By Knute Berger from Crosscut

For more than a century, the eternal conflict in Seattle politics has been a power struggle between the business community and the left. The Potlatch Riots of 1913, the General Strike of 1919, the labor unrest on the waterfront in the ‘30s, the Civil Rights era in the ‘60s and even the confrontations over globalism and free trade during the WTO protests of 1999  have all reflected the ongoing wrestling match. In one corner: the chamber of commerce; in the other: the socialists and labor of one flavor or another.

And the match continues with the current Seattle City Council elections. Business groups are pouring funds into district races in hopes of electing a more business-friendly city council. Amazon alone has dumped nearly $1.5 million into this election cycle via the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee, an unprecedented financial outpouring. The battle lines are largely defined by downtown business-endorsed candidates and the so-called far left city council incumbents.