Slog - Comments on Abortion, the PATRIOT Act, and Your City Council http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c The King County Democrats have posted this year's candidate questionnaires on their web site, and along with the usual unanimous answers to the Dems' yes/no questions (yes, everyone supports gay rights; no, they don't want to ban abortion) are a few intriguing caveats (places on the questionnaire where a candidate's "yes" or "no" is "qualified.") The written answers are usually pretty useless, but they, too, offer a few insights. Now, clearly, questions about things like abortion rights and the Davis-Bacon Act aren't really directly relevant to city politics. However, where a candidate stands on issues like abortion can make a... Copyright 2008 Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:00:21 -0800 Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:25:50 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by SeMe Bruce Harrill is down with the Patriot act? Put a fork in him.

]]> SeMe http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749754 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749754 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:05:24 -0800 Comment by Giffy I would have to agree with Harrill. The PATRIOT act is not all bad. Sharing intelligence is a good thing, so is the stuff about modernizing the way government works.

]]> Giffy http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749813 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749813 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:38:49 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle True dat, SeMe.

But the funny thing is I'm pretty sure a lot of candidates who were against Surface/Transit (and actively or behind the scenes worked to kill it) are now suddenly for it ...

My.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749814 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749814 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:39:02 -0800 Comment by LG Port Commission candidate Gael Tarleton also gave a qualified answer to the Patriot Act...

]]> LG http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749836 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749836 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:48:04 -0800 Comment by Fnarf The correct answer to that question is "The Patriot Act doesn't have anything to do with running the City of Seattle, and I'm not going to answer any more questions from YOU, nitwit. Next?"

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749840 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749840 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:50:45 -0800 Comment by Giffy But Fnarf, how else will they pass meaningless resolutions.

]]> Giffy http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749843 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749843 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:53:02 -0800 Comment by mike "[Harrelll] would work to improve the lives of the economically disadvantaged, Harrell suggests that it’s mostly a matter of improving their self-esteem"


so he's saying no, it's a good thing to have poor people that can barely afford to eat - shit, if they would only appreciate being poor, then it wouldn't really matter...

is dicktard a republican in sheep's clothing or just an asshole?

someone needs to kneecap that mother fucker, and check his self esteem into the boards.

]]> mike http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749866 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749866 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:10:31 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle @5 - um, did you read the prior post, Fnarf? Gael's running for Port. Not city.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749873 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749873 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:17:29 -0800 Comment by apigrrl Speaking of the PATRIOT act, anyone catch Harrell at the Hate Free Zone forum last night? He almost started screaming when asked if he supported Nick Licata's proposal to reconfirm police and fire chiefs. I was scurred. His response, accompanied by a lot of hand gestures, finger pointing to his brain, and bulging biceps, was, "In case you didn't know, we have an affordable housing crisis, people. I want the council to muscle up and focus on big vision ideas, not this kind of thing. This will get handled." If the "put your head in the sand" strategy doesn't particularly reassure you, you can get a good night's sleep knowing that he and Gil are best buds. As he said, "I have lunch with Chief Gerlikowski."

]]> apigrrl http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749885 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749885 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:36:29 -0800 Comment by whatever Open to surface/transit now... ahhhh the Council voted for the stupid tunnel as 1st choice and nothing as their backup position and in the meantime the Gov is building the ends of a new viaduct - but what I'm dying to know is what the candidates say about that other disaster waiting to happen - the seawall. Haven't heard a gribble stir since the vote. Whazzup?

]]> whatever http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749893 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749893 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:06:05 -0800 Comment by Scorekeeper Viaduct, 520 and this roads'n'transit deal are 3 big issues but hard to find out where our city council candidates and incumbents stand!

One council member told me before the viaduct vote it would be illegal for him to tell me his stand!

So today....what exactly are the candidates' positions on all 3?

Saw one current challenger who said more indecision on viaduct is good, hiring mediator for 520 is good and he didn't know whether he favored 4 lanes or 6, and he never got around to roads'n' ttransit (guess package hadn't been put together yet).

Stranger: can you make a scorecard? Maybe with a helpful "undecided" line as a catchall residual category (incl. undecided, "we need more process," refuse to say, "prefer mediator to tell me what to do").

]]> Scorekeeper http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749900 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749900 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:19:12 -0800 Comment by watcher That Harrell is a screamer...does it a lot. Almost as annoying as referring to himself in the 3rd person.

]]> watcher http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749922 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749922 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:06:07 -0800 Comment by watcher Giffy @2 - it's Burgess who thinks sharing intelligence is a good thing, not Harrell. Suspect it's about which of the two of them have any to share.

]]> watcher http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749925 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749925 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 19:08:36 -0800 Comment by SDA in SEA The Patriot Act does have some seriously fucked up provisions, and I suspect even violates the Constitution in a number of ways. Having said that, it isn't 100% bad. The notion of doing more to protect ports, modernizing communications between different parts of law enforcement, things like that.

So I don't have a problem with a "qualified no" answer. It actually gives some indication that the candidate has given more thorough thought to it. It is a vast complex Act. Simply saying fuck it and tossing it out entirely is a knee jerk reaction. I'd be just as happy if they removed the more egregious gestapo aspects, and left the milder helpful aspects alone.

That said, I agree with Fnarf. Who the hell cares what city council members think of a Federal program which they have no say in? How about asking them stuff about, oh, maybe city government.

]]> SDA in SEA http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749999 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c749999 City Fri, 22 Jun 2007 22:35:20 -0800 Comment by TJ This is surprising?
This is a guy who's running, with part of his platform to make Seattle Public Schools better, but in his personal life opts out and sends his kids to perhaps the most expensive private schools around!
And he likes to talk about his discrimination lawsuit against Boeing that he won. But he doesn't say that once he won for the plaintiffs, and Boeing and he (and the other attorneys) reached a settlement, that the judge threw out the planned settlement because the attorney's share was "too excessive." When was the last time you heard a judge toss out a class-action settlement because attorney fees were too high?

]]> TJ http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c750460 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c750460 City Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:26:31 -0800 Comment by mebip hzpnjctl ykfrl ljcgkzrvy wjeqsxi gwandfvs zdpx bnrqo abnzfwe

]]> mebip hzpnjctl http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c751182 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c751182 City Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:02:24 -0800 Comment by mebip hzpnjctl ykfrl ljcgkzrvy wjeqsxi gwandfvs zdpx bnrqo abnzfwe

]]> mebip hzpnjctl http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c751212 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c751212 City Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:05:10 -0800 Comment by mebip hzpnjctl ykfrl ljcgkzrvy wjeqsxi gwandfvs zdpx bnrqo abnzfwe

]]> mebip hzpnjctl http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c751227 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c751227 City Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:07:22 -0800 Comment by mebip hzpnjctl ykfrl ljcgkzrvy wjeqsxi gwandfvs zdpx bnrqo abnzfwe

]]> mebip hzpnjctl http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c751242 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c751242 City Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:09:56 -0800 Comment by 43rd Voter @ 4.

I don't think you're correct on Gael. Here's her King Co Questionnaire:

http://www.kcdems.net/temp/Candidates2007/questionnaires/gael1.pdf

She says NO on the question on the Patriot Act.

]]> 43rd Voter http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c754256 http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/abortion_the_patriot_act_and_your_city_c#c754256 City Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:25:50 -0800