I found the comment about Jean Godden amusing, in that one of the other candidates (there were three) is also a woman.

Amusingly, the 43rd used to have a 2/3 majority requirement for endorsements. It's only recently that it was dropped to 60 percent, with a 40 percent reconsideration threshold. The Reconsideration is mostly for races where people might want to dual endorse, but the problem is that candidates try to sabotage it, even to the point of filling out reconsideration ballots before the vote is up .... and at one point you could choose to ask for any combination of dual endorsements as a motion, which was pretty darned silly and kept us there until midnight sometimes.

Agree about the room.

I wish all news stories about such events were written like this. It gives the reader a real sense of what it was like to be there (the thermometer was a nice touch) as well as a much better understanding of the convoluted political process involved. Nicely done!

Linda Mitchell should get a clue. Lauren Briel is running against Jean Godden for that seat; and she (Lauren) is a woman, too.

Duh.

Good post, ECB.

Newsflash to 1 and 3: Lauren Briel is not going to make it out of the primary.

It's going to be a Godden v Szwaja face-off. Hence, Linda Mitchell's point makes perfect sense.

@3, @4 - yeah, but a lot of people were saying Lauren gave a much more convincing speech.

Well, Jean's going to win the seat so this race is pretty much a snooze, Lauren aside.

The Velazquez/Harrell race is more of a neck-n-neck race so that's what I'm interested in.

@5

Which is why Lauren got so many votes? Wait...

No one I talked to was convinced either way by anyone's speeches. No one ever is at these things. Everyone knows who they are going to vote for ahead of time. Briel is cute, and it's fun that she's running, but she is going to be lucky to get 5% of the vote. It is going to be Szwaja versus Godden, with the only question being how big Godden's margin of victory will be.

Also, I wish Erica would have commented on the massive amounts of grammatical errors in the piece that John Fox was handing out (every other sentence had a misspelled word, an incorrectly placed question mark, etc). Either he didn't graduate from college or a 14-yr old ghostwrote it for him. Szwaja teaches high-school, he probably should have proofread it.

Will @5: Yeah, Lauren's speech was OK. Too bad she doesn't have any money, experience or political sense. Get ready for another four years of Godden.

It's worth noting that Godden also didn't get the endorsement of the 36th District D's. At that meeting, the E-Board actually recommended no endorsement and let Joe speak to the audience. So when Godden didn't get the 43rd's endorsement last night, she expressed surprise to Ed Murray that she couldn't get it despite Joe being silenced. Then she started griping about what an outrage she thought it was that the 36th had even let him speak at all. I'm sure her supporters will put pressure on other Legislative Districts, if they haven't already, to keep Joe from speaking to them too.

#7: "Briel is cute, and it's fun that she's running,"

That sounds unnecessarily condescending. (Plus, Briel is almost six feet tall and could kick your butt.)

No one who has seriously run for office would characterize his or her run as "cute" and "fun"! Try it yourself and see.

Does Szwaja creep anyone other than me out?

Linda Mitchells's views on Jean Godden have certainly changed since the time she ran Judy Nicastro's campaign against Jean Godden four years ago.

I know my personal answer to your question Amy, as a friend of Joe's, no Joe does not "creep me out". I know Joe, his wife, his step-mom, and a lot of his former high-school students, and he has proven to be one of the kindest, most caring people I know. I often try to make up my mind about politicians by actually talking to them, meeting them, and then making up my mind. My bet is that you have not met Joe. Just a guess though...

As to who is going to win the race, who knows? If you look at the past few years of primary races, it's a toss-up if even Jean gets out of the primaries. Lauren Briel is learning the ropes, and Jean is not getting thunderous support from her base. So until some polls come out, it's all speculation. My bet is obviously on Joe.

Without strong Democratic support, and an August primary, it's going to be a sprint to the finish line, with the front runners trying hard to secure every last vote.

Our pathetic and senile Jean Godden is sadly up Paul Allen's ass. Linda Mitchell needs to get some...Responsibly holding public office certainly takes more than more than having a vagina...

As Erica reports, I introduced Jean Godden last night and advocated for her endorsement. What Erica chose not to report (guess that's not as good a story) is that while I did point out that there is a declining number of women serving on the Council, something I think is important to track, I also stated that I was there to support Jean based on her passion for this city and the people who live here and how that is reflected in the issues she advocates for on the council like leading the effort to retain funding for important services like community health clinics and keeping nurses in public schools.

Jean is right - Szwaja is not a Democrat. These are meetings held by Democrats to endorse Democrats. He's a Green Party candidate, the people that brought us George Bush. Why the hell do they let him speak?

Oh, oh oh oh, Mr. Well. When you say, "Well, Jean's going to win the seat so this race is pretty much a snooze, Lauren aside", don't be so quick to jump to judgment - I have a feeling that you will be surprised by the outcome of the election.

Joe is the real deal. I'm lucky enough to know the guy personally, and I have to say that I fervently believe that our Seattle will be much, much better off with him in that council seat instead of another term by the pleasant and perhaps even somewhat beholden Ms. Godden - of that much, I am certain.

"Does Szwaja creep anyone other than me out?" Oh, Amy, Amy Amy Amy. A number of Joe's students, some parents of students, and even his former principal are actively working to help him in this campaign. These are people that Joe has educated, these are people who have seen the positive effects that Joe has had on the lives of those that he's educated, and also past employers are supporting him in this effort to put a true dedicated figure on to our somewhat stolid city council.

It is pretty rare to have someone running for a city seat who is without a big-business agenda, someone who has a true interest in supporting a livable, progressive Seattle, and someone who honestly is a good person.

That's pretty rare, is it not?

Jean Godden is up Paul Allen's ass... Linda Mithell is a 1970's has been...

Gentry and Andrew,

Thanks for your comments - sorry to be flippant. Good luck with the campaign - it's far from over.

I agree that Szwaja would be a better alternative to Godden, but I just don't see it happening. Godden has been around Seattle way too long and has golden name recognition. Even if she's ineffectual as a council member, she'll need strong negatives (ala Stripper gate) to make her vulnerable.

these szwaja supporters crack me up.

gentry lange? trevor griffey? could you guys be more pathetic? i have an idea, why don't you time travel back to 1999 when anyone gave a shit about the green party. because nobody does anymore. so please, just get on with your lives.

and i love the talk of szwaja (the woman-beating, delinquent father) beating jean godden. are you seriously that high all the time, gentry, or just retarded? it's fine if you want to run a fun little "protest" campaign against the ultra-liberal jean godden (weird person to run a protest campaign against, i know), but please spare me the "we're going to win this" rhetoric. you sound like ralph nader. at least aaron dixon admitted he had no chance.

to recap:

jean godden is endorsed by every organizational body that has made an endorsement so far. just a few : kclc, wcv, seiu, wfcw, firefighters, machinists, women's political caucus, and unite here. plus a slew of progressive electeds like ed murray and peter steinbrueck. oh yea, also 4 out of the 6 demo districts. full list here: http://www.jeangodden.com/endorsements.php

joe on the other hand is endorsed by... drum roll please.. THE GREEN PARTY. and that's it. and a school board member.

woah! you must be right, gentry. joe is going to win in a landslide! just like you you beat ron sims!!!!!!!!!!

oh yea, there is also that domestic violence thing in joe's past and his inability to buy clothes that fit him.

so all you szwaja creepsters please go crawl back under your rock. if szwaja is the best the green party can offer you might as well just disband now.

Poster number #23 just all at once reminded me why I periodically want to disavow politics completely.

I don't know why you have such ax to grind, but man, if you're involved in the political process to ostensibly better the community or anything remotely selfless, you should start by acting like a better human being.

Oh dear, I should have written #21 in my last post.

#15: You (and presumably Erica) are right: The content of your post does not make as good a good story.

Plus, there's no need for sarcasm; your candidate is going to win, (despite a bit of Joe-mentum around here.)

Such nasty mud slinging over Joe suggests to me that he really does have a good chance to beat the doddering and foolish Jean Godden. Joe creepy?? That is just a sad attempt to discredit a good hearted and honest man with a ridiculous personal attack. And to bring up his domestic hassles from 20 years ago is pathetic. I would like to see anyone who drives a car in this town or any other large city who has not had "issues" with parking tickets ect. The man is principled, totally dedicated (who else would subject themselves to this kind of drubbing) and a bright and enthusiastic cantidate without "special interest" dragging him by the nose. He is just custom made for the council and those creepy folk who run him down are just that....creepy to the core! I will vote for Joe big time!!!!!

No special interests? What about labor? The environment? When has he taken a vote against either of these "special interests"?

That is somewhat rhetorical, as the term "special interests" is hard to define.

In response to 21, If you ever want to tell me I'm an idiot to my face, please post your name. And then we can meet up sometime. How about next week's drinking liberally?

But really, you won't even post your own name? What kind of chickenshit crap is that?

You can't even argue against what I actually said, so instead you have to make things up. You should have signed it "Gentry Lange is a fucking idiot, but I'm fucking a coward." Then at least it'd be kinda funny.

Regards,
Gentry Lange

@ 25

"Such nasty mud slinging over Joe suggests to me that he really does have a good chance to beat the doddering and foolish Jean Godden."

Kay, you might want to reread your first sentence. In it, you refer to "nasty mud slinging" about Joe and then 15 words later call Councilmember Jean Godden "doddering and foolish."

Thank you for exposing your blatant hypocrisy. And for showing the average quality of character of a Joe Szwaja supporter.

The nature of the blogosphere is interesting. At least in the world of professional journalism, journalists are on the hook to some degree for what they write about people, both the good and the bad. But as this thread clearly demonstrates, the mudslinging in the comments is anything but civil.

So how about entertaining for a moment the question of issues. Other than being Jean Godden, what has Jean Godden done on the council? I would posit that her accomplishments are lock-step with the mayor's and her campaign donors wish-lists. The biggest chunk of the pie being that vote on the Tunnel she happily endorsed and for which she voted.

Where's the substance of a campaign that can only attack the competition through the blogs? Where's the ideas? How progressive is it to in your post in support of Jean Godden to call me every slanderous label the Democratic Party machine ever threw at me during the entire 2005 election cycle?

I'll tell you why Jean Godden supporters are so vitriolic in their attacks on Joe Szwaja, because he's a threat.

Had I been running a campaign for King County Executive that had a snowballs chance in hell of winning, I would have been attacked just as blatantly. But I wasn't running a campaign that I ever said had a chance of winning, as my biggest fan on SLOG wrongly argued. I was in fact running an issue based campaign.

But Joe Szwaja is not me, and this is a race for a non-partisan city council seat. Joe is a great fundraiser, a former multiple-term city council member, and a much loved highschool teacher. He's won prizes for his human rights work, and directly changed the world through his actions throughout his life.

When we go out and meet people on the street, lots of people know Joe. And regardless, win loose or draw, I'll still be happy to have supported Joe Szwaja.

For I trust that Joe will stand up for progressive values, push for mass transit options, and when he signs a deal with developers for oh, say deals like the Alaska building... I'm confident he'll make sure it's in writing before he signs on.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2007-06-27/news/maids-and-millionaires.php

Gentry @ 27

Calling someone a coward for not posting their name on Slog is one of the most idiotic things I've heard. Anyone can put any name on here. It's anonymous, moron. I don't even know if you are actually Gentry Lange, but it doesn't matter because the real Gentry Lange is still a fucking idiot.

And if by asking me to "tell it to your face" you are threatening me in some way, I'm not surprised. That seems to be the MO of Szwaja and his supporters. I just hope there isn't a plate around for you to smash in my face or a 7-yr old child to witness the incident.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/318815_candidate07.html

And to answer your final request, although I do enjoy disparaging you on Slog, I have better things to do with my evenings than drink beers with a political has been (actually, a political never was). By the way, most of the people at DL are big-d Democrats. Progressives, hell yes, but still Democrats. You are all alone on your little Green Party island. Well, I guess Joe is there, too. And Dixon. Quite the distinguished crowd.

@ 29 Wow, Gentry. Your disingeniousness is so thick I can barely begin to cut through it.

Re: the Alaska building

A) Unite Here, the union that represents hotel workers, has ENDORSED JEAN GODDEN. not joe. so they obviously don't think she is in the hands of big hotel chain developers. i would trust them more than you.

B) richard conlin's office wrote the contract to sell the building. It was a mistake that a provision for housing wasn't explicitly included, but if you are going to throw stones, direct them at the right person.

C) the council was pissed when they found out the developer wanted a hotel instead of housing. and councilmember godden recently voted (in a 6 to 3 vote) to amend city law to bar the Alaska building's developer from expanding the building, which current hotel plans require it to do, unless it stays residential.

how all of this adds up to being in the pocket of big developers only makes sense to Gentry "i hate jean godden just because" Lange.

and FYI - 8 out of 9 councilmembers supported the tunnel option. so please call for the ouster of all 8 if that is what disqualifies jean.

Erica, your post demonstrates a remarkable degree of misunderstanding of the way the 43rd runs its endorsement process. In particular,

Under that system, it’s virtually impossible in races with three or more candidates to win full endorsement on the first go-round; however, it’s also unlikely that more than one candidate will top 40 percent. In the race for Godden’s seat, Godden beat 40 percent, but just barely, while the other three candidates split the remaining 60.

is just plain wrong. Members of the 43rd can vote for any number of the eligible candidates in a race. It is theoretically possible for all of the candidates in a race to receive 60% of the vote. Similarly, if no one receives 60% on the first ballot, the reconsideration ballot asks whether the members will endorse all candidates who got between 40% and 60% on the first ballot. If there's more than one candidate under reconsideration, that vote is for/against a joint endorsement ... it's an all-or-none deal.

It just happens that in this year's primary endorsement process no race ended up with more than one person in the 40-60% range. Other years have come out differently.

BTW, I am aware of at least one person whose "No endorsement" vote in the City Council #1 race had absolutely nothing to do with affection for (or interest in) Joe Szwaja. I'm a Democrat, so why in hell would I give a Green even a nanosecond of consideration?

No seriously, I get attacked all the time in the blogosphere. People feel they have some sort of right to anonymously slander you these days. I can disagree with people to their face, without getting violent or insulting. People know who I am, they know how I write, and they can be pretty confident that I'm writing this myself.

I'm serious though, there's a lot of people I disagree with that are willing to come out and call me an idiot to my face. Heck, I'll even buy you a beer.

The real question I have for you, Mr. Anonymous, is why you support Jean Godden? What's she done that makes you want to attack people from your computer at work... presumably on your company's nickel.

I know what Joe has done to gain my support. He's worked to help build schools in East Timor. He's passed landmark legislation to protect the GLBT community in Madison as a former councilmember. And a multitude of other reasons. He's been willing to fight for these causes even though his political opponents are willing to slander him in the most horrible ways possible, time and again.

So if you are going to anonymously slander a friend of mine in public forum, I will always stand up and publicly defend her or him. Anyone who would like can verify that it is or is not me posting by contacting me directly.

If Gentry Lange is your biggest supporter, you're a good bet to lose in the primary.

Godden should be sent back to her gossip column, and from the looks of it, she will be.

Nobody hates Greens more than "progressive Democrats" and poor Godden couldn't get the 36th and the 43rd to endorse her, in the face of a challenge by an unapologetic Green.

To support Jean Godden, of all the candidates that are out there ... you guys need to get out more.

Let me tell you a bit about Joe's special interests:

Joe is very concerned about climate change and doing what we can do locally to prevent this potential catastophe. He has a plan to reduce carbon emissisions starting at 4% per year, neighborhood by neighborhood, and continuing to reduce every consecutive year. It can help Seattle be more livable and sustainable and is an important tool in working towards the climate solutions we need to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Joe also wants to work to make sure that we enact and enforce tough laws to prevent the displacement of low and moderate income folks who are being pushed out by condo conversions and the demolition of our existing affordable housing stock.

Joe will take no donations from profit making corporations or their PACS, because he believes that their big money dollars contaminate our decison making process. In this manner, Joe has very different position from that of the incumbent. Jean Godden was elected, in large part, by claiming that she was outraged by the donations received by Judy Nicastro. She then proceeded to take large donations herself from Vulcan, NuCor steel and a whole host of downtown developers whose interests she repeatedly serves by providing them multi-million dollar tax give aways and zoning changes.

This isn't what I would call "ultra-liberal." Apparently, the members of the 36th and 43rd District Democrats agree that the incumbent's record is not one of progressive advocacy or accomplishment. That is why progressive Democratic activists voted to just say no to Jean Godden, even though she is a well funded incumbent from their own party.

At Joe's campaign the staff and volunteers don't engage in any personal attacks or personal remarks of any kind about Joe's opponents. We believe that this type of activity pollutes the waters of public discourse for all of us and can only serve to obscure important public issues.

Duncan Autrey
Volunteer Coordinator
Joe Szwaja for Seattle City Council

If Seattle elected its City Council differently, we might not be forced to make uninspiring choices like the ones we'll face in Council #1 and (in November) Council #7. I don't particularly like, and can't see myself actively backing, any of the candidates in those two races.

If we went to council-by-district, we'd probably get candidates more attuned to whichever portion of the city we live in. We'd also, I think, draw more candidates to such races -- it's well-nigh impossible to doorbell the entire city, but somewhat feasible to make significant inroads in one-ninth of Seattle.

Alternatively, if we're going to stay with the "at-large" model, let's do it right and put all of the candidates into a single pot. With five seats up, get the chance to cast five votes. That way, we aren't faced with the unhappy prospect of having to choose between, say, Della and Burgess (or, in the not-so-distant past, Jim Compton and John Manning). Frankly, I'd prefer to be able to vote for Velazquez, Harrell, and Runte instead of any of Godden, Szwaja, Sondheim, Briel, Della, and Burgess.

The anti-Green, anti-Joe smears on this blog don't change the fact that Jean Godden has been a stooge for Vulcan and other developers in Seattle and has very little to distinguish herself by in four years.

And attacks at Joe, a real progressive with a record on environmental, human rights and gay rights, doesn't change that Councilperson Godden's supporters don't have anything of substance to justify their continued support for her, especially when face with a more progressive option.

Because the only excuse I'm seeing is blind partisanship. Yes, she's a Democrat. But so are/were Joe Lieberman, George Wallace and Zell Miller.

Labels don't matter. What matters is values.

What matters is what you'll get on the Council after the election is over. And if you're a progressive, you'd want Joe on the Council.

It's time to jettison doctrinaire party labels and loyalty oaths and ask yourself which candidate best represents your values? Which candidate has the most experience? Which candidate is being championed by everyone that knows them in their professional, political and personal life?

The answer is Joe Szwaja. I hope that Seattle voters will disregard the shallow and vicious personal attacks from the Godden campaign and its supporters and look at the issues.

Because it's the issues that Councilperson Godden and her supporters seem desparately trying to avoid talking about.

@ 38

"It's time to jettison doctrinaire party labels and loyalty oaths and ask yourself which candidate best represents your values? Which candidate has the most experience? Which candidate is being championed by everyone that knows them in their professional, political and personal life?"

The answer is Jean Godden. Check out her endorsement list: http://www.jeangodden.com/endorsements.php
It's a whose who of progressives. Not a single organization, other than the Green Party, has endorsed Joe. I think that is pretty telling. Not a single elected official, other than Brita Butler-Wall, has endorsed Joe. Also very telling. The progressive community is behind Councilmember Godden. By all means let's talk issues. It's hard to get a word in edge-wise in between people saying that the Councilmember's head is "up the ass of Paul Allan." That's not exactly constructive dialogue.

Just a few of the reasons to support Jean Godden:

Award-winning reporter/ trail blazer
Editorials on low income housing, redlining, Dr. King

Newspaper Guild – Lifetime CWA member who walked the line
Now supported by King County Labor Council, Machinists, Unite Here, SEIU, UFCW, Teamsters, others

Only viable Democrat in the Race; endorsed by 11th, 34th, 37th, and 46th District Dems

Staunch environmentalist
First zero emission utlity; greenhouse gas offsets make us greenhouse gas neutral
Critical Areas Ordinance: wetland and stream buffers and pesticide bans
Does not support a new garbage transfer station. Not before we ban plastic bags and Styrofoam, zero waste to increase recycling
Viaduct, open up the waterfront, preserve capacity, more mass transit
Support RTID

Energy – City Light
Reduced rates by 8.4% (mayor wanted 4%)
Reduced long term debt by 15%
New Superintendent
Ensuring better response after storms like last year

Woman Activist
Endorsed by King County Women’s Political Caucus
Trained women to run for office in both Morocco and Jordan

Votes
Against four foot rule. Voters agreed even if Mayor and Council did not.
For car impound equity, not one that is discriminatory
Against the new licenses for Nightclubs, need to beef up noise enforcement
Supported raising developers’ fees to pay for low income housing
Saved the Bookmobile, extended library hours and bought more books
For RTID transportation measure this fall to expand mass transit
For taxing businesses more for the cars they are responsible for bringing downtown
Supported Bridging the Gap

PS - a huge FYI for all of the Szwaja supporters screaming that Jean is in the pocket of big developers...

Jean WAS NOT endorsed by the Alki Foundation (the political arm of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce). If Jean Godden is the darling of big downtown business, can one of you explain why she was the only incumbent NOT to receive their endorsement?

What it comes down to is that Jean Godden was too liberal for the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. They were pissed at her for imposing new head taxes and parking fees.

Please someone explain how the business community's political arm refusing to endorse Jean at all supports your claims that she is a wholly owned subsidiary of the of big business? It doesn't make sense because it isn't true.

No. 25: I have been impressed by Joe on the issues, but I think calling a domestic-violence charge that put his then-girlfriend in the hospital a "hassle" along the lines of a "parking ticket" is pretty despicable.

Let's not get caught up in endorsements. First off, any smart organization, barring something dramatic, is going to endorse the incumbent. They are most interested in viability, not ideology.

Secondly, endorsements, while somewhat helpful, are really only a small part of the picture here. You can have the most organizational endorsements and still lose badly.

Let's not get caught up in the fact that one candidate has many endorsements and the other has none.

Hmmm, looks like Joe actually has quite a few personal endorsements currently listed:

http://www.joeforcouncil.com/endorsements.html

Especially for a guy you say has "no endorsements". Hmm.

It appears that Godden supporters don't have anything they can say about what their candidate actually did for Seattle, other than collect a huge war chest from all the corporate special interests who we are supporting with our tax dollars and giveaways. Instead, they keep trying to drag up 17-year old charges (that were cleared). While they spin their tired negative line, Seattle is turning into a "nanny city,", and that nanny is Jean Godden. Time for a change.

@44, Well there's 67 votes for Joe right there, with the big name being a lame duck School Board member. Congratulations.

@45 Maxine, please check posts 39 and 40. You can also check out www.jeangodden.com to see all that Jean has done.

Yesterday Councilmember Godden was endorsed by the Teamsters and today by Allied Arts.

Also yesterday, the Councilmember was at a rally for UFCW 21 (who has also endorsed her) in support of their members at Safeway who are at the bargaining table.

Joe Szwaja apparently had other places to be.

The tragedy of a self-serving candidate like Joe is that he simply sucks volunteer hours and money into a race that is already over. Both he and Jean now have to raise more money, have their volunteers come out to events, etc. All of these resources could be used towards races where progressive in-roads are actually needed (like King County Prosecutor). Instead, Joe tilts at windmills while everyone around him shakes their heads wondering why on Earth he is challenging a progressive City Councilmember.

It is the same illogic behind running an Aaron Dixon for senate, or a Joe Szwaja for Congress in 2000. Direct your energy towards taking on the real bad guys... THE CONSERVATIVES. Sheesh.

#47, that's great.

If this race is already over, why does Jean's campaign have to break out their volunteers and spend more money at all? Why raise over $150,000 from a whole slew of business interests and shady PACs in the first place? If she's such a shoo-in, it'd just be smarter to ignore Joe.

The Godden campaign knows--and the recent Democratic District endorsement meetings show this--that once people know about Joe, they know he's a great person and a great candidate.

As for Jean's record... Let's see. Millions upon millions of deferred maintenance at Seattle City Light, outages twice as long.

A rate reduction of merely 7% ($36/year) for residential customers, while companies like Nucor Steel got unprecedented $4-5 million giveaways. (Of course, if you know anything about economics, you know rates were to go down for residents anyway after the Western power crisis/Enron manipulation, etc. ended.)

Seattle City Light having their emissions off-set? We're fortunate that 90% of power in this state and around the Pac NW comes from hydro--the highest the country. We don't live in the rest of the country which powers itself mostly with coal. I'd only be impressed if she did this in, say, Nebraska.

@ 48

I love how Szwaja supporters just make things up. But I guess when you have nothing to run on you have to fabricate issues.

For example, at a forum the other day Joe said that the SLU streetcar is only .75 miles long (it's actually a mile and a half, but hey, who cares about facts) and then claimed that it was going to cost us all of our bus hours in the area! This is simply an outrageous lie. No current bus hours will be affected at all. Perhaps he was referring to the fact that anticipated NEW bus hours in the area will be reduced by 30%, but this will be made up for by... you guessed it, the street-car.

As for your SCL comments. You are simply misinformed. When Jean took over the Energy Committee SCL was 80 in debt, due to the Enron crisis. This means rates were not going to come down at all, because the utility had so much debt to pay off. The mayor proposed zero rate decreases, but Jean fought to make sure that an 8.4% decrease was possible by overseeing efficient budgetary policies at City Light. Industrial sectors did get a bigger rate decrease, but that is because they had been given a bigger rate hike during the Enron crisis. Cuts were proportional to the former rate hikes.

Jean has reduced debt and rates at SCL, and will continue to work to make sure that we have the best energy utility in the country. The response time for the winter storm was on average for a storm of that magnitude, but Jean is currently overseeing a major overhaul of SCL strategies to ensure that SCL does even better in the future.

However, I'm sure a high school teacher from Nova has all of the economic policy expertise that you desire in a city council candidate.

Regardless, please get you facts straight before you attack and mischaracterize.

Issues aside for a moment, I have to correct comments made about Szwaja being a negligent father. I've known him for a long time and since the birth of his son his focus has been to care for him. He's worked multiple jobs doing whatever it took to support him financially and has been a wonderful father. His son Engel has written in his own words a response describing their close relationship. Szwaja is a great Dad and very close to his own family as well as his wife's family. People who know him are already aware of this-for those of you who have not met him yet this is the truth.

Issues aside for a moment, I have to correct comments made about Szwaja being a negligent father. I've known him for a long time and since the birth of his son his focus has been to care for him. He's worked multiple jobs doing whatever it took to support him financially and has been a wonderful father. His son Engel has written in his own words a response describing their close relationship. Szwaja is a great Dad and very close to his own family as well as his wife's family. People who know him are already aware of this-for those of you who have not met him yet this is the truth.

Issues aside for a moment, I have to correct comments made about Szwaja being a negligent father. I've known him for a long time and since the birth of his son his focus has been to care for him. He's worked multiple jobs doing whatever it took to support him financially and has been a wonderful father. His son Engel has written in his own words a response describing their close relationship. Szwaja is a great Dad and very close to his own family as well as his wife's family. People who know him are already aware of this-for those of you who have not met him yet this is the truth.

Issues aside for a moment, I have to correct comments made about Szwaja being a negligent father. I've known him for a long time and since the birth of his son his focus has been to care for him. He's worked multiple jobs doing whatever it took to support him financially and has been a wonderful father. His son Engel has written in his own words a response describing their close relationship. Szwaja is a great Dad and very close to his own family as well as his wife's family. People who know him are already aware of this-for those of you who have not met him yet this is the truth.

Issues aside for a moment, I have to correct comments made about Szwaja being a negligent father. I've known him for a long time and since the birth of his son his focus has been to care for him. He's worked multiple jobs doing whatever it took to support him financially and has been a wonderful father. His son Engel has written in his own words a response describing their close relationship. Szwaja is a great Dad and very close to his own family as well as his wife's family. People who know him are already aware of this-for those of you who have not met him yet this is the truth.

Issues aside for a moment, I have to correct comments made about Szwaja being a negligent father. I've known him for a long time and since the birth of his son his focus has been to care for him. He's worked multiple jobs doing whatever it took to support him financially and has been a wonderful father. His son Engel has written in his own words a response describing their close relationship. Szwaja is a great Dad and very close to his own family as well as his wife's family. People who know him are already aware of this-for those of you who have not met him yet this is the truth.

Issues aside for a moment, I have to correct comments made about Szwaja being a negligent father. I've known him for a long time and since the birth of his son his focus has been to care for him. He's worked multiple jobs doing whatever it took to support him financially and has been a wonderful father. His son Engel has written in his own words a response describing their close relationship. Szwaja is a great Dad and very close to his own family as well as his wife's family. People who know him are already aware of this-for those of you who have not met him yet this is the truth.

Issues aside for a moment, I have to correct comments made about Szwaja being a negligent father. I've known him for a long time and since the birth of his son his focus has been to care for him. He's worked multiple jobs doing whatever it took to support him financially and has been a wonderful father. His son Engel has written in his own words a response describing their close relationship. Szwaja is a great Dad and very close to his own family as well as his wife's family. People who know him are already aware of this-for those of you who have not met him yet this is the truth.

I stand correct on one matter... Admittedly, my memory is not perfect. I may have misquoted the 8.4%, not 7%, but is still only ~$36 a year for an average Seattle resident).

I stand by everything else. They are in the public record and in Seattle Times and P-I.

Did or did they (industrial and business firms) not receive rate cuts nearly double that of residential customers?

Did or did she (Jean) not voted to give a profitable company unprecedented (to quote Councilmembers Conlin and Licata), special breaks to the tune of $4-$5 million on electricity rates to Nucor Steel, a Godden campaign contributor and a company called the 14th most environmentally toxic in America by a study at UMass?)

Did or did they (power outage durations) not increase two fold for Seattle City Light, leaving many people powerless for weeks?

Is or is there not millions of dollars of deferred maintenance on Seattle City Light's infrastructure?

The facts are simple, clear and a matter of public record.

Additionally, the Mayor DID in fact propose a rate decrease of 6%.

Please do not be so arrogant to think you have a monopoly on the facts.

P.S. The SLU street car Jean voted for... it's over-budget. Where are they going to get the money now that the city's in a crunch?

@ 58 "Did or did they (industrial and business firms) not receive rate cuts nearly double that of residential customers?" I don't know the exact percentages. But yes, as I said before, the industrial sector received a larger rate cut because they received a larger rate hike originally. I do not see how you don't understand the fairness of this.

"Did or did she (Jean) not voted to give a profitable company unprecedented (to quote Councilmembers Conlin and Licata), special breaks to the tune of $4-$5 million on electricity rates to Nucor Steel, a Godden campaign contributor" She did not.

"and a company called the 14th most environmentally toxic in America by a study at UMass?" I believe that study, 5 yrs-old, did list Nucor as a big polluter. However, Nucor has plants throughout the country. The plant in Seattle pollutes very little and primarily recycles industrial materials to make rebar and other steel that helps keep the costs of construction low in Seattle. Also, Jean has accepted money from the Nucor employees PAC (275 employees making a living wage), not the company. Maybe Joe would like to see Nucor go out of business and all those people lose their jobs. Who knows.

"Did or did they (power outage durations) not increase two fold for Seattle City Light, leaving many people powerless for weeks?" They did not. This is completely inaccurate. The study just released, by an independent firm, said that City Light got power back on in the average amount of time for a storm of that magnitude. The longest anyone was without power was 9 days, and those were extreme cases. SCL is seriously reviewing and studying how it responded to the storm, and will do even better in the future.

"Is or is there not millions of dollars of deferred maintenance on Seattle City Light's infrastructure?" No. SCL operates under a budget. On the one hand you want massive rate cuts, on the other you claim that maintenance is being deferred. SCL is one of, if not, the best run energy utilities in the country. They do amazing work and we have some of the lowest energy rates in the country (even post-Enron). Maintenance, debt-reduction, and rate reductions are all parts of the budget and are all carefully considered.

"Additionally, the Mayor DID in fact propose a rate decrease of 6%."
He didn't. He proposed 0 initially, then 4.8, and then caved when Jean demanded 8.4
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003139172_citylight20m.html
Sorry to again have to correct you on the record.

P.S. The SLU street car Jean voted for... it's over-budget. Where are they going to get the money now that the city's in a crunch? You'd have to send me info on this. I was unaware that the street car (a street car that 7 out of 9 councilmembers voted for. But I guess they are all just shills for Paul Allan) was in jeopardy.

Mass transit is desperately needed in this town, and the SLC section is the seed for a streetcar network that will expand to Capitol Hill and the U District. Other cities have great functioning, efficient street-cars, so can Seattle.

Between you putting words into my mouth (e.g. Regardless of what Joe's position is, did I once state that I thought more rate cuts = better or worse?) and your dubious use of facts and citations, I've had enough.

I'm a busy person and you're clearly a wing-nut.

I have known Joe for a long time and I am appalled and saddened by the baseless accusations and name-calling in some of these blogs. Joe has been a loving father since the moment his son was born and has provided Engel devoted parental and financial support. He was never delinquent with child support -- the bills he got behind on were court costs as he tried to get more time with his beloved son. He has always been a staunch feminist and has fought for environmental, human and glbt rights. Those who don't know him should not believe the slander being spread -- and should remember that the incumbent ran a similar smear campaign against DeCastro in the last election. Please focus on the issues and stop making judgments about things you don't have the facts on. S/he who is without sin can cast the first stone...

@61 So when your baseless claims are refuted you suddenly become too busy for Slog and I become a wing-nut. Quite convenient. Ha! Also, Joe Szwaja supporters shouldn't throw the term "wing-nut" around too much. People who live in glass houses...

I hate Joe Szwaja. The 43rd District is stupid to not endorse Jean Godden. I hate Joe Szwaja. He's a wife beater.

@63

You are ignorant.

As a resident of Madison when Joe Szwaja served on the common council, I can say that these matters received less scrutiny then at the time than they are now. This is not to say that personal matters are off-limits with respect to showing how behavior and character are related. But from Joe's reputation at the time, his standing in that community and from the context of the events which are not going to be captured twenty years later through newspaper microfiche. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

Joe has people lined up in both Seattle and Madison who are willing to vouch for the person he is, the principles he holds and the integrity he embodies. Here's a clue: why don't you ask Joe about the "sanctuary vote" from around the time of the Gulf War and staring down mean, redneck ex-GI's who were p*ssed and looking like they were going to pull out guns in the middle of the council debate on the proposal? It was one of the bravest things I have ever witnessed in local politics.

When you have the Seattle Times endorsing Jean while calling a serious political activist and former city council member from another major American city as part of a "lackluster" group opposing her, yeah, you better believe that campaign is worried and called in a favor. And when the JG campaign has a political hack like Cathy Allen doing opposition research and campaign sleaze like Karl Rove, that is all you need to know about the candidate Jean Godden because you absolutely KNOW that they cannot win on the ISSUES.

By the way, when I was at a parade on Saturday in West Seattle, Jean made sure to make nice with a VW filled with real estate types -- her natural constituency. I wish I had my digital camera at the time as I would have posted the pic here. At least she recognizes who is paying her campaign bills.

I keep getting spam from Keith Scully. I don't know how he got my address. I've only ever given money to Kerry in 2004, so he must have bought some damned list. Oh yeah, and there's no 'remove' link. What a jerk.