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Friday, September 23, 2011

Health / Election Democracy Isn't Easy

Posted by Goldy on Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 9:14 AM

Even unassailably good public policy can sometimes have unintended consequences—that's my biggest takeaway from the SECB's recent round of candidate endorsement interviews.

For example, take the delicate balance between public health, and the health of our democracy: On the one hand, it has become achingly apparent that Seattle suffers from a large and growing unmet need for improved mental health outreach services. On the other hand, were we to properly treat the mentally ill, many, many more of our incumbent candidates would run unopposed.

Comments (10) RSS

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snap

Posted by crasher on September 23, 2011 at 9:33 AM

I'm not sure what that post was about, but I'm guessing it was uncomplimentary to politicians.

Posted by Ken Mehlman on September 23, 2011 at 9:35 AM

I think he's saying they got some nutjobs looking to run for office.

Posted by madcap on September 23, 2011 at 9:52 AM

Oooh, dish girl..

Posted by BombasticMO

on September 23, 2011 at 10:19 AM

Wait, this isn't an anarcho-syndicalist commune?

Posted by Will in Seattle

on September 23, 2011 at 10:30 AM

Outreach services?

There's a significant population of knife wielding loony tunes that need to be locked in a padded cell.

Can't they reactivate the barracks up at Discovery Park?

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on September 23, 2011 at 11:12 AM

was a quarantine of homosexuals to get a handle on the STD epidemic discussed?

Posted by AIDS Andy on September 23, 2011 at 11:29 AM

goodspaceguy, right?

Posted by Anne18 on September 23, 2011 at 1:31 PM

@8: There was a guy, Blomstrom, who's way crazier. He was a school board candidate. He's got a website, called seattle-mafia.org.

To be honest, I'm kind of glad he ran. The election pamphlet was *way* more entertaining. (And it's not like he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning anything.)

Posted by aleks on September 24, 2011 at 6:13 PM

#6 kind of nailed it here .... the problem was the closing of mental health facilities more than anything, pushing the unstable into the streets and shelters.

Posted by KittenKoder