Local Election Ahoy
DIRECTOR OF ELECTIONS:
I like Zach Hudgins' ideas about reaching out to voters-to-be to get them prepped for voting when they turn 18, but I'm a bigger fan of Julie Wise's promises to reinforce some of our aging voting equipment and improve auditing of our votes. While Hudgins has some nice left-wing endorsements, Wise has bipartisan support, which is good for a director of elections. The third candidate, Christopher Roberts, really failed to stand out in any way. I'm going with Wise.
PORT OF SEATTLE
For position 2, Courtney Gregoire, the incumbent, has made some missteps, but she's also done some good work already. Alternatively, Goodspaceguy is a bit of a kook, and John Naubert didn't bother to even participate in some of the voters' guides.
For position 5, there were 9 people running. Darrel Bryan sounded like he was mostly interested in supporting big businesses; Norman Sigler wants to look at what happened to the Duwamish river cleanup project and figure out just what happened (and is pushing for transparency in the port); Marion Yoshino is pushing for more land development; Mark Hennon is interested in exposing seedy underbellies of the businesses there (and comes off sounding juuuust a little kooky); Daniel Reandeau seems knowledgeable, but seems half-asleep in his speech on the voter's guide and didn't really SAY anything; Richard Pope didn't take part in a voter's guide; Fred Felleman is an environmental scientist who seems to know what he's talking about in terms of both jobs and the environment; Herb Krohn didn't take part either; and Ken Rogers managed talk for several minutes but to say absolutely NOTHING in his voter's guide. So, in short, while I liked Sigler, I'm going to vote Felleman.
CITY OF SEATTLE COUNCIL
Position 2 (South Seattle): Josh Farris is a Green party member and Iraq War vet who works with the homeless and is trying to shake things up in the council (which I think is needed). Tammy Morales has some fairly generic, if good, ideas, though they lack any specifics ("Restore faith in our police department" -- okay, yes, good... but how?) Bruce Harrell is the incumbent, and he's... very much a politician, and hasn't been great on the council. Honestly, there aren't any GREAT choices here, but I'm gonna vote Farris, just because we really could use more of a shake-up in the Council.
Position 8 (all of Seattle): It's the campaign of Johns! John Roderick seems friendly, but has no real experience. Jon Grant is focused on affordable housing, which is really desperately needed, and has strong ties to tenant organizations. John Persack recognizes problems here, but I don't see a lot of solutions from him yet. And Tim Burgess is the incumbent and the current president of the council, and he's been awful. I'm going with Jon Grant.
Position 9 (also all of Seattle): Bill Bradburd wants to "take back" Seattle, but I'm always wary of that phrase. Who are we taking it back from? (In this case, the city council, who, yes, haven't been great, but still.) Lorena Gonzalez is a civil rights attorney who has tried to fight for police reform in Seattle, and fought for the increased minimum wage. Omari Tahir-Garrett rambled all over his topics, and while he had some good points, they sort of showed up in random points in a meandering stew of comments. Thomas Tobin is a conservative arguing for less government. Alex Tsimerman was difficult to understand -- English was not his primary language, and he spoke it broken and heavily accented -- and he seemed to be complaining about how the council sucks money from people, and how we need to restore freedom of speech in Seattle. Alon Bassok wants to invest in transportation, and I was alright with his ideas... but then he said he wanted to build a new arena and bring back the Sonics. I'm less interested in that. So I'm going Lorena Gonzalez.
I like Zach Hudgins' ideas about reaching out to voters-to-be to get them prepped for voting when they turn 18, but I'm a bigger fan of Julie Wise's promises to reinforce some of our aging voting equipment and improve auditing of our votes. While Hudgins has some nice left-wing endorsements, Wise has bipartisan support, which is good for a director of elections. The third candidate, Christopher Roberts, really failed to stand out in any way. I'm going with Wise.
PORT OF SEATTLE
For position 2, Courtney Gregoire, the incumbent, has made some missteps, but she's also done some good work already. Alternatively, Goodspaceguy is a bit of a kook, and John Naubert didn't bother to even participate in some of the voters' guides.
For position 5, there were 9 people running. Darrel Bryan sounded like he was mostly interested in supporting big businesses; Norman Sigler wants to look at what happened to the Duwamish river cleanup project and figure out just what happened (and is pushing for transparency in the port); Marion Yoshino is pushing for more land development; Mark Hennon is interested in exposing seedy underbellies of the businesses there (and comes off sounding juuuust a little kooky); Daniel Reandeau seems knowledgeable, but seems half-asleep in his speech on the voter's guide and didn't really SAY anything; Richard Pope didn't take part in a voter's guide; Fred Felleman is an environmental scientist who seems to know what he's talking about in terms of both jobs and the environment; Herb Krohn didn't take part either; and Ken Rogers managed talk for several minutes but to say absolutely NOTHING in his voter's guide. So, in short, while I liked Sigler, I'm going to vote Felleman.
CITY OF SEATTLE COUNCIL
Position 2 (South Seattle): Josh Farris is a Green party member and Iraq War vet who works with the homeless and is trying to shake things up in the council (which I think is needed). Tammy Morales has some fairly generic, if good, ideas, though they lack any specifics ("Restore faith in our police department" -- okay, yes, good... but how?) Bruce Harrell is the incumbent, and he's... very much a politician, and hasn't been great on the council. Honestly, there aren't any GREAT choices here, but I'm gonna vote Farris, just because we really could use more of a shake-up in the Council.
Position 8 (all of Seattle): It's the campaign of Johns! John Roderick seems friendly, but has no real experience. Jon Grant is focused on affordable housing, which is really desperately needed, and has strong ties to tenant organizations. John Persack recognizes problems here, but I don't see a lot of solutions from him yet. And Tim Burgess is the incumbent and the current president of the council, and he's been awful. I'm going with Jon Grant.
Position 9 (also all of Seattle): Bill Bradburd wants to "take back" Seattle, but I'm always wary of that phrase. Who are we taking it back from? (In this case, the city council, who, yes, haven't been great, but still.) Lorena Gonzalez is a civil rights attorney who has tried to fight for police reform in Seattle, and fought for the increased minimum wage. Omari Tahir-Garrett rambled all over his topics, and while he had some good points, they sort of showed up in random points in a meandering stew of comments. Thomas Tobin is a conservative arguing for less government. Alex Tsimerman was difficult to understand -- English was not his primary language, and he spoke it broken and heavily accented -- and he seemed to be complaining about how the council sucks money from people, and how we need to restore freedom of speech in Seattle. Alon Bassok wants to invest in transportation, and I was alright with his ideas... but then he said he wanted to build a new arena and bring back the Sonics. I'm less interested in that. So I'm going Lorena Gonzalez.