How is socialist Sawant paying her many, many consultants?

Socialist Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant loves spending money on consultants—and not paying them up to the standards she expects from others. Back in April, Shift reported on how Sawant structured payments to her campaign staffers (paying them as consultant rather than employees) in a way that “allows her to avoid payroll taxes, paying them overtime, and offering them insurance.”

Not only did she fail to walk her very loud talk, Sawant also did it to quite a lot of people. Here’s what MyNorthwest.com reported at that time:

“It turns out Sawant is spending a sizable portion of her campaign funds on five different campaign consultants, as she tries to win her re-election campaign for city council. She’s spent just over $12,000 for the consultants so far and that’s in stark contrast to her colleagues. Jean Godden has spent about $6,000. Council member Tim Burgess spent just over $2,000 on consultants; Mike O’Brien has spent nothing.”

Making matters worse, one of Sawant’s consultants, Phillip Locker, was illegally working as a consultant. He did not have a business license to do what he was doing for Sawant.

Well, since April, little to nothing appears to have changed—a quick browse through Sawant’s Public Disclosure Reports provides an interesting update. First off, Locker is still employed by Sawant—whether or not he has a business permit is something Sawant’s opponent may want to look into. But, he’s not alone.

Though Sawant appears to be finally paying pay-roll taxes, whether or not it is for all her consultants is unknown. You see, Sawant has at least 10 full time consultants/staff—and not very gender-diverse, as they’re almost all males no less—and four part-time consultants. To put that in perspective, candidates for a similarly-sized state Legislature district typically only have two or three staffers.

How is Sawant paying for all these consultants? Of the whopping 47 candidates who ran in the Seattle City Council primaries, Sawant raised and spent the most—taking in $251,000 and spending $223,000. Unions have generously supplied Sawant with large contributions—which, considering Sawant’s die-hard allegiance to unions—makes sense.

Sawant has defended the hypocrisy of unions time and time again. Last year, when KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson challenged Sawant on the hefty paychecks of union bosses the likes of SEIU’s Mary Kay Henry and AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka, she refused to condemn their high salaries, dodging the question and then ultimately hanging-up the phone. Of course, Sawant must have sympathy for the hypocrisy of these union bosses because of her own stunning hypocrisy on the way she pays her consultants.

Despite all her consultants, Sawant barely got to 50% of the primary vote, and will have to face off against Urban League President Pamela Banks in the general election. Certainly, Banks’ campaign has quite a lot sketchy behavior on Sawant’s part to investigate.