Community Post

Elections! Do we want a CD Candidates Forum?

The filing deadline for this Fall’s election was Friday, and the Primary is on August 18th.  An article in the Seattle Times has lists of the candidates.  The legislature changed the date of the primary last year (used to be in September)  – it’s going to be awkward organizing a candidate forum during the Summer. The City Neighborhood Council is having a City Council Candidate Night on June 18th (flyer attached): you get to question the candidates one-on-one (if you and they turn up early) but not during the forum.

Question: do we want to organize a neighborhood-wide candidate forum sometime before the Primary? Let me know ([email protected] and/or via comments here) if you’re a) interested and/or b) willing to help organize it. Any thoughts on a joint CD/ Capitol Hill Candidate Night?

Local Interest:

School Board

Incumbent Mary Bass, who represents Central Seattle, has three challengers: Joanna Cullen, a self-employed writer and editor and 2001-03 president of the Seattle Council PTSA; Andre Helmstetter, co-owner of MezzaLuna Bistro and parent who protested the decision to close T.T. Minor Elementary; and Kay Smith-Blum, co-owner of Butch Blum clothing store and organizer of a large 2004 fundraiser for school music programs.

General Interest:

Mayor: 

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels seeks a third term, his challengers include a longtime City Council ally, a former Sonic, and a cellphone executive who has put $200,000 of his own money into the race.

Remember that the incumbent (Paul Schell) was eliminated in the 2001 Primary.

City Council: Two open seats (Drago and McIver retiring), Licata and Conlin running for “their” seats.

The candidates filing for Drago’s Position 4 were Sally Bagshaw, a former head of the King County prosecutor’s civil division; housing advocate David Bloom; Brian Carver, an Amazon.com manager and community organizer; Iraq war veteran Dorsol Plants; and Thomas Tobin. Renter Joshua Caple, who runs an adult day-health program, filed an insufficient filing-fee petition, according to the county.

Position 8, held by McIver, has six candidates: Seattle Department of Transportation employee Bobby Forch; tree activist David Miller; local Sierra Club chairman Mike O’Brien; landlord and three-time candidate Robert Rosencrantz; former city employee Jordan Royer, whose father, Charles Royer, is a former Seattle mayor; and musician Rusty Williams, whose late mother was a longtime City Council member.

(all excerpts from Seattle Times article)

0 thoughts on “Elections! Do we want a CD Candidates Forum?

  1. Does this mean you would not be considering the Licata or Conlin seats (incumbents and challengers)?

  2. Conlin has one challenger and so they go straight to the November election. There are so many candidates for the 2 open seats (11 in all) that I would rather spend the time at a Primary event listening to those, and listen to Conlin and Licata and their challengers in a General Election event.

    If/when you volunteer to organize the event, you may choose otherwise. Primary events I’ve run in the past have been so hurried that I’d rather try and trim the field a bit. (In all honesty, how often do challengers beat long-term respected incumbents in Seattle City Council elections? )

  3. Absolutely! I don’t have direct experience, but would be happy to help.
    My preference would be a Central District specific forum, but if that’s unlikely, a joint C Hill/CD meeting would be worth it as well.

  4. It’d be great to have CD/Capitol Hill Candidates Forum! I tend to think that all candidates (even the ones running against incumbents) should be included in the forum. Just because the seat isn’t be given up doesn’t mean it’s a giveaway for primary.

    [Full disclosure: I am a big supporter of Jessie Israel, who is challenging Licata for Position 6.]

  5. we discussed having an informal candidate meet and greet at the Central District Neighborhood Association (CDNA) BBQ scheduled for Sat, July 18.

    That said, I think having a broader forum would make a ton of sense. Maybe it could be sponsored by some businesses and the Central District Neighborhood Council as the latter really encompasses all of the sub neighborhoods in the CD.

  6. it’s just to hear the pols palaver. I’d prefer an un-censored Town Hall, moderated to the extent that it’s kept civil, where as many cit’s are able to ask questions as possible. But, not to just hear a bunch of campaign speeches.

  7. Ideas: Let people put questions in a hat and make them pull randomly. But only allow one question per person or people stack the decks.

    No more than 30 seconds of intro per candidate.

  8. This is Mike O’Brien, candidate for city council seat 8. Keep me posted if this is happening, and I’ll be there.