"It's pretty clear to us that ballot placement definitely would have contributed to the degree of undervote that we've seen on it," she said. "We're going to work with what we've learned from this experience to do better on the next one."

Another factor, Barretto said, could be that the R-71 campaign was better organized than opponents of I-1033 and turned out people who just voted for the referendum and skipped Eyman's measure.

In this case, it didn't matter. I-1033 is losing by a large margin in King County and statewide. The initiative would have limited tax-revenue increases for state, city and county governments to the rate of inflation and population growth. Any money collected above the limit would have been used to reduce property taxes.

However, if R-71 had been in the spot where I-1033 appeared, the story could be different, Barretto said, because the R-71 contest is much closer and King County is offsetting the no vote elsewhere in the state.

The Washington Poll at UW is projecting R-71 will be approved by about a 52 to 48 percent vote statewide. The referendum expands the state's domestic-partnership law.

UW professor: Mallahan lost lead as undecideds broke for McGinn

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:41:02 PST

University of Washington Professor Matt Barreto defended a poll he published just before the Seattle mayoral election showing Mike McGinn trailing Joe Mallahan by seven points.

The candidates were separated in the batch of election returns Tuesday night by just 910 votes, with McGinn in the lead.

Barreto said he thinks his poll was right, and McGinn's last-minute gains are a testament to his get-out-the-vote effort. They also show undecided voters are breaking for McGinn, Barreto said.

His poll showed 19 percent of likely voters were undecided.
Barreto noted that the poll mirrored Tuesday's results in the King County executive's race almost exactly.

"We don't think that the poll was wrong at the time that it was taken," he said. "We think that some things happened in the last week of the election."

King County: up to 115,000 more votes to be counted today

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:11:21 PST

King County Elections spokesperson Megan Coppersmith says the county's 4:30 p.m. vote update this afternoon will include between 85,000 and 115,000 more ballots.

The new totals will be crucial to Seattle's tight mayoral race, with rivals Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan separated by a mere 910 votes.

Coppersmith said she's not sure how many of the votes counted today will be from Seattle.

But so far, Seattle has accounted for 35 percent of the votes cast in the county. So if there are 115,000 ballots counted today, 40,000 or so could be from the city.

Not sure that will be enough to decide the mayor's race, but if McGinn widens his lead, it could give us a pretty good idea.

Mallahan, McGinn both optimistic; McGinn's lead 'stunning,' Mallahan says

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:12:50 PST

UPDATE: At the Mallahan party at The Edgewater, the candidate continued to wear a smile and work the crowd in a small low-ceilinged ballroom tonight more than an hour after election-night results showed him trailing Mike McGinn.

Asked why he was behind despite a big fundraising advantage and prominent endorsements, Mallahan admitted he found it "stunning" that McGinn was leading.

"I don't want to sound like a victim, but the only thing I can surmise is all the negative messages about Joe Mallahan somehow resonated with people," Mallahan said.

UPDATE.: Speaking to a jubilant crowd of volunteers hugging, high-fiving and chanting "We like Mike," McGinn said the next few days would be tense as more votes are counted.

"We really defied the conventional wisdom," McGinn said. "The conventional wisdom was that the candidate with the most money, the candidate that has the longest list of endorsements, can win it."

"We constantly talked about the type of future we wanted for Seattle, and I think what it says is that Seattle and voters can look past the soundbites and rhetoric and can see past the amount of money thrown at them and just really evaluate the candidates."

At The Edgewater, Joe Mallahan was subdued but optimistic. He said he expected early votes to slightly favor McGinn — a trend that appeared during the primary — but sounded surprised he was behind.

"Seattle voters clearly like a close race and a recount," Mallahan said. "I'm still very optimistic."

Seattle City Councilmember Sally Clark hugged McGinn at his party and said, "You should be very careful or you could actually end up being mayor."

After McGinn spoke to his supporters, an unusual campaign tactic emerged. His campaign handed out pre-paid cellphones and lists of undecided voters to at least 20 volunteers, with instructions to call the voters to see if they had not yet voted.

If the voters had not yet cast ballots, they were asked to drop their ballots off at five QFC stores around Seattle where McGinn volunteers would be stationed. The McGinn volunteers would then take the ballots to a Sea-Tac post office that stays open until 11:45 p.m. — allowing the ballots to still be postmarked today.

"We had a plan," said volunteer Nate Cormier, standing outside the West Seattle Junction QFC, holding a blue McGinn sign and ballots from three voters.

"If it was close, we've got to mobilize."

UPDATE: Joe Mallahan just arrived at his party at The Edgewater Hotel on Seattle's waterfront.

The Seattle's mayoral race is too close to call, with environmentalist attorney Mike McGinn leading T-Mobile executive Mallahan in the first count of ballots released by King County tonight.

With 85,000 ballots counted, McGinn is currently up by 910 votes.

As McGinn came out to talk at his party at The War Room, supporters burst into huge cheers, hugged and high-fived chanted of "We like Mike."

If the results hold it would be an upset for McGinn, who was outspent by more than 3-to-1, opposed by the city’s biggest business and labor groups, and seemed to back down on his biggest campaign issue — opposition to the deep-bore tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct — two weeks ago.

King County Elections officials predict a 56 percent turnout. In Seattle, a total of 210,000 votes are expected.

Eyman: Voters said '1033 isn't the approach we want'

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:13:38 PST

UPDATE: At the Yes on 1033 party in Bellevue, Eyman wasn't ready to concede tonight, but he admitted that "the numbers aren't looking good."

"We are going to learn from the experience, and will do everything we can to make sure we make the next proposal takes care of the people who did not vote for 1033, we are going to listen to them," Eyman said. "It doesn't sound like as many people voted for it as we would have preferred. They said 1033 isn't the approach we want."

UPDATE: Gov. Chris Gregoire, in a statement, applauded voters' apparent rejection of Initiative 1033.

"Voters understood that this misguided proposal would have precluded our ability to recover from these extraordinarily difficult economic circumstances and would have made providing quality health care and education to our citizens virtually impossible.

"Although we still face a $1.7 billion shortfall that needs to be addressed in the coming legislative session, passage of this initiative would have made the problem in the short and long term significantly worse."

UPDATE: Tim Eyman’s latest initiative, aimed at controlling government spending and reducing taxes, appeared to be losing in early returns Tuesday.

Eyman wasn’t ready to concede. “We’ll see what happens,” he said.

Opponents were close to celebrating early Tuesday night. Scott Whiteaker, the No on 1033 spokesman said they’re optimistic about the preliminary returns, which showed the measure failing by a large margin. At 8:45 p.m., the measure was failing at a rate of 56 percent to 44 percent.

Matt Barreto, a University of Washington political-science professor tracking the results, said he thinks I-1033 is toast. The measure was trailing in a number of Eastern Washington counties and failing by a large margin in King County.

Initiative 1033 would limit revenue increases for state, city and county governments to the rate of inflation and population growth. Additional money collected above the limit would be used to reduce property taxes.

If it had been approved, the state projected the measure would divert more than $8 billion from state, city and county general funds into property-tax relief from 2011 to 2015.

Constantine declares victory, but Hutchison dances on

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:56:57 PST

UPDATE: Her party is almost over, and Hutchison is still chatting and laughing.

Told she couldn't quit her political career now, she joked, "I can't even run for dog catcher; they are getting rid of animal control."

With only about 10 people left, the cleaning crew began it's work. Hutchison then sipped from her drink and began to dance.

UPDATE:
As Susan Hutchison's party slowly winds down, supporters are enjoying the candidate as she moved like a bride through a wedding party -- getting her picture taken with supporters, thanking and hugging volunteers. Nobody seems in much of a hurry to leave, including the candidate, who seems relaxed, even serene, as she visits with friends.

"How do you turn this up?" said a Hutchison campaign worker, sliding up the volume control on the party music.

Dino Rossi, a veteran of two brutal defeats in his campaigns for governor, watched from afar, looking every bit the man who was glad he wasn't running for anything tonight. "I'm home for dinner every night," he said. "Better them than me," he said of the candidates.

Like many, he said the county's first non-partisan race for county executive doesn't seem to have gone down that way. "The usual suspects lined up on both sides," he said.

Later, as a dark techno tune began to play, one worker dove into the DJ's chair, declaring the music "too ominous!" It was replaced with the ever-bubbly "Celebrate" by KC and the Sunshine Band. A troupe of red-shirted King County Young Republicans got into the spirit of the song, hopping on stage for a group photo. "Party Right!" their shirts read on their fronts, as some bobbed in time to the tune. They were giving celebration a good try, victory or not.

UPDATE: Over at the Edgewater, Dow Constantine waded into a crowd, where Port of Seattle Commissioner Gael Tarleton congratulated him and said, "You worked your ass off." The candidate's response: "It's gone, completely."

UPDATE: Susan Hutchison says she's not conceding tonight in the race for King County executive -- even though her opponent was declaring victory.

Speaking to an applauding crowd Hutchison said, "We have days ahead to count votes. We still have a lot of excitement yet."

Told in an earlier interview that Dow Constantine had already declared victory, she looked startled and asked, "Is that right?"

She several times blamed "attack ads" taken out in the last weeks of the campaign, and "huge dumps of money coming in, for these false, misleading ads...The partisan issues that have nothing to do with this race were confusing to people."

She said she was confident waiting is the best course. "Things have changed historically in the last five days. It is just too early to tell."

UPDATE: Dow Constantine has taken the podium to declare victory and thank opponent Susan Hutchison.

"This election was about who was in the best position, about who was best suited to lead us forward and bring real reform to King County," he told supporters. "They had a clear choice, and they have spoken loud and clear tonight."

UPDATE 8:39 P.M.: Constantine appeared headed for victory with a lead of 57percent to 43 percent. Hutchison would have to see a remarkable reversal of those results to make a comeback.

Neither Constantine nor Hutchison were immediately available, but on his Twitter feed, Constantine appeared to claim victory: "Thank you! We won."

PREVIOUS STORY: Riding a late-breaking wave of liberal support, Dow Constantine posted a commanding lead over Susan Hutchison in Tuesday’s returns for the King County executive race.

The two candidates spent a record amount in the rancorous race with Constantine hammering at Hutchison, a former TV news anchor, as an inexperienced right-winger and Hutchison bashing Constantine, a Metropolitan King County Council member, as an entrenched politician who mismanaged the county.

Ballots have been cast, but jabbing continues in port races

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:16:57 PST

Vying for one of three open seats on the Port of Seattle Commission, biofuels salesman Rob Holland was exuberant tonight as he celebrated with supporters at the Westin in Seattle. Early returns showed him defeating commercial real-estate broker David Doud .

Small-business owner Tom Albro was winning against longshoreman and former state legislator Max Vekich.
"I’m absolutely excited and I think I’m going to keep going through the night," Holland said. "The way I see it the county has voted. I’m assuming some of the late voters are people who live in Seattle, and that’s good for us."

The election became unusually contentious at times for a nonpartisan race when Doud sent out negative advertising materials that revealed Holland’s home address.

Holland said the election result "shows voters aren't interested in the negative personal attacks. They're concerned anout jobs, health care and getting our region moving again."

Neither Vekich nor Doud were prepared to concede.

"I am optimistic that we are going to improve with later returns," Vekich said. "I'm very happy. We ran a very positive message and bring experience and accountabtily to the port.

"I think I scared the stauts-quo culture," said Vekich. "Hopefully it’s changed the way business and politics is done at the port."

Doud's campaign issued a statement, saying, "Tonight's results are substantially below the total expected returns and do not provide an adequate sample to determine the outcome."

"My campaign has been about improving our economy and providing continued reform at the Port of Seattle," Doud said in the statement. "I am confident that King County voters agree with those guiding principles and that late returns will allow us to be victorious in the final ballot count."

The race was fought on issues of reform, with all candidates vowing to make the Port more accountable after investigations over the past two years that uncovered waste and abuse. At the same time, the port is facing increasing competition and losing business to other ports around the world, including British Columbia.

The evening was a particularly happy one for Albro. He returned to Seattle this morning knowing his son, who was hospitalized Oct. 15 following a brain hemorrhage, was recovering. Albro had spent the last two weeks by his son's hospital bed in Los Angeles.

"He's doing well and his prognosis is improving," Albro said. "I’m just on cloud nine."

R-71 winning big in King County, slightly ahead statewide

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:31:02 PST

UPDATE: Despite the razor-thin margin, the mood at the Approve Ref. 71 party at Pravda on Capitol Hill was celebratory. Anne Levinson, chair of the campaign, had trouble being heard over a cheering crowd.

"At this point, we do have a count statewide. We're at 51 to 49," said Levinson. "There's a lot of ballot counting left to be done."

As the crowd quieted, she said, "I want to thank those who stood shoulder to shoulder with us to push back this kind of hatred. We stood up and we stood up strong."

At the Reject Ref. 71 party in Everett, campaign manager Larry Stickney said, "I don’t know what to make of it yet."

“We’re still in the hunt,” he said. “We’re far from conceding.”

Regardless of how the vote goes “it’s important what’s been accomplished here,” Stickney said, talking about the case the U.S. Supreme Court may take up on whether to release the signatures of R-71 petition signers.

In addition, “we’ve got a re-engaged community,” he said, talking about the conservative Christian political community. “We’ve had a deflated movement” previously, he said.

He said it’s too early to say what their next steps are.

Ref. 71 was passing in 10 of Washington's 39 counties, all of them in the Puget Sound area. It was passing 2-to-1 in King County.

At the Approve Ref. 71 campaign on Capitol Hill, Marie Rose, 55, and her partner, Laura, 45, smiled as they sat on a white cube couch with their arms around each other after the early returns. The couple, together for 10 years, were married last February in Canada. "I just walked through the room and I almost cried,'' Marie Rose said. "Everyone worked really hard. Everyone is just waiting for every percentage."

Several weeks ago, she attended a Protect Marriage rally in Lynnwood that left her shaken.

"I felt like a Jew in 1932 Germany,'' she said. She began to feel optimist, she said, when a passerby looked on disapprovingly at the rallygoers and remarked, "I never thought i'd ever see something like that in Lynnwood."

UPDATE: In an apparent victory for gay rights supporters, voters seemed to be approving Referendum 71, which expands the state's domestic partnership law.

The results, if they hold, would be a disappointment to religious conservatives, who had mounted an aggressive campaign against conferring additional benefits on committed gay couples and some senior couples.

Ref. 71 passed overwhelmingly in King County and was being voted up throughout the Puget Sound region. Voters in Eastern Washington, meanwhile, were rejecting the measure by wide margins — including in Spokane County.

In King County, yes votes were running 66 percent.

Early results statewide for Referendum 71 showed about 51 percent voting to approve the referendum, and nearly 49 percent voted to reject.

UPDATE: Pierce County numbers finally came in. The county, which is not vote-by-mail, was a bit slow to post, compared with the mail-in counties. But as of 9:09 p.m., R-71 was losing in Pierce County. Some 52 percent were voting to reject, and 48 percent were voting to approve.

Pierce County could be key to the measure's fate. The next batch of Pierce County results were expected around 10:30 p.m.

If you assume the roughly 50 percent statewide turnout predicted by the Secretary of State's office, there appear to be far more votes left to count in the counties that are approving Referendum 71 than in the counties that are opposing it.

Seattle schools: Celebration at Smith-Blum's Capitol Hill home

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:04:07 PST

About 70 people crowded into Kay Smith-Blum’s Capitol Hill home tonight, celebrating the clothing-store owner’s apparent victory over incumbent Mary Bass for the District 5 seat on the Seattle School Board.

Smith-Blum had received the most votes in the August primary, outpolling Bass and two other candidates, but said she was nonetheless stunned by results showing her with 64 percent of the early vote.

“We thought it would be a real tight race,” she said. “I’m just really hopeful that what this means is that people were listening and what I was talking about was really resonating – that what we need is tremendous change in the school system.”

Bass, her opponent, had been seeking her third four-year team for the District 5 seat, which represents the Central Area, Capitol Hill and downtown Seattle.

But Smith-Blum ran an energetic campaign, tossing out a bevy of proposals ranging from extended school days and citizenship courses to expanded arts, drama and music.

She said her non-traditional “green” campaign, conducted via Facebook and other Web avenues, proved that yard signs and citywide mailers aren’t necessary to win.

“We did eco-posters with Clear Channel that cost maybe a third of what citywide mailers cost,” she said. “… I think what we proved is that you can get the ear of the public with a grassroots effort, by showing up where you need to show and using new technology to reach out in a non-traditional way.”

In the other contested school-board race, Southeast Seattle community leader Betty Patu had an overwhelming lead over scientist Wilson Chin, with 68 percent of the early vote. The winner will replace Cheryl Chow, who didn’t seek re-election.

Seattle overwhelmingly passes affordable-housing levy

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:03 PST

At Capitol Hill’s Sole Repair, campaign workers were ecstatic over the success of Proposition 1, the city of Seattle affordable-housing levy that looked to be headed to easy victory with 63 percent of the vote.

“Everybody really got behind us this year,” said Anna Markee, Seattle outreach director for the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle-King County. “I think people in Seattle are compassionate and they understand how affordable housing benefits our entire community. And they understand that especially now, we need it more than ever.”

The seven-year, $145 million measure passed despite the ongoing economic crunch, making it the fifth affordable-housing levy in a row to be passed by Seattle voters.

Markee credited the Yes For Homes campaign, which sidestepped more expensive TV and radio ads in favor of old-fashioned door-belling and phone-banking, targeted mostly to a female voting bloc. "Our real strong supporters were frequently-voting older women," she said.

The levy will cost homeowners about $17 per $100,000 of assessed property value annually. That amounts to about $79 a year for an average Seattle home with an assessed value of at $460,000.

Most of the levy — about $104 million — will help build or save 1,670 apartment units, with more than half of those funds aimed at housing for renters those earning less than 30 percent of the city’s median annual income.

Other money would provide assistance to 550 renters annually, help fund 180 first-time home purchases and allow the city’s Office of Housing to buy land or buildings for future development.

The Yes for Homes campaign, with $333,000 in funding from a variety of low-income advocacy groups and financial institutions, faced no real opposition.

“We had an incredible field campaign,” Markee said. “It was this real quiet thing. We had little media coverage. We just kept working hard and making our phone calls.”

Hara leading in assessor race, but opponents not conceding

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:19:10 PST

Tuesday night's count showed Lloyd Hara, a Port of Seattle commissioner and former King County auditor, in the lead for county assessor, but neither of his rivals was giving up. County elections officials have counted less than half the ballots they estimate were cast in today's special election for assessor.

"We are enjoying this evening's returns with friends and supporters," Hara said in statement. "We are pleased with the current trend and look forward to the final results."

His two rivals for Assessor weren't calling it quits."I'm feeling good I was able to reach so many voters running against an entrenched politician," said Robert Rosenberger, who was a close second and celebrating at Southlake Grill in Seattle's South Lake Union district. "There's still a lot of votes out there that need to be counted, and I'm optimistic the later votes may break in a more favorable direction."

Graham Albertini, who was trailing in third, was watching television with supporters at Angelo's Restaurant in Bellevue. Rosenberger and Hara outspent Albertini by a long shot.

"I guess that shows money is what makes a difference in these elections," Albertini said. Still, with so many ballots not counted, things could change when the rest of the votes are counted, he said.

Last week The Seattle Times reported Hara had kept an attached rental in his Queen Anne home without a permit and hadn't disclosed the rental income in 2005 to a state agency when he ran for Port of Seattle commissioner. Hara acknowledged these lapses and apologized to his supporters.

Albertini said he was betting that the ballots cast this week would shrink Hara's lead. "A lot of people I met said they were going to vote differently" because of the lapses, Albertini said.

Hutchison: 'I had a gigantic learning curve'

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:37:08 PST

With the clock ticking toward first returns, the crowd of about 100 supporters at Susan Hutchison's party at the Bellevue Hyatt Regency exploded in applause as she entered.

Instead of sequestering herself before the returns, she mingled with supporters outside the entrance to the Grand Ballroom at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue, holding a dozen coral roses. Dressed in an immaculate white suit, a triple strand of pearls, and red high heels, she looked the winner of a beauty contest.

Hutchison said she didn't expect there would be a definitive answer tonight in her race for King County executive.

"It's been a volatile week with things hitting voters, the Boeing announcement and the increasing attack ads on me.
"I just think with the number of votes out it will be too close to call."

Asked about the campaign, she said "never expected the intensity" of the campaign. "It's much more like a (U.S.) Senate race. And the issues Dow (Constantine) brought up had nothing to do with being King County executive. I think in the mind of his party, they were thinking of a Senate race. It was a big surprise to me he didn't stick with the issues of the county ... he brought up the abortion issue over and over. He needed it to be partisan."

She said there were some things she would have "tweaked" in how she ran the campaign, as a first time candidate. "I had a gigantic learning curve, I've never run a campaign before. Those who have been through this before would have had a better instinct, especially at the beginning."

But she said she had no regrets. "I had several people tell me we ran a good and honorable campaign, and I believe we did."

Asked if she would run again if she lost, she answered, "I know the people of this county have been filled with hope by my candidacy. They yearn for a new direction. They want things to change, that is so satisfying, as a candidate, to know you inspired hope."

News from the parties: absent candidates, fried shrimp and six-inch heels

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:38:43 PST

The Edgewater is hopping, as party-goers bounced between the Joe Mallahan party and buffet of spring rolls and fried shrimp on the second floor, the No on 1033 party on the third, and Dow Constantine upstairs, in the biggest room. Mallahan is catching the returns at home in Wallingford, and arriving later, according to his campaign. He's missing a party that is gaining steam by the minute, with suits far outnumbering the jeans. ---- A few blocks up in Belltown, Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata, council candidate David Bloom, and Seattle City Attorney candidate Pete Holmes were late for their own party. The three held a joint election-night bash at the Seattle Glassblowing Studio from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. By 7:25, the three dozen or so supporters were starting to look at their watches and get on their cellphones. There was plenty of nibbles and drinks, but still no sign of the candidates. This reporter had to give up and cut out. Overheard on the way out: "How rude!" ----- There were great dance beats at the Approve 71 gathering at Pravda Studios as the party mood picks up and party-goer Chace Martin glides around the room in six-inch heels and a lime green mini skirt. Eat your heart out, Lady Gaga. Josh Castle, 25, volunteer event coordinator for the campaign, exuded positivity, noting that he'd never seen the gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender community so energized by an issue. "If what I've seen in the last month or so is any sign, I'm very confident this will be approved,'' said Castle, who also volunteered for the Obama campaign. "I've never seen this level of enthusiasm. It's wiped away any shred of apathy i've seen. They know their families and relationships are at stake. Campaign chair Anne Levenson taking the mike, and predicting a victory dance later.

Approve Ref. 71's talking points

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:19:09 PST

No ballots have been counted, but the Approve Ref. 71 campaign – the group seeking to uphold the state’s same-sex domestic partnership law – already have a handle on why they won. Or lost.

Already being circulated are what sound like talking points to be used in case the measure loses. The backgrounder, prepared by Pyramid Communications, noted that the election was “challenging to win” because of an off-election year, an anti-tax measure that attracted more conservative voters, dishonest opponents and supporters who thought the law was a shoo-in.

The backgrounder also cited the time and money supporters spent addressing the peripheral issue of whether Washington’s secretary of state should reveal the names of people who signed petitions to put the law to a public vote.

If the law is upheld and their campaign is successful, Approve Ref. 71 can claim credit for a strategy that targeted faith communities and minorities, civic groups, unions and large employers, including Microsoft, Boeing, Google and Starbucks, according to the backgrounder.

GENEVIEVE ALVAREZ

Approve Ref 71 party getting started.

Which poll will win Seattle mayor's race?

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:40:34 PST

One side question to be answered by Seattle mayoral election results: which of the two major public polls was more reliable?

In this corner, we have the Survey USA poll run by KING-TV, which found the race a dead heat between Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan. (That poll was released yesterday.) The Survey USA poll is done by automated software.

And in this corner, we have The Washington Poll, run by University of Washington political scientists. That poll, released last week, claimed Mallahan was ahead, with 44 percent support to McGinn's 36 percent. The poll uses live interviewers.

The McGinn camp criticized The Washington Poll when it came out last week, arguing the same poll had underestimated McGinn's strength before the August primary.

Matt Barreto, the UW political science professor who runs the poll, sent me an e-mail earlier today with his own critique of the Survey USA poll.

While Barreto said it could well be that later voters are breaking for McGinn, he said the Survey USA poll looks to be counting on too many young voters.

The poll has 25 percent of its responses coming from registered voters between 18 and 34. However, based on past experience, that age bracket will make up only 13 percent of the vote. Since younger voters favor McGinn, the poll may be overestimating his support.

"It could also very well be that McGinn has a huge turnout machine that will turn out the 18- to 34-year-old vote, in which case he surges, but this would be a first in an off-year election; younger voters tend to skip these local contests," Barreto said.

Media quarantine at Reject Ref. 71 party

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:20:22 PST

From Times reporter Janet Tu:

It’s a little lonely in the media room at the Holiday Inn in Everett, where the Reject Referendum 71 campaign is holding its election night party.

That’s because it’s down a long corridor from where the party is actually being held.

The party is by invitation only “because of ongoing harassment and intimidation efforts directed toward Reject R-71 supporters,” campaign manager Larry Stickney said in a news release.

Media are being placed in a separate room down the hall.

The "media room."

Stickney — wearing a suit and a red-white-and-blue tie — again emphasized his concern with harassment as he spoke to three private security guards at the door to the party tonight. The guards were checking that all who entered were wearing name tags.

People were still setting up, carrying large Reject 71 signs down the hall. Inside the party room (as seen from the door, which was later shut tight), local TV news was running on one large screen, and a children’s choir — dressed in white shirts with red vests — were singing “God Bless America.”

Stickney said his concern with media mingling with party-goers is that people’s names will get into the news and they could be subject to harassment. He says one woman who was at a Reject 71 rally and was featured in the news ended up with her name on a Web site run by someone not supportive of their effort.

Check out our "sketch-terviews"

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:41:24 PST

With no voters at the polls — and no polls — our own Seattle Sketcher took to the streets today to talk with voters (and non-voters) about how they cast their mail-in ballots. Check out Gabriel Campanario's "sketch-terviews."

Election night parties

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:42:10 PST

We're going to try to keep this blog humming tonight with feeds, tweets, etc. from reporters, photographers and videographers out tonight. For journalists, covering election parties can be like crashing a rowdy Christmas party (for the winners), or it can be as fun as a car wreck (at losing campaigns, if they blame media coverage for the loss). That should keep the night lively, even if voters seem underwhelmed so far.

Here's a rundown of the parties:

Joe Mallahan, Dow Constantine and the No on 1033 campaigns are going to be at the Edgewater Hotel.

Mike McGinn is at the War Room on Capitol Hill.

Susan Hutchison and the Yes on 1033 campaign are at the Bellevue Hyatt Regency.

Approve Ref. 71 is at Pravda, 1406 10th Ave., on Capitol Hill.

Reject Ref. 71 is at the Everett Holiday Inn.

Ex-GOP chief: We need more money in local politics!

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:11:04 PST

Political expert Chris Vance dismisses the notion, voiced by King County Elections, that Seattle-area voters will mail in a surge of ballots today, boosting the sluggish turnout that's been trending toward only 50 percent.

"I think turnout's going to be terrible. There's nothing on the ballot that excites them. They don't know who to vote for," he said Monday. The county still clings to its forecast of 56 percent turnout in the all-mail election.

In part because of campaign-spending limits, even the top-ticket candidates cannot buy enough ads to make an impression, argues Vance, a former state Republican Party chairman, King County councilman, and state legislator, now a public-affairs consultant.

Also, there are few issues that would motivate big special-interest donors in the county executive race between Dow Constantine and Susan Hutchison, he said. Vance wrote eloquently this summer in Crosscut about the county's waning influence. Generational land-use and light-rail decisions have now been decided, leaving jails, buses, sewers, and public health as the core duties.

"People like to say 'There's too much money in politics, I hate all those ads,' " he said. "The truth is, those ads are what inform people."

Money flowed into last year's governor's race, when more than $44 million was spent by incumbent Democrat Chris Gregoire, GOP challenger Dino Rossi, and independent groups lined up on either side. By comparison, county-executive candidate Constantine collected $1.1 million and Susan Hutchison $709,216, and after adding independent groups the total is still only $2.4 million. To buy ads on the mass-market TV and radio newscasts, Vance points out, a King County (or Seattle mayor) candidate has to pay rates based on the entire Western Washington market.

"There's not enough money to motivate voters who are casual voters. I hope all the reformers are happy," he said.

KING-TV poll: Seattle mayor's race a dead heat

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:36:10 PST

A new KING-TV poll by the robo-polling firm Survey USA finds Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan all knotted up in the Seattle mayor's race.

The poll has Mallahan with 45 percent to McGinn's 43 percent. With 12 percent undecided and a 4.1 percent margin of error, that means the outcome is totally up in the air, according to the poll.

That's a different story than the poll released last week by University of Washington researchers. That poll of 400 likely voters over a two-week period found Mallahan surging ahead of McGinn.

The results of the only poll that matters will come tomorrow after 8 p.m., when the county reveals election results. If the race is as close as the KING poll suggests, we may not know the winner until much later in the week as later arriving ballots are tallied.

Seattle mayoral candidates talk about police-officer shooting

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:11:03 PST

Even before Mayor Greg Nickels had released a statement about Saturday night's shooting of a Seattle police officer, mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan had e-mailed a statement to the press.

"I was deeply saddened to learn last night of the murder of a Seattle police officer near the corner of 29th Avenue and East Yesler Way.
This horrific and senseless act of violence rips at the heart of every citizen, family, and community in our city. All acts of violence should be condemned, but this random, gruesome act of violence against the very people who fight so hard to stop it is particularly shocking.

"My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the officer killed, the officer who was wounded, and to the men and women and extended family of the Seattle Police Department. We mourn for every victim of violence in our city, and we especially mourn when we lose one of our first responders, all of whom have dedicated their lives to protecting us."

Mike McGinn, in several public appearances including an on-air KUOW debate with Mallahan this morning, has spoken about the shooting, as well. He was hesitant, on the radio today, to comment about the mayor's role after the shooting.

"I think as a candidate, my job is to be supportive of the work that's being done by the police and the mayor and the community in this case, and not to second-guess it," he said.

When asked this morning, he e-mailed me this brief statement:

I join with all of Seattle in mourning a fallen hero. We offer our thoughts and prayers to Officer Timothy Brenton's wife and two children, his extended family, his colleagues and his friends.

I know that the Seattle Police Department is doing everything in its power to ensure that the person responsible for this cowardly act will be swiftly brought to justice.

Constantine leads Hutchison in new KING-5 poll

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:54:02 PST

A new KING-5 poll out today says Dow Constantine has erased Susan Hutchison's earlier lead and gained a 10-percentage point lead in the race for King County executive.

The poll of 614 likely voters and voters who have already mailed in their ballots showed Constantine ahead with 53 percent, while Hutchison trailed with 43.

A KING-5 poll conducted three weeks earlier had Hutchison leading by 5 percentage points. The latest sampling was done Friday and Saturday by SurveyUSA.

Constantine is chairman of the Metropolitan King County Council. Hutchison, a former TV news anchor, is executive director of the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences.

KING posted the poll results on its Web site, then pulled the story because it wasn't scheduled to be posted until 5 p.m., the station's newsroom reported.

Ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday or put in a 24-hour ballot drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday.