David Brewster, a founding member of Post Alley, has a long career in publishing, having founded Seattle Weekly, Sasquatch Books, and Crosscut.com. His civic ventures have been Town Hall Seattle and FolioSeattle.
Compassion Seattle had a difficult birth, steering a course among the business community, the service providers, and the good-government types who opposed the charter-amendment route. Even with the court setback, the group may have political legs.
Those who challenge the entrenched power of this "insurgent status quo" badly lack exciting issues, other than nostalgic evocations of Sepia Seattle. In short, the primary is far from predictive of the November battles.
Lorena Gonzalez, the current city council president, has passed her first two key political tests -- keeping labor united behind her so that Jessyn Farrell has not been able to peel off that support; and holding the ethnic coalition on her side, lest Colleen Echohawk carve it away.
The Stranger, like most newspapers, has endured wrenching changes in recent years. It survived all the cuts, particularly in its mainstay entertainment advertising, thanks to a generous amount of federal PPP money and its new pitch for one-time and monthly contributions, now amounting to 35 percent of revenue.
A basic rule in politics is to frame the main issue (or villain) to be addressed in such a way as to position yourself as the best person to fix it. The framing is key. So what are the possible framing referenda, locally?
No center-left candidate has moved to peel off votes from Bruce Harrell, so the primary winners will probably be Harrell and Lorena Gonzalez, with Harrell the likely winner in November. Want more excitement? The open city council seat.
As new mayors come in, often in defiance of their unpopular predecessor, they must learn on the job and unwind previous programs. The high turnover makes it likely that the new mayor will also depart before creating lasting change.