The Seattle Times: Politics Northwest

Gun-control group putting ads on Metro Transit buses

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:24:49 PDT

A state gun-control group is putting advertisements inside and outside of dozens of King County Metro Transit buses, urging residents to "think twice about having a gun in your home."

But the ads, paid for by Washington Ceasefire, were rejected by transit agencies in Snohomish and Pierce counties, said the group's board president, Ralph Fascitelli.

In addition to the "think twice" message, most of the ads include a statistical claim such as that a homeowner with a gun is 22 times more likely to kill a friend or family member than an intruder.

Fascitelli said the statistics are from the book "Private Gun, Public Health" by Dr. David Hemenway of the Harvard School of Public Health.

The ad buy includes 53 exterior ads and 130 interior ads, according to the King County Department of Transportation. They recently went up and will be in place until at least June 2.

Jeff Switzer, a spokesman for the department, said the ads are in compliance with its ad policy, which prohibits political campaign speech and several other categories of advertising.

Washington Ceasefire made a similar ad buy in March of 2012, Switzer said.

The group has also advertised in Snohomish County before. But Community Transit spokesman Martin Munguia said the county adopted a new policy this month that prohibits ads about social issues.

A spokeswoman for Pierce Transit did not return messages seeking comment.

This year's campaign is part of an effort by Washington Ceasefire to address gun violence in the aftermath of several recent mass shootings, Fascitelli said.

Fascitelli said the group is focused on both public health education campaigns and legislative efforts. On the legislative front, activists are pursuing a 2014 initiative to the Legislature centered on expanded background checks for gun sales.

"We have to do something," Fascitelli said.

Tim Burgess quits Seattle mayor's race

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:36:32 PDT

Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess has dropped out of the Seattle mayor's race.

In a statement released this afternoon -- hours before the filing deadline -- Burgess said the city needs new and visionary leadership, and expressed concern that having too many candidates in the race might hinder that goal.

"Instead, I will continue to serve this city that I love from my position on the City Council, the most rewarding job of my life," he said in a statement.

Burgess said in an interview he had been reconsidering his candidacy for about 10 days but only made the decision last night. He said he’d heard from business leaders that he would make an outstanding mayor, but would have trouble getting elected in a field of seven other candidates.

“I realized this was going to be a difficult path. “I did not want to dilute our opportunity to have a new mayor.”

As of last week, Burgess had raised $232,000 for his campaign, more than any other candidate.

In an interview with The Times this week, Burgess talked about his strategy for getting through a crowded primary.

"We’re talking to voters across the city. We have strong support from workers and neighborhood business districts, from people concerned about issues in the police department. I have a lot of support from women who care about children and public education and who care very much about how we protect women from domestic violence and sexual assault," he said.

"I think we continue to meet people around the city and communicate our message. I think voters are looking for someone they can trust, someone who is competent, someone who has a proven record of bringing people together to get things done."

State Sen. and mayoral candidate Ed Murray said he was surprised by the move. “It obviously shakes up the race,” he said. “I viewed Tim as a strong, knowledgeable opponent.”

He said he's not yet sure what Burgess' departure will mean, but “this does narrow the field and puts more focus on those who remain.”

Washington tea party group says it was among those targeted by IRS

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:51:52 PDT

An Eastern Washington tea party group says it was among those targeted by the Internal Revenue Service for extra scrutiny when it applied for nonprofit status.

Organizers with the Tri-Cities Tea Party said they received two rounds of detailed questionnaires from the IRS after seeking 501(c)(4) status in 2010.

Radphord-Leon Howard, one of the group's leaders, said the first round of questions appeared largely reasonable -- queries about its officers and mission, for example.

After supplying answers to those questions, the group waited for a year or so, but the IRS didn't reply to letters asking about the status of its application, said Howard, who lives in West Richland.

Then, about a year ago, the group received a detailed second set of inquiries from the IRS, some of which seemed overly intrusive for a small organization, especially demands for addresses and affiliations of the group's donors, Howard said.

"These are $10 and $20 donors. That’s when we figured they are trying to figure out a way to deny us the status," Howard said. "We felt we were targeted."

The Tri-Cities group responded to some of the additional questions, Howard said. But organizers considered others too invasive and considered joining a national lawsuit being planned by conservative legal advocates.

Howard said after going back and forth with the IRS with no resolution, they ultimately decided to just drop the nonprofit application, figuring they weren't raising enough money to bother with it (or trigger any federal rules).

"We'll still be what we are," Howard said. He said although IRS seemed to believe the group was going violate nonprofit status by straying into political campaigning for a particular party or candidate, "our purpose is to educate - we don't like either one of the parties, Democrat or Republican."

The uproar over the IRS' singling out of groups with words like "tea party" or "patriot" in their names erupted this week with the release of a Treasury Department inspector general's report.

That report did not name which groups were subjected to the inappropriate targeting, and a Treasury Department spokeswoman did not respond Wednesday to requests for additional information. But the lengthy questionnaires described by Howard are similar to those that other conservative groups say they received from the IRS after applying for nonprofit status.

The IRS actions, which President Obama has called "inexcusable," led to the ouster Wednesday of the acting IRS commissioner, Steven Miller, and announcements of a criminal probe and investigations by Congress.

Keli Carender, the well-known Seattle tea party activist, said the national conservative group she now organizes for - Tea Party Patriots - also believes it was targeted by the IRS for invasive questioning based on its political leanings.

She said the IRS treatment of the national and Tri-Cities group is an example of why the tea party started in the first place: "a government that is so big that people are not held accountable."

State Senate panel OK's changes to DUI laws

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:01:05 PDT

OLYMPIA -- A stiffening of state DUI laws championed by Gov. Jay Inslee and a bipartisan group of lawmakers cleared its first legislative hurdle Tuesday, moving out of the Senate Law & Justice Committee unanimously.

Among other items, Senate Bill 5912 would add 10 days in jail to all minimum DUI sentences, make drunken driving a felony on the fourth conviction (it currently is on the fifth) and make the installation of an ignition interlock device a requirement for repeat DUI offenders to be released from jail.

The bill also would pilot a 24/7 alcohol-monitoring program as an alternative to prison, restrict deferred sentencing in drunken driving cases and expand DUI courts.

Those items all were agreed upon in recent negotiations between Inslee and the leaders of the Senate and House committees with jurisdiction over DUI issues. But the question of how to pay for them remains a key sticking point.

On Tuesday, the unanimous committee vote belied concerns from Democrats that the proposal doesn't give enough money to local governments to implement the changes or devote enough to treatment.

Before the vote, senators made clear they were voting on the policy, not the financials of the plan.

The Senate version of the bill will next go to the budget committee that will decide if the state can afford the changes.

The House Public Safety Committee is expected to vote on a similar proposal soon.

Despite the remaining hurdles, Inslee expressed optimism about the bill in an afternoon news conference.

"I’m very happy about this," he said. "I think this bodes well for us getting this done this special session."

Mayoral candidates have money, bow ties

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:46:05 PDT

With filing week for Seattle's 2013 mayoral election finally upon us, the candidates would like to have your attention, please:

First, state Sen. Ed Murray would like to announce he can raise money in a hurry. Barred from raising campaign funds while the Legislature is in session, Murray took advantage of the two weeks between the main and special sessions to bring in more than $103,000, making his total $220,000. Murray still hasn't raised quite as much as City Councilmember Tim Burgess, who has pulled together about $232,000.

In fundraising, for the most part, all the major candidates are raising (and spending) a lot of money. Mayor Mike McGinn is putting a bigger emphasis on money than he did in 2009, when he ran a famously cheap campaign. He has raised $181,000 for his re-election.

Council member Bruce Harrell, who has raised $112,000, announced this morning that he has been inducted into the Pacific Northwest Football Hall of Fame in honor of his years as a University of Washington linebacker. The distinction, a campaign press release said, makes Harrell "a leader on the football field, a leader in the community and a leader who will fight for all of us."

Meanwhile, former council member Peter Steinbrueck, who is lagging behind in fundraising, with $62,000, posted a photo of himself on Facebook from his college years. The photo features a wavy haircut and a bow tie. Outsider candidate Charlie Staadecker found that hilarious, since he is the bow-tie candidate.

"Bow ties are catching on!" Staadecker exclaimed. "Staadecker even appeals to his fellow candidate colleagues!"

Staadecker has raised $152,000, branding his campaign with the bow ties he favors ("They just give you a bounce in your step.") and bringing a non-political voice to the race.