City Sally Clark Update
Sally Clark, incumbent of less than five months in Seattle City Council position 9 (Jim Compton’s former seat) has raised nearly $30,000 toward her reelection campaign so far, and three June events (including fundraisers sponsored by 43rd District Rep. Ed Murray, City Council members Jan Drago and Richard Conlin, and local powerhouse consultant Christian Sinderman) are not yet reflected in Clark’s fundraising totals. (Her birthday party/fundraiser will be sponsored in part by one of the contenders for the appointment that ultimately went to Clark, Columbia City activist/realtor Darryl Smith.)
What political observers are starting to wonder is: How come no one is running against Clark? With less than a year under her belt, you might expect her to be the most politically vulnerable member of the council. (Regular council elections, in which Clark will also have to participate if she’s reelected, are in 2007.) However, none of the candidates who sought appointment to Compton’s seat earlier this year have expressed an interest publicly in running, and many of the top few contenders, all of them minority women, are widely viewed as stronger candidates for appointment than election. Clark has also shown herself to be a thoughtful, hardworking council member with a disarming sense of humor and an ability to ask tough, smart questions. Unless someone steps up with a strong record in local politics, money, and powerful friends on the council or elsewhere, Clark may have the council’s safest seat.
Sally is one of the best council members Seattle has seen in along time. It would take a fool to run against someone who not only has the experience Sally has, but the real vision for where Seattle should be headed.