Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant—a self-proclaimed socialist—picked up two opponents in her 2015 re-election bid for the council’s 3rd District. Her opponents are Rod Hearne, the former executive director of Equal Rights, and Morgan Beach, who works for the American Red Cross and serves on the Seattle Women’s Commission.
According to the Seattle Times, Hearne has been reluctant to criticize Sawant outright. He did say, “A lot of people supported her because she was there to pull the council in a particular direction, not because they agreed with her 100 percent of the time or thought of her as an ideal representative.”
Hearne has been less hesitant to criticize the Socialist Alternative Party, to which Sawant is a member. Following Rep. Frank Chopp’s defeat of his socialist opponent, Hearne wrote, “I think it’s perfectly fair to challenge incumbents, even when they have a great track record. But it’s nice to see voters soundly reject the Socialist Alternative’s negative, blatantly false, scorched earth, mudslinging campaign.”
The same cannot be said of Beach. The Seattle Times reports that Beach and Sawant “mostly share the same politics.” However, Beach “prefers collaboration” where “Sawant has sometimes positioned herself against other council members.
Unlike Hearne, Beach does appear more willing to criticize Sawant. Beach suggested that Sawant’s “bark is more impressive than her bite.” She said, “She’s been very good at getting headlines but less successful at actually passing policies.”
Apparently, Beach has not been paying attention to Seattle politics. The reality is that Sawant has won major victories—the council has bowed to Sawant’s whims on multiple occasions, pushing through a $15 minimum wage sure to punish small business owners and even changing the name of Columbus Day. Sawant is proof that little difference exists between her and Democrat members of the council.
Donald Gault says
get rid of this nut bag communist bitch
MeanieHead says
The ;LAST thing that Seattle and/or the entire State of Washington needs is MORE COMMUNISTS. Ugh. Kick them all to the freakin curb.
Bradley Whaley says
Sawant has proven to be inept on just about every subject she supports. My only question is where do I send the check to get this yahoo out?
tensor says
You send it to somewhere in District 3 of Seattle — to the very same place where Sawant received almost sixty percent of our votes. As even this post admits, her replacement — assuming she loses — will be very much like her.
tensor says
This should be an interesting election. As The Stranger noted, the Seattle’s new District 3 — First Hill, Capitol Hill, Montlake, Broadmoor, Madison Park, and the portion of the Central District north of I-90 — was friendly territory for her in the last election:
Sawant may have only beaten 16-year incumbent Richard Conlin by a 50.7 percent to 49.0 percent margin citywide, but within the precincts that are entirely within the new District 3 boundaries, she racked up an impressive 58.5 percent to 40.5 percent victory. That’s 58.5 percent of the vote for a political newcomer immigrant women of color openly running under the Socialist banner against a scandal-free pro-enviro four-term incumbent.
Her time since has not been idle, as this post notes. Having a freshman Council Member lead the effort to pass the groundbreaking law to eliminate poverty wages from our city was a huge achievement for her. May the best candidate win!
rabblerousers says
No way. seattle loves her…..They are perfect for each other. Her and the gay mayor. Lol, it’s like a bad sitcom
vrahnos says
Maybe so.I hope you like high prices on every thing.Sorry a $10 big mac just isn’t worth it to me.
tensor says
Washington state has the highest minimum wage in the country; Idaho, at the federal minimum wage, has one of the lowest. Ten miles and an invisible line on the map separate the college town of Pullman, Washington, from the college town of Moscow, Idaho. What, if anything, is the difference in fast-food prices between these two towns?
vrahnos says
Well for one thing I live in western Washington.I have worked as a truck driver and to answer that I have noticed a price differnce on fast food from state.The ones that have low min.wage do have a lower price over the states that have a higher min.wage Now a .50 differnce may not mean much to you but then maybe you are a rich person where money doesn’t mean as much to you..
tensor says
Examples? Citations? Do the prices also vary from region to region within a state? Were there different taxes in different states? (As you know, Oregon has no sales tax, for example.)
That’s why I asked for a comparison of two very similar places, not far from each other, but with the largest possible difference in minimum-wage laws. I wanted as close an example as possible, because Seattle will soon have just a line on the map to separate businesses in North or South Seattle from their counterparts in Shoreline and Highline.
vrahnos says
Alright,Seatac.teo quarter pounders an a small shake.Before sales tax,Shelton WA,$9,Sea Tac $10 Now that is right here in Washington state.How much do you want to pay for a meal like that?You want $15.00 an hour then go get a job that pays that much to a person that can do it.Otherwise work for next to nothing and quit complaining.It take training to get to a high paying job.Do you want a job for the rest of your life where you ask”may I take your order please”?
tensor says
Shelton’s minimum wage is $9.47/hour; SeaTac’s is $15/hour. That’s a 58.4% difference. The price difference you quoted was 11.1% — less than one-fifth as much. Even if this price difference depends entirely upon the difference in minimum wages, that difference has a disproportionately small effect.
Walking into my local McDonald’s here in Seattle, I was immediately informed I could buy two Big Macs for $6. The most expensive shake on offer was $2.89, so the pre-tax figure for Seattle comes to $8.89 (for larger burgers and a larger drink). As Seattle and Shelton currently have no difference in their minimum wages (Seattle’s first increase starts in April), we can confidently say the minimum-wage difference does not account for the price difference in Seattle’s favor.
It take [sic] training to get to a high paying job.
So, is it easier to get that training when working for less money, or more? Poverty wages keep hard-working people trapped in poverty, which is why we have minimum wages in the first place.
(It’s also good to see you’ve walked away from your ridiculous claim of $10 for a Big Mac. Your later claim of $0.50 between Washington and Idaho was closer — this price comparator shows $4.23 for a Big Mac in Idaho, against $4.67 in Washington. That’s $0.44 or 10%, even though Washington state’s $9.47/hour minimum wage is 30% higher than Idaho’s $7.25/hour. Again, the price difference is a small fraction of the wage difference.)
vrahnos says
Yes it does take training for good paying job.I have been a blue collor worker all my life.Now when wages go up the cost of good also go up and goes even higher than the cost of living increaces in most cases.That is the way of business in out country.Under stand I come from a time when gas had costed .40 a gal.When it hit $4.oo a gal.things went up a lot.To give you some idea it used to cost me $200 per month in 2012.Now it’s $300 a month.That is a farily large increse in two years.Wages have gone up in that time as well as the price of gas.Now you want even higher wages now?Just how much do you want to pay?The cost will go up to cover the wage increse and possablity even higher.So then what?$20.00 per wage?Back in my day I could work for $6.00 an hour and get as much as $16.00 an hour today.So do you really think a higher min.wage will mean more money for you?Trust me it won’t work out that way.So go out and get the training and get the better paying job.Unless you are just to dang lazy to do that.
tensor says
I make rather more than $15/hour, so the proposed wage increases mean little to my income.
I certainly understand, and sympathize with, your description of increases in the cost of your business. Cost of living has increased dramatically just over the last two years in Seattle, where I have lived for decades. This recent large increase also does not track closely to any changes in the local minimum wage, which has risen steadily at a slow pace since 2000, per I-688.
Ironically, the coming increase in Seattle’s minimum wage may have less effect here than it might elsewhere in the state, since we have relatively few low-wage jobs. (Notice that most of the workers who seem to be affected are in the restaurant industry? As we’ve seen in just the examples we’ve discussed in this thread, increases in the minimum wage really don’t have much to any effect on overall prices — even in the restaurant industry.)
Council Member Sawant’s record on this issue should be a great help to her if she decides to stand for re-election. We’ll see how it goes.
vrahnos says
Yes we will.I will admit one thing,we can agree to disagree on many subjects.One more thing,due to I-688 the min.wage will keep going up as to the cost of living increases witch it is tied into with,Some things all across the board will keep going up.Where it doesn’t show as bad is with a business that has set wages above min. wage and are better able to absorb the cost without a price differnce..In time though even those folks have to raise the price on their good and services.I do remember the double diget inflation under Carter when he was in office.Now try to buget your self at a 10% to 13% rise in the cost of doing business or even house hold.I don’t ever want to see an live through that again.That is why I am against the $15.00 min.wage.I have been around a while and a $5.55 pay raise is unheard of.Maybe a buck or two but never that much at one time.As for the gal on the councle that thinks that would be great take a look at the commie countrys and their wages for the working people.She is a commie and that isn’t right for out country and is not the American way.
tensor says
Both the Seattle plan and the proposed state plan bring the increases to $15/hour in steps, so there is not one steep jump. (By contrast, I-688, which we passed in November 1998, required a jump in the state’s minimum wage, from $4.90/hour to $6.50/hour, by 2000. That’s 33% in less than two years, and I don’t recall any economic disruption as a result.)
Council Member Sawant is a Socialist, not a Communist. Seattle operates City Light, and provides water service to everyone within the city limits, so we already have one type of socialism going here. While I don’t personally agree with her entire program, much of what I don’t like is far beyond anything the Seattle city government will ever try, so it’s irrelevant whether, say, she wants Boeing to be owned by the government. (Given the huge number of government contracts Boeing has, one could argue this has already happened!) As this post noted, “A lot of people supported her because she was there to pull the council in a particular direction, not because they agreed with her 100 percent of the time or thought of her as an ideal representative.” I count myself in that population.
vrahnos says
Then sir with all due respect check out the old U.S.S.R.What was life like for those folks during that time?With socialist or communist there is not much of a differnce between them.In thee end people will be subject to them and what ever they want.Look at China today,North Correa,Cuba and the others that don’t have the freedoms we enjoy as Americans.under stand when you look into the group that Sawant belongs to you will find she believes in Marxism.That is a far cry from our Consititutional government that makes this country the free country in compairson.
tensor says
The Soviet Union, a nuclear-armed industrial colossus which once scared the bejeezus out of the United States and our allies, collapsed after the leaders there overspent on their military, allowed their industrial base to crumble, and poured enormous resources into spying upon, and imprisoning, their own citizens. Luckily, we here in America are not now making those mistakes, no sir!
youcanallgotohell&iwillgotoTX says
I’m so glad i’m leaving this shithole city and all these liberal socialist morons behind soon. I wish you people the best of luck in getting this communist kicked out or thrown in jail for some tax scheme or another.