City Attorney Tom Carr used his office to intimidate bars and clubs that supported his rival in the upcoming election, according to a complaint that will be filed today with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission. The Seattle Nightlife and Music Association (SNMA) wants the city to begin an investigation, and the group will request records reaching back three years to determine which tactics Carr's office used to crack down on bars and clubs.

“We are concerned with his possible abuse of power and the ethics issues in trying to manipulate the election,” says SNMA president Mike Meckling. Election rules prevent officials from using their office to assist their reelection campaigns.

On October 6, Carr’s office told bar owners that police would begin questioning intoxicated people on the streets of Capitol Hill, asking them to name which bars they had been drinking, and trying to revoke their liquor licenses. (Read our story about it here.) Bar and club owners contend that Carr was retaliating against them for supporting Pete Holmes, Carr’s first challenger since he was elected in 2001. Several bars on Capitol Hill—such as Neumos and Havana on Capitol Hill—held fundraisers for Holmes, and almost every bar in the Pike/Pine neighborhood has a sign for Holmes in its window.

“We don’t understand how, after years of weekly enforcement checks and decreased crime, the City Attorney’s office, in the middle of a contested election, can say, 'Change or I’ll pull your liquor license,' and not have it interpreted as a political message,” says SNMA attorney John Muenster. "If citizens or busisnesses experience retaliation or threats of retaliation from the government as a result of exercising First Amendment rights, they can seek redress in federal court."

Carr has been using his office to pursue legitimate business owners for more than two years, SNMA members say. For example, a recently uncovered email that appears to be sent from Carr’s office to the mayor’s office in 2007 says that the city should “Abandon all attempts to collaborate with the nightlife industry” in pursuit of increasing “regulatory enforcement.” Carr also wrote that his office “should develop legislation for regulation of promoters,” the email says. That email and the threat this month touches on the SNMA’s worst fears that Operation Sobering Thought, a bar sting that relied on heavy handed enforcement, is part of a long-term strategy to harm their businesses. Carr has not replied to confirm the email.

“That email is terrifying. If that is true, we are not dealing with someone who wants to work with us," says Meckling. "Obviously we care very deeply about safety and nightlife and to hear that our city government is power monegering is terrifying as a business owner."

Carr cited unsubstantiated excuses as the impetus for cracking down on bars and clubs, SNMA members say. For instance, police said they would stop pedestrians to stop a spike in assaults and robberies on Capitol Hill—but assaults and robberies are declining. At the crux of the issue is a disparity of power. Bar owners say they have tried to work with Carr, but are repeatedly menaced by the threat of losing licenses and ongoing crackdowns. “We don’t have influence over the police department," says SNMA member David Meinert. And the email from 2007 claims that bar owners “have no interest in collaboration on any regulatory scheme,” when, in fact, bar owners were negotiating with Carr over a nightlife license, Meinert says.

But after nearly a year of good relationship with the mayor’s office, Carr’s office’s latest threats against bars—taking their licenses in the name of a unsubstantiated spike in crime—comes just as the bar owners are supporting his rival. “If the city attorney is using his office to intimidate people in an election that should be a huge concern,” Meinert says.