 |
Backers of anti-homeless law may use loophole to keep law in place
Tuesday, October 19, 1999
By KERY MURAKAMI
As critics see it, they may finally have a chance to change a law that allows police to bar the homeless and others from Seattle's parks.
But supporters of the park-exclusion ordinance, who include Microsoft Vice President Richard Brass, are doing everything they can to keep it and City Attorney Mark Sidran's other so-called civility laws in place. And some say they're even willing to skirt city election laws to do it.
They have set up a political action committee called Safe Streets and Parks for All to spend $33,000, or several times what campaign contribution limits allow, to get civility supporters on the council.
This election is considered crucial in the debate over the civility laws, which ban irritants such as loud noise and aggressive panhandling. Though the laws were passed by overwhelming majorities, two critics, Councilmen Nick Licata and Peter Steinbrueck, have since been elected to the council. And the Nov. 2 vote will determine who replaces two of Sidran's strongest backers -- Sue Donaldson and Martha Choe.
But nearly as controversial as Safe Streets' goals is how the group plans to gain friends at City Hall. It would exploit what some consider a campaign finance loophole, known as independent expenditures, to get their friends into office.
The same loophole allows Brass, a prominent advocate of the civility laws, to spend 15 times what the law would otherwise allow in direct contributions to candidates.
Mike McKay, the former U.S. attorney in Seattle and Safe Street's treasurer, said the group intends to send political mailings on behalf of Heidi Wills, Jim Compton, Cheryl Chow and incumbent Councilwoman Margaret Pageler.
In making independent expenditures, individuals and PACs send mailings and run ads on behalf of candidates without coordination with the candidates' own campaigns. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that unlike campaign contributions, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allows supporters to spend as much as they want to campaign for their favorites.
Seattle law limits direct contributions to $400. In theory, that's so average citizens can hold as much sway over elections as do wealthy executives such as Brass.
Brass can legally contribute just $1,600 in direct donations to the four candidates. But he's legally spending 15 times that much -- $25,000 -- through independent expenditures. He has also given $200 to Compton's campaign.
Jim Hammond, the Safe Streets campaign manager, said the group is only exercising its right to free speech.
Brass, who did not return calls for comment, owns a $1.67 million Madison Park home adjacent to Howell Park and has been an advocate of Sidran's 1997 parks exclusion law in his role as president of the Three Parks Foundation.
When the council was considering weakening the law in 1998, Brass' group commissioned a poll that showed 65 percent of those surveyed supported the law. The American Civil Liberties Union, however, said the poll asked leading questions such as "Do you believe that illegal behavior should be permitted in Seattle Parks, such as public urinating, drinking alcohol, using illegal drugs or having sex in public view?"
Sidran, who could not be reached for comment, last month gave a presentation about the civility laws to the group but is not otherwise involved with it.
Compton, Pageler and Chow support the park-exclusion ordinance, saying they have helped make parks safer. Wills has taken a middle ground, saying the city should attack the root problems of homelessness and create a "tent city'' for the homeless until more shelters are available.
Their opponents, Dawn Mason, Curt Firestone, Judy Nicastro and Charlie Chong, oppose the law, citing an ACLU study that said minorities and the poor were being disproportionately targeted.
Brass is by far the group's biggest donor. Former King County Prosecutor Chris Bayley, a neighborhood activist, and three downtown property management companies have contributed another $3,400 between them.
The group is the latest to run independent expenditures, which is playing a greater role in this year's City Council elections than ever before. The Civic Foundation, a self-described anti-corporate welfare group, has spent about $3,000 apiece for Mason and Chong. If Safe Streets' money is spread evenly, Wills, Compton, Choe and Pageler would each get help valued at about $8,000.
The roughly $40,000 spent thus far eclipses the $11,000 in independent expenditures spent in the 1997 City Council elections.
Apartment owners have created their own group to support Chow's campaign against renters advocate Judy Nicastro, but haven't spent any money yet.
The Safe Streets' entry into the campaign poses an interesting dilemma for Wills and Compton. They condemned the practice two weeks ago when it was being done for their opponents. They're less outraged now.
Compton wouldn't comment on the expenditures, saying he didn't know anything about the group.
Wills drew a distinction with the campaign for Chong saying the Civic Foundation really wasn't independent because it used Chong's name to raise money.
ACLU lobbyist Jerry Sheahan, however, said, "It sounds like the privatizing of the campaign against the poor that the city has been achieving through the city attorney's initiatives with the City Council's acquiescence."
Seattle City Council
King County Election Office, 206-296-8683, www.metrokc.gov/elections.
Seattle Ethics and Elections, 206-684-8500, www.pan.ci.seattle.wa.us/ethics/ethics.htm.
P-I reporter Kery Murakami can be reached at 206-448-8029 or kerymurakami@seattle-pi.com
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
On the ballot
· Border Patrol visits Seattle in bid to boost recruitment to historic levels
· New, improved environment center open for business
· Civil rights lawsuit filed against UW Police
more
· Border Patrol visits Seattle in bid to boost recruitment to historic levels
· Measuring McCain as a political 'maverick'
· Public Health suing two bars for letting customers light up
· Ethics probe hits hardest at Todd, not Sarah Palin
more
101 Elliott Ave. W.
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 448-8000
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
seattlepi.com serves about 1.7 million unique visitors
and 30 million page views each month.
Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
Send investigative tips to iteam@seattlepi.com
©1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Terms of Use/Privacy Policy
