Less than three months before City Attorney Tom Carr seeks reelection, he is cracking down on, of all things, a tiny loft gallery. I write about it this week:

faire_gallery_by_jseattle.jpg
  • JSeattle on Flickr
Earlier this year, Elisheba Drayton applied to upgrade the alcohol license for the Faire Gallery Cafe on Capitol Hill from serving only beer and wine to serving hard liquor. "I was hoping to be able to sell spirits to make more revenue, like most people in this economy," she says while sitting in the unassuming little venue, surrounded by a photo exhibit of bicycles in India.

Although the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) appeared ready to approve the application, City Attorney Tom Carr objected. He sent the liquor board a letter in early June that said the city "has concerns with the health, safety, and welfare of the community." A bench warrant had been issued against Drayton's husband, Matthew—whom she married the previous May and who was required to cosign on the liquor license of the three-year-old business—for failing to take an alcohol class associated with a misdemeanor charge in 2006. He was charged with a DUI that the prosecutor amended to negligent driving, which Matthew accepted. He says he didn't know he'd missed the class or had a bench warrant (a common problem with cases represented by public defenders, who often abandon clients before cases conclude, his attorney says) until the city mentioned it in the letter. Within two weeks, he had taken the class and the court quashed the warrant.

But Carr refused to withdraw his objection.

"Everything they objected to in their letter was fixed," says Drayton's attorney, David Osgood. He sent a letter in July asking the liquor board to issue the permit.

The liquor board overrode Carr's objection and approved a license for Faire Galley, the article continues. But Anne Radford, a spokeswoman for the WSLCB, tells me that when Carr made his original complaint, he checked a box to say that if he were overruled, he would demand that the case go before a judge. Radford says that the hearing could take over nine months—which could put the Faire Gallery out of business, Drayton says.

When I went to see the space recently, it was clear that—if the Faire Gallery is ever allowed to serve hard liquor—it will never be a shot-pounding, fist-swinging saloon. The place only has six tables, two couches, and three stools. And Drayton says customers aren’t rowdy, pointing to a woman in the corner drinking a glass of wine while looking at her laptop. The other day when I spoke to her, Drayton was preparing for a playwright to give a theatrical reading. In the three years the Faire Gallery has served wine, “we have proven to be responsible,” she said.

But this heavy-handed behavior is par for the course for Carr. As nightlife advocate and music promoter David Meinert says, “It seems to be that he sees nightlife as a problem instead of a good thing."

Carr has an eight-year record pitted with anti-nightlife dings. On restaurants and bars, he's pushed several onerous "good neighbor" agreements (such as this one and this one). "It’s almost like they are used to shut down bars and nightlife instead of creating good neighborhood situations," Meinert says. And the situation with the Faire Gallery continues his misdeeds. "It just seems that he doesn't want that business to be there for some reason," Meinert says. In 2007, he charged 26 defendants in a sloppy bar sting, Operation Sobering Thought, with up to a year in jail. None of the defendants was convicted.

"This is why we need a different city attorney," adds Meinert. "His values are definitely out of line with the people of Seattle.”

Carr's days could be numbered, and this could be part of his undoing. At Neumo's, a venue on East Pike Street, numerous "Pete Holmes for City Attorney" signs are posted on the building—months before the election—and one massive sign faces the street.

Holmes, who is racking up endorsements (district Democrats, county Democrats, the Seattle Times), agrees that Carr's priorities are misplaced. "I had heard about Carr’s objection [to the Faire Gallery permit]; then as now I don’t understand the basis for the objection—especially pursuing an appeal with the Liquor Control Board," he says. "I do not understand how the objection increases public safety, and I certainly would not expend city resources suppressing private businesses for no good reason."