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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Politics Past Failures = More Qualified

Posted by Will Kelley-Kamp on Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 12:47 PM

The Seattle Times says that Robert Rosencrantz should be on the city council because, well, he reeeeeeeally wants it:

This is Rosencrantz' third campaign to join the council. In other words, he's eager to serve. It is our experience candidates who want the job that badly become high-quality legislators quickly after the election. Studying issues during three election cycles is a huge benefit.

It is my experience that candidates who want the job that badly—but keep failing the job interview—should probably develop, maybe, something else to do with their lives? A hobby of some sort perhaps? Using the Times' logic, perennial candidates Goodspaceguy Nelson and Stan Lippman would be awesome legislators!

In Ronsencrantz's last two bids for your vote, in 2003 and 2005, he didn't make it out of the primary, coming in a close third to Jean Godden and Dwight Pelz, respectively. Rosencrantz is definitely more conservative than most of the candidate crop—supporter of pro-life policies, has a love affair with pavement, supports NIMBYs over nightlife—but he has landed some clever attacks on challenger Mike O'Brien's environmental record as of late. But this will be a fun race to watch. You can ask them questions over in Electionland—The Stranger's town hall you can watch while eating sushi off a trampoline—and watch the candidates answer your questions on October 27.

Comments (3) RSS

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Goodspaceguy would be amazing- I think it's high time Seattle developed a space program.

Posted by UNPAID COMMENTER on October 15, 2009 at 1:04 PM

The logic in one endorsement doesn't always apply to another. Take, for example, this logic from the Stranger:

We wanted to love David Bloom, a man-of-the-cloth progressive with a long history of advocating for the poor and the homeless. But while Bloom's bleeding heart is in the right place, his head is up his ass. Bloom opposes streetcars ("they replace buses"), rejects light rail to Ballard and West Seattle ("no extension of light rail"), and dislikes any major investment in infrastructure ("if it comes down to a capital project or people, I will invest in people"). He would, however, invest in rebuilding the motherfucking viaduct! (Psst, David? People ride in streetcars, people take light rail, people rely on infrastructure for clean water, electricity, transportation, etc.)

That paragraph applies 100% to Nick Licata (probably more than to David Bloom), yet Licata received The Stranger's endorsement.

If you read between the lines, The Stranger's endorsement against Jessie Israel is because they feel she's too pro-police, just like Seattle Times' endorsement against Mike O'Brien is because they feel he's too pro-transit. All the other filler crap in their endorsements is to try to persuade voters who don't know better.

Posted by waiting for friends of seattle endorsements on October 15, 2009 at 1:18 PM

The state/PDC is investigating Constantine’s campaign for illegal and unethical activities.

Posted by You won't read it on slog on October 16, 2009 at 6:12 AM