Seattle City Council member Bruce Harrell was look awfully pleased with himself at last week’s 37th LD Dems endorsement meeting.
Seattlish has the scoop on some very shady goings on in my own political backyard:
Bruce Harrell’s campaign may be in some hot water following allegations that they essentially bought the 37th District Dems endorsements for both him and Pamela Banks.
An SEEC complaint alleges that, before the deadline to become a voting member of the organization in time for endorsements, 15 new memberships were paid for in one batch, with sequential money orders purchased at the same location.
It gets sketchier: These new memberships came on the heels of the Harrell campaign calling and asking if it would be OK for them to pay for new memberships (they were told it was not). … Just after the vote, it was determined that at least five of the new members shouldn’t have been permitted to vote at all, because, per the 37th Dems themselves, they didn’t even live in the 37th LD.
This is the sort of sneaky, manipulative Democratic machine politics that might earn Harrell fear and/or respect in Chicago or New Jersey or my native Philadelphia, but here in squeaky-clean Seattle, not so much. In fact, it pretty much confirms the worst suspicions of the disaffected, young, left-leaning voters Democrats so desperately need to bring to the polls.
It is to say the least ironic for establishment Democrats who take such offense at Kshama Sawant’s insinuations of corruption to respond to her campaign with, you know, actual corruption. (And yes, legal issues aside, I consider this sort of flagrant violation of both the spirit and letter of the LD’s rules to be a form of political corruption.)
To be clear, I’m taking this personally, and not just because I’m a passionate Sawant supporter. This is my LD. And I hate the way this is tearing my LD apart—especially the mean-spirited behind-the-scenes attacks on LD members who dare to question the obviously compromised integrity of the endorsement process.
I’ve always tried not to cover internal Democratic Party politics, and I don’t want to start now. But man, the stories I could tell. Just sayin’.
“here in squeaky-clean Seattle”
Seriously? Wow Goldy.
I’m an out of district member of the 37th district. I knew I couldn’t vote, had I been allowed the same opportunity as that other group, that one vote would have really swung the outcomes in two of those races.
Can you let the seec complete their investigation before we start throwing stones?
The last thing any Democratic candidate needs is provide fodder for GOP paranoia about Democrats buying votes. If there’s anything at all to this, you can be sure they’ll run with it, and turn it into an excuse for more restrictive voting laws. (“See? We told you!”)
‘An Irrelevant Man Gets Mad Again At An Irrelevant Story’.
News at 11.
@3 No. All the SEEC will decide on is whether the action violates city election laws. But either way it is clear that this violated 37th LD endorsement rules, and that it clearly changed the outcome of one or more endorsement votes.
Maybe if all of the 37th LD voters were required to show ID to prove they lived in the district and were eligible…
No one has found a rule that’s been broken by anyone who attempted to join. None. No RCW. No WAC. No 37th LD Democrats Rule or Bylaws violation. Just a pissed off rant of allegations – utterly unproven – by someone on the losing side of an endorsement vote. ONE individual who is willing to bring down the entire 37th LD Democrats’ organization over her allegations. She said Bruce influenced the votes? How so? Can’t any person in the room ask people to vote for someone? Doesn’t every single campaign ask people to join/attend/vote to endorse them? For the love of someone’s God, STFU until you have something resembling actual facts. I want to fucking bitch slap Pam Keeley for destroying the 37th District, for causing so much pain to all the East African now-CITIZENS of AMERICA. I want to drive a truck over some of those so-called Democrats who are so willing to destroy the 37th LD Democrats just to get something resembling a “win” for someone who is a member of an opposition party. Mind you, I was even one of those who didn’t vote for Pam Banks. But no endorsement is worth destroying our Party. So show me the goddamn muther fuckin’ facts, codes, laws, rules or bylaws that were broken, or go fuck yourself.
Maybe Goldy wouldn’t be so upset if he ceased thinking of the membership dues payments as money orders and instead regarded them as democracy vouchers.
http://horsesass.org/no-consen.....nt-1287114
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
@7 While we’re on this topic, can we see YOUR long-form birth certificate? But if you’re not registered to vote, never mind.
@8 All Pam Keeley did was file an SEEC complaint. People file SEEC and PDC complaints all the time, and nothing comes of it. It wasn’t Pam who publicized this, it was that stupid, stupid press release. The dispute could’ve been handled internally, but no, the Banks faction had to try to make political hay out of it. They’re the ones who poked the bear. And they got mauled.
” So show me the goddamn muther fuckin’ facts, codes, laws, rules or bylaws that were broken, or go fuck yourself.”
My dog ain’t really in this fight. But out of fairness, Goldy did link to the Statement from the Chair admitting that they broke the rules. And also admitting that the errors may have affected the outcome in a few contests. So I guess you actually were shown.
Hey, #13.
Looks like the statement by the 37th pulls Harrell out of any fire that Goldy’s hot bad breath started. The 37th admitted that they were at fault, so the allegations against Harrell are just that – allegations and not any story that’s based in fact.
But, he does this a lot. Why anyone gives this dishonest guy a penny I don’t know. I say dishonest because if he was honest, he would have admitted that it’s obvious now that Harrell had nothing to do with it. I mean, when Goldy finger-poked his way though his keyboard to write this nonsense, the reality was obvious that Harrell had nothing to do with it.
But, as Goldy well enough knows, tell a lie enough times and it becomes fact.
@14,
Look, @8 insisted no rule was broken. That isn’t so. It’s at least as misleading as whatever you guys are complaining about.
Someone’s really asking the SEEC to determine if there were rule violations at the 37th District Democrats? Seriously? This is beyond nuts.
“Walking around money” is a time honored and effective method of a boots on the ground campaign. At least the actual residents of the area being canvassed are getting a buck or two for their efforts and all the campaign budget doesn’t get spent for TV ads. A lot of poor and unemployed people can be brought to bear for the price of a few sandwiches and cups of coffee.
So this is an internal brouhaha of Democrats in a district. The members of the district have to insist the leadership gets it right and hold their feet to the fire. Not likely the SEEC will do anything much other than find it mildly entertaining unless there is a tie into a public election fraud. Republican and Democrats are entitled to be a little loco in the party. Which partially explains tea partiers. Can’t herd em, but they make a fine cup of tea.