Below is a rather long commentary on the City Council race and the funding involved. Please comment or send your thoughts in by email if you wish.
From Alice W: Below is an essay Nick Licata distributed today. I think everyone who attended the candidates’ forum this week would enjoy. I was surprised that at that forum the questions did not include one asking how much money the Council has spent defending Sawant. The Googled answer to the question came back “$258,000 as yet.”
Subject: Urban Politics – Why Big $ is Pouring Into Seattle Council Elections
Seattle’s city council election this November has seen a record breaking amount of funds being spent by Independent Expenditure Committees (IEs).
Urban Politics – Seattle – October 25, 2019 by Nick Licata author of Becoming a Citizen Activist
Why Is So Much $ Being Poured
Into the Seattle Council Elections
This UP issue is also available to read on my blog
(http://www.becomingacitizenactivist.org/blog/) .
Seattle’s city council election this November has seen a record breaking amount of funds being spent by Independent Expenditure Committees (IEs). Amazon’s $1.5 million contribution to the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce IE called Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE) drew national attention, with both Presidential Candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders condemning it. But many folks don’t understand how Independent Expenditure Committees (IEs) influence our democratic process.
Normally candidates can receive no more than $500 from a single donor, person or business. If they take public funding through Seattle’s democracy voucher program, then that limit is $250. However, IEs have no limit on how much they can receive and disperse to support , or oppose a candidate, as long as that candidate does not have anything to do with the IE. Basically, wealth distorts a fair distribution of verifiable information to the voters. CASE and its allied IEs have mounted such attacks against candidates that are deemed to progressive.