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A lot of money is being spent this election cycle by the usual outside special interests (public sector unions) who have spent millions of dollars to control the SeaTac City Council in the past. They are willing to do almost anything to take control of the council, even if it means breaking the law, importing candidates who don’t live in the city, or whatever else it takes. The question, worth asking, is why?
I’ve written, on occasion about the City of SeaTac in the past. I’ve discussed the clear and obvious corruption of the staff as they successfully colluded to steal property from local property owners, hiding public records along the way, and ultimately losing one of the largest jury awarded land use verdicts in Washington State (see here). Ultimately, the City settled that lawsuit for around $13 million and city staff were never reprimanded or disciplined, even after the judge recommended bar complaints be filed against the legal staff who clearly violated most laws related to ethics.
I’ve also reviewed the unusual success of regular citizens who opposed the special interests and managed to regain control of the City council (see here and here) in 2015 and 2017. The remarkable turn around of the City of SeaTac from a sinking, $5 million deficit, tax happy fiasco into a well-run, $23 million surplus, no tax increase city just three years later (see here). The council members are not perfect. They have made mistakes. The biggest mistake, in my opinion, was not cleaning out their legal department and making some other structural changes in the bureaucracy. However, by all normal metrics of local government, this is an unusual local government success story, all the more impressive due to it’s close proximity to the contagion of mismanaged government in nearby Seattle.
In the past, public sector unions have flooded the City of SeaTac with massive campaigns to control the city council and push their special interest agenda. In 2011, they were able to install their optimal candidates on the council (with one notable exception). In 2013, after even a tame council wouldn’t do what they wanted, these unions spent nearly $2 million to push their $15 minimum wage law (the first in the state), while exempting unions from needing to pay that same minimum wage (See Section 7.45.080 – second sentence). Most significantly, they were able to force the City to defend the initiative, using taxpayer resources, so that the unions wouldn’t have to pay those legal costs themselves.
This political election plan has been dusted off and is currently in the process of being implemented again. Just like in 2013, the unions are flooding the small city of SeaTac with their paid canvassers, lots of mailers, secretive PACs (see PDC complaints here and here which I filed against at least one of these weird dark money PACs and this one against the former mayor), and imported council candidates. In at least one case, it looks like one of these candidates didn’t even live in the city long enough to be a legal candidate for office.
Under Washington State law (RCW 35A.12.030) , candidates for local office must have resided in the city for at least 12 months before the date of the election. However, for candidate Mohamed Egal, it appears that he actually lived in the City of Tukwila, until just before filing week in April when he suddenly claimed he lived in the city of SeaTac and put his name on the ballot. He had not voted very much in the past, but he did recently update his voter registration with King County elections in November of 2018, and as of that date he claimed he still lived in Tukwila with a mailing address in Kent. Of course, it is always possible he was just committing voter fraud, a common occurrence in King County, but it appears more likely he didn’t know he was going to run for the SeaTac City Council next year (and why would he since he didn’t live there at the time?). (Note: I’m not putting any of his personal addresses in this article for privacy sake, but this is easily verified by reviewing the Secretary of State’s Voter Registration Database)
He may not be the only special interest funded candidate imported for this election cycle. Certainly, we’ve witnessed similar Seattle-backed special interest campaigns in the City of Burien and elsewhere in recent years, but why do they care so much about the City of SeaTac?
Remember that minimum wage law from 2013? While the unions themselves are still making sure they don’t have any obligation to pay minimum wage (see how they exempt themselves here – local ordinance 7.45.080 – second sentence), they were forced, at the time, to also exempt the airline operations due to some federal laws that prevent local government from forcing these types of regulations on them. At the time, the unions didn’t want to fight these entities, so they exempted airline operations from the law. Now, after the $15 minimum wage law (and more importantly, the forced unionization – more cash from new “members”) required under that law has been grafted into the city and spread like a virus elsewhere, the unions believe they can expand the mandate and grab even more cash.
However, these are expensive legal fights, so the unions would prefer to have the taxpayers foot the legal bill to cover the legal costs for this fight. These special interest unions are planning to sucker the residents of SeaTac to pay the union legal bills once again (likely to exceed millions of dollars), and without having to foot the legal bill themselves, they can reap the profits they extract with new legislation from a puppet council. The incumbent council members are an obstacle to this and this is why they desperately need to replace them.
The unions, in this cycle, have spent only a bit more than $200,000 (including the unreported cost of the paid out-of-area doorbellers) this time around, so it seems like a cheap investment. This is a pretty effective plan with a high likelihood of success, unless the voters of SeaTac remain unpersuaded. The rewards for the unions greatly outweigh the costs and the risks seem minimal. The City of SeaTac taxpayers will suffer if the unions succeed, of course, but that doesn’t matter to this outside crew. The elections in the small City of SeaTac, once again, are likely to have state-wide consequences and very few people are paying attention.
OUR CONSTITUTION BEGINS WITH THE PHRASE “WE THE PEOPLE.” IT WAS THE FOUNDER’S INTENT THAT GOVERNMENT BE CREATED BY THE PEOPLE, TO SERVE THE PEOPLE. IT WASN’T THEIR INTENTION FOR THE PEOPLE TO SERVE THE GOVERNMENT. IT WAS ALWAYS INTENDED THAT GOVERNMENT WHICH FAILED TO SERVE THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE “ALTERED OR ABOLISHED.” UNTIL WE RETURN TO THE FOUNDER’S INTENT, WE REMAIN WE THE GOVERNED…
Background articles and documents:
City of SeaTac slammed by $18.3 million jury verdict, city attorneys guilty of deception
SeaTac – Two decent options and one poor choice for council on the ballot
The City of SeaTac – Restoring Citizen control of local Government
City of SeaTac misled by staff attorney, highlighting the staff infection
The City of SeaTac suffers from a serious staff infection
Seattle Times – “Some airport workers still earn less than minimum wage, as SeaTac law leaves a confusing patchwork“
Seattle Times – 7 charged in vote fraud scheme
Resident tells SeaTac Council to put aside personal gripes and “fix the damn city”
K&S Final Judgment
Insurance company rejects payment because of fraud and other reasons by the City of SeaTac
Jury Verdict – K&S Verdict Form (note Misrepresentation Claim 1.3 is another term for “Fraud”)
Seatac -Prothman Report – 2010
City’s Press Release – Jan 2010 (original)
Revised Final Press Release (City Press Release rewritten by K&S to represent their view of the situation)
DEPOSITION of CRAIG WARD (former SeaTac City Manager)
DEPOSITION of STEPHEN BUTLER (former SeaTac Director of Planning)
DEPOSITION of TODD CUTTS-Dec 1 – 2013
SeaTac Minimum Wage Ordinance – passed by local initiative in 2013, if it ever gets deleted – here is a copy you can download linked here.