Totally with this. I cannot vote for Tim no matter what my quibbles with Della may be.

Wow. So it's not just the nuts at the Stranger that have an issue with this CWfA stuff. It's also the nuts at NARAL. Good to know.

shocking... I suppose Mr. Grossman is having a field day with this

Mr. Grossman will get a winner's bonus to go with his field day come November.

Nobody get's rich working for City Council races. :-)

I'll run a write-in campaign. I'm pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, will personally tear down the viaduct with my bare hands if it comes to that, and I'm annoying enough to give all of your least favorite councilmembers a serious headache. And I'm not David Della. Vote for tsm!

In addition to the CWfA stuff...what I find telling is that there's not a lot of "leftist" organizations on his list of clients, so far as I can tell. In fact, if one had to put together a paper trail of Mr. Burgess' work for left causes, one would be hard-pressed to do so. For example, I scanned the PDC reports for his previous contributions to candidates, and before this past year, found nothing that would indicate that he supported democrats.

That, and my inability to read his 2004 Op-ed with a view other than he voted for Bush, I can't fathom voting for him as a member of the Seattle City Council. There are plenty of business-friendly and tough-on-crime but true democrats that could run for office in this town; we don't need to elect republican "values voters" just yet.

“I personally am going to have a very hard time not jumping across the table and slapping him.”

Ah.

The Feminist “mind” at work…

Oh yes, that would be very effective, NARAL--slap the bitch. He actually is willing to talk with you. What an affront! Not only that, but his policy positions closely align with yours! The nerve! Unconscionable that someone might admit mistakes, evolve, listen, change, ask for your support. How dare he?

@#4 I wonder if Mr. Grossman will be splitting that bonus with anyone at the Stranger?

Again... I really cannot believe how frickin' stupid this is. This hatchet job is pretty much journalistic fraud, and the discussion that you are fostering here is akin to asking people to base their vote for dogcatcher on whether or not a candidate has a pet turtle.

If Burgess were running for governor or state senator or representative or president, then this starts becoming an issue. But the only thing that this witchhunt on Burgess proves is that the politics of The Stranger simply amount to cutting off your nose to say "fuck you" to your face. Compare Della and Burgess on the issues that they would actually be voting on, and then you tell me who you prefer.

How many times has this issue been in the paper and/or the slog?

Man, the way we're burning through this finite resource, this internet, with these posts! We're going to use all the internets up!

I think everyone's missing the real story here: The Stranger cut the columns by 150 words? Not only that, but made them well-nigh unreadable by using small column widths, a sans serif font, and unjustified text?

Who was the redesigner? How much did they get paid? Are they now setting Petraeus's report for the GPO? I mean, really - I pick up the Stranger to read the Stranger. You have great columnists. Why you do them like that?

I want to express my support for The Stranger's wise choice here. An excellent cut.

Seriously, Dan, just because there is bandwidth, don't feel obligated to fill it with these endless rants. The slog used to be a great destination, there used to be a nice variety of content here, but now that it's evolving into the Erica, Josh & Dan No Spin Zone, it's so tedious.

I'll check back in a week or so to see if you guys are still pissed off.

Large-print, eh? Your target market must be old. Thanks for thinking of the folks in the Springfield Retirement Home.

Della is a slimy idiot.

The Stranger: Fair and Balanced.

Today on Slog... 10 posts by Dan, Erica, Josh combined. 27 posts total. Thank you for counting.

Good to see the Burgess shills/trolls still here pitching their shit ...

Good grief, enough is enough ... for the truly brain dead Burgess folk ... the NAARL endorsement is the slap of death to Burgess.

NO, NO, NO person can be elected in this city with an anti endorsement from NAARAL.

Burgess should throw in the towel and go atone at some convent for a few years. He CANNOT win. Seattle is a bastion of Pro Choice and has expressed that over and over going back for 30 years.

And that support cross all races, jobs, and class - from shop keeper, raging lesbian feminist to the attorneys and corporate women - we are pro choice in Seattle.

Kiss it goodbye Tim, go atone.

And to the male chauvinist pigs here at Slog - fuck off and die.

Love ya, Erica.

@11 Who cares about CWfA? Sure why don't we vote the fucking KKK into office while we are at it? This guy is way beyond anti-gay marriage. I don't know what is more disgusting Tim Burgess trying to be seen as the progressive candidate or people on here saying his issues are not real issues. This puke is far more dangerous than Rev. Phelps for obvious reasons.

yawn...

the stranger is going to give their kiss of death endorsement to burgess. this is just their attempt to flex their minuscule political muscle before they kiss and make up with tim. i mean, christ, this is the same "paper" that endorsed john manning after he was arrested twice for domestic violence while in office! it's not like women's rights are a stickler for this crew.

and the reason they will endorse burgess? because as much as they hate the cWfa, they hate david della more. and why? because he treats them like they are: politically irrelevant.

he will get reelected without ever talking to the stranger. and i'm sure that drives josh and erica and dan apeshit.

First of all, Karla, it's NARAL Pro Choice America. www.wanaral.com

Second of all, BMA, (and yes, AGAIN), I don't care if you're running for TURTLE catcher, your position on CHOICE matters.

Third of all, Entertain Us and others, what do you all think you're reading here, the New York Times? It's the SLOG and they/we can talk about this issue and other mundane things till the cows come home. It's a BLOG. Get over yourselves.

Let's review what's been said and what the facts are. Since Burgess mentioned, artlessly no doubt, to Erica that he was chagrined that the Della campaign, lacking any substance on its own, was making Tim's CWofA boner a big campaign issue, and Erica started exploring the issue in print and online (fairly, by the way), the following allegations have been leveled and come to be the accepted truth among many commenters here on the Slog:

Allegation: Burgess is a Republican
Fact: Burgess is a Democrat, and has always said so. Ask him about environmental issues, renters' rights, the Viaduct, Nickels nightlife licenses, all-ages music, and bicycle lanes, for starters.

Allegation: Burgess is a Bush supporter.
Fact: Burgess loathes Bush and everything he and Karl Rove et al "stand for" and, while Burgess refuses on principle ("what's he hiding?!") to confess whom he voted for in 2004, he obviously voted for Kerry. Obvious, if you listen to him, that is.

Allegation: Burgess is a homophobe and opposed to marriage equality.
Fact: read his website--he is for "full marrriage equality." Is Della?

Allegation: Burgess is "pro-life."
Fact: Burgess is pro-choice.

Allegation @11: "this puke is far more dangerous than Rev. Phelps for obvious reasons."
Fact: thanks for revealing your commitment to fair discourse.

fixo - can't be fixed.

Your choices follow you as an adult. Burgess took blood money from the most horrific right wing effort in America. He helped design their hate mailers.

As to Karl Rove, I bet dollars to donuts the two have talked. CWA is a Rovian front. Rove and Phylis are buddy buddy, and I bet Burgess and Rove consulted. Becha. Common sense as to how the right wing operates, often very orchestrated group by group.

Fixo - fix that too.

Fixo - Can't fix that.

Voters will.

So Tim Burgess is like Seattle's own Lex Luthor?

It did always seem like an unlikely coincidence that he wasn't anywhere inside the twin towers when they came down. And if he's not involved with the Masons, then why doesn't he just say so?

But that's fuckin' awesome. I mean it. An actual super-villain on the Seattle city council! Imagine how he could break up the gridlock! If he has built an underwater lair somewhere -- and who can prove he hasn't? -- then he probably knows a thing or two about how to fix the viaduct.

The main bad part will be if he has to drink the blood of infants to maintain his earthly form, but you know, politics is compromise, right?

@25 Karla Karla Karla. Have we met? Thanks for the relevant riffing on my screen name. Super-funny!

CWA is a Rovian front, eh? Do you know who Phyllis Schlafly is? She has been doing this crap since Karl Rove was in college. She's old enough to be his mother. An older mother.

You say: "Common sense as to how the right wing operates, often very orchestrated group by group." I say: good thing for you elections aren't decided based on command of the language by candidates' supporters.

You say: "Your choices follow you as an adult."
I say: I agree. So does Tim Burgess. He obviously would make a different choice today about Concerned Women. He admits it was a mistake, he recoils at their policies and their hatred. He is sorry, and has said so. So, what are you saying--"too bad, asshole, you're through? I don't care if you're right on the issues, smart, energetic, honest, effective. You fucked up. You're through. From now on, I will vote only for people who are mistake-free. I will only vote for ciphers"?

You work for the Della campaign. Becha [sic].

@26. Thanks elenchos. You said it better.

Not saying who you voted for for President is weird and suspicious.

Usually candidates are able to say they endorsed, volunteered, organized AND voted for Democratic presidential candidates - not this mysterious shroud of secrecy that Tim Burgess invokes as to his prior presidential votes.

Silence = ??

this secrecy as to "on principle" is TOTAL CRAP. He won't say who he voted for because he LIKELY voted for Bush and knows this would KILL his chances electorally.

So the invocation of high-minded privacy is a ruse, likely not even true nor sincere and certainly it is out of the ordinary and unexpected.

(Oh, maybe he didn't vote at all....
I think you can find that out....)

Dan, how about a word count of posts by you and Erica and Josh, compared to a word count of everything else on here?

Actually, #12, #17, and ECB...
A lot of things changed in the recent redesign, but: The point size of our print is exactly the same as it's always been, the columns have always been sans serif and unjustified, and the difference in some of the columns is, at most, about 100 words. Depending upon which words you use, of course. (Word counts are a pretty inaccurate way to measure how much space a story takes up.) Also, the widths of our columns have not changed at all. So there you go.

to Fixo - No, I do not work for Dave Della, but as an Asian extract business woman, I voted for David once, and will now vote for him again.

By the way, an Asian on the council is also appealing to me and many other voters in this Asian rim city.

At this time I will max out my contributions to the Della campaign, perhaps host a house party for him, and actively try to push Mr. Burgess back under his rock.

Fixo - you bet on the wrong horse. Looks like a working group of Asian and GLBT communities and pro choice women has formed -money, numbers and now, it seems, renewed purpose to stop Mr. Burgess.

Fixo - wrong tide, beware empty nets.

Gimme a break.

Does Burgess have to strangle a kitten in public for you to believe that maybe he isn't the most appriopriate choice for Seattle progressives?

Big donations to Republicans. Quack.

Op-ed filled with Republican code touting "values." Quack quack.

Concerned Women for America. QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK.

The thing I admire most in Tim Burgess is how much he seems to irritate some very narrow minded Seattlites. I would like him to win just to demonstrate you don't have to march in lockstep with people who live by the same Manichean code as their mirror-image conservative enemies. Guilt by association and innuendo is shameful, and it would be nice to see that kind of lowlife thinking defeated.

Plus, if this Rove-Burgess-bin Laden conspiracy is as big as they say it is (and nobody has proven that it isn't!) then that would mean Burgess probably knows who really killed JFK. If we're nice to him, maybe he'll tell us.

#34: I do think we need some political diversity around here, but Burgess isn't just guilty by association. He profited handsomely from and actively helped market to the mainstream a hate group. During one of the most politically dark times in our century. For almost a decade!

It would be one thing if he had some conservative views or some conservative friends. Or that he said something stupid at a function. BFD. I don't think we'd be having this conversation. This is a whole 'nother ballpark.

Seriously... this is one of the more stupid feuds you and The Stranger have gotten into, Erica.

So, you think NARAL's endorsement is news, but...

You haven't bothered to investigate why the Municipal League rates Burgess "Outstanding" and Della only "Pretty Good."

Why he's endorsed by those crazy right wing groups like the Sierra Club, Cascade Bicycle Club, and Conservation Voters.

And there's the Fire Fighters Union and Seattle Police Guild.

Plus two of the largest District Democrat groups in the City.

Plus prominent leaders in the LGBT community.

So, what you're saying, Erica, Dan, and Josh, is that dozens and dozens of dozens of well-respected, mostly progressive folks have just been completely hoodwinked by a Right-Wing, Bush-loving, wolf in sheep's clothing?

Above - Seattle is full of nice people, and yes, he hood winked them.

JUST to set thing straight. Ed Murray has endorsed Della. I am not sure why you think some other voice is more serving of the whole GLBT community, but I'll take Ed Murray's political leadership for the GLBT community any day.

The rest, just grandstanding wannabes ...

Why did the Police Guild endorse ... that bastion of entrenched progressive politics .. HE IS AN EX COP ... as they say so openly, "one of us."

Note, the 37th was not fooled by Burgess. The NARAL voice trumps all the Greenies who are always for sale, not at all interested in civil rights.

I like Della, voted for him once and now will support him again.

Burgess need to really retire under a rock somewhere, as previously noted.

No, Burgess does not need to "retire under a rock somewhere". What he needs to do, if his change of views on social issues is sincere, is to show it by giving his money and time to progressive organizations - the ones fighting against right-wing groups like CFwA - for some time. Then come back to us and we'll have good reason to believe in his "change of heart".

Starters - 2 million to NARAL.

I think under the rock is a fitting metaphor for re thinking his political game for the long term.

With the spiders, worms, all the interesting crawlies that live in the fecund under rock environment. Conservation voters would agree, as would the Sierra Clique.

Yes... Yes, indeed. Of course the Sierra Club is in on it too. Why wouldn't they be? Those greedy green sellouts have been controlled by the Police Guild ever since the Bay of Pigs fisaco. And what could be more anti-womyn than their transparently phallocentric love of trees?

There's only one way out this for you now, Mr. Burgess. You must pay us a ransom... of... ONE... MILLION... DOLLARS!

Mickymse @ 36:

Well, we know that *you* were hoodwinked.

Puh-leeze, elenchos. Do you invariably take politicians at their word when their words on the campaign trail don't match their actions? Should we have taken Bush at his word when he said he'd be a "compassionate conservative"? Let Burgess put his money - and any other resources he has - where his mouth is, and he'll gain some credibility.

@41: Remind me again what Della has done for us during his time on City Council?

But the issues are really beside the point, aren't they? Which is really what my point is.

I'd like to see debates on Slog, and reporting in the paper, about which of these candidates would make a better Council member, and who has better ideas on the issues, and whether or not we think Della has a good record to run on as the incumbent.

Instead we're wasting time over where one of the candidates gave money to and who he voted for in the Presidential race, and whether or not we can believe him when he says what issues he now supports.

Do you invariably take politicians at their word when their words on the campaign trail don't match their actions?

Either way, how would that make these wild accusations against Tim Burgess any less funny? They're saying he conspired with Karl Rove to corrupt the Sierra Club and the proof of that is that he's got the endorsement of the Police Guild? They're using apocalyptic language to turn a vague can't-we-all-just-get-along editorial into Mein Kampf. This stuff is priceless.

Here's a free one for you: "Clean air? Clean water? Isn't that just another way of saying pro-life?"

Zing!

Our large-print, pretty-picture-enhanced redesign has slashed about 150 words from my column

Well then, if you cut out all the excessive, repetitive prepositions, parenthetical statements and editorializing from your writing, then maybe you'll have enough space to report the news.

Cool.

Most of the Burgess endorsements came before his ties with CWA were exposed by the mighty Slog. Let's see how many he endorsements he picks up from now until the election.

@47

Evergreen Democratic Club endorsed Tim today, 9/12.

I believe that many of the endorsing groups knew about the CWA work, with some of them questioning Tim about it, at the time of endorsement. This topic hasn't been a secret--Erica's recent reporting just gave it new legs. Correct me if I am wrong about this, Erica.

I understand Ms. Cooper's but probably not super smart to express it to a reporter. Let's also remember that Ms. Cooper ran the first very successful campaign to defeat the antigay initiatives in Washington State back in 1993-1994. She had to deal face to face with those horrible fundraising letters that were penned by Mr. Burgess and his crew at Domain that went directly to heinous supporters of the pro discrimination efforts. When you deal with hate calls and threats from the members of CWfA on a daily basis you might have a tendency to take these things a little personally. She obviously feels very passionately about these issues and I can certainly understand her indignation.

My understanding of the NARAL endorsement process is that several board members sit in and interview the candidates. They have a PAC Board that actually manages the entire endorsement process. Ms. Cooper does not have some kind of uber authority on this, instead it is an actual process with many of the board members sitting in, asking questions and allowing the candidates ample opportunity to communicate their beliefs as well as demonstrate their advocacy on issues surrounding the right to choose, sex education, and all of the other important issues that NARAL takes on. Then, the whole committee votes on the endorsement.

Personally I give thousands of dollars a year to NARAL. It is probably about 75% of all of the contributions that I make annually. I could not imagine them endorsing Tim Burgess. No way! I am not saying that he cannot be educated and evolve in his thinking, but I think he has a lot to prove on gay rights and a woman’s right to choose. Just saying you support these issues suddenly, now that you are running for office in Seattle, just comes across as opportunistic.

If Tim could have pointed to some history of advocacy or support on these issues then he might have had a bit more credibility with voters like me who believe it is important to have pro choice, pro gay local elected officials.

@37--Ed Murray also endorsed Bob Edwards, the republican running for port commissioner (the same Republican who ran for congress against Jim McDermott).

Im voting for Burgess!