1. About 50 weirdo Seattle artists—including PubliCola’s own Advisory Board member Ben Beres—are taking over the hallways, bathrooms, balconies, and the backstage at the Moore Theater this Saturday evening, setting up installations (Video Ego, Lead Pencil Studio, No Touching Ground), playing music (“Awesome,” Dub Marronics, Scratchmaster Joe), and throwing watermelons (Megan Mertaugh).
It’s free, and it ends with a parade led by a brass band (Orkestar Zarkonium) through Belltown to an afterparty ($5) with live music, including a set by the punk psychedlic (and I wanna say Goth pop) three piece, the Whines, from Portland.
2. A Bellevue-based gun rights group, The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, is up in arms (!) about Mayor Nickels’ plans, as the new president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, to lobby the White House for stricter gun laws.
“Nickels may be inspired by Obama’s current ability to push a social agenda,” CCRKBA (pronounced Krick-Buh?) chairman Alan Gotlieb said in a press release. “Both seem to believe they have some imperial mandate to shape the world by executive order with no legislative oversight or intervention. The United States is a Republic, not a socialist monarchy, and the City of Seattle is not Greg Nickels’ personal fiefdom.”
3. Speaking of wild theater and guns: The 46th District Democrats (North Seattle) held their endorsement meeting last night. After a spectacle of hotly contested votes and furious attempts to change the rules, there ended up being no endorsement in the mayor’s race—where candidates needed two-thirds to get the nod. T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan came the closest—topping Mayor Nickels 76-39 in the second round of voting (there ended up being three rounds)—but nine hands for “No Endorsement” ended up carrying the day.
In the City Council races, lefty church activist David Bloom got another sole endorsement in his fight against establishment candidate Sally Bagshaw to take Jan Drago’s open seat; city government staffer Bobby Forch and Maple Leaf neighborhood activist David Miller (the 46th is his turf) got a dual endorsement in the crowded race to fill Richard McIver’s seat; and popular incumbent Nick Licata picked up another sole endorsement.
(Funny footnote: Candidate Rusty Williams, also from the 46th, formally introduced unknown Forch—who’s from the South End—and Forch ended up knocking Williams out in the first round.)
4. One thing that’s been lost in the condescending, contemporary re-telling of the heady late 60s is this: Even though the damn hippies were out to change the world, they actually had a sense of humor about the whole thing.
Director Paul Mazursky’s comedy about swinging and the sexual revolution, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), is archival proof that they didn’t think they had it all right. The counterculture classic is playing at the Northwest Film Forum tonight as part of its excellent and ongoing 1969 series.
5. And one Erica C. Barnett sent me this email about City Council candidate Jessie Israel last night (at 12:48am), which will stand as Barnett’s foray into Morning Fizz:
For what it’s worth… I’m tired and unable to do much reading into this list, but I do think it’s interesting that she’s getting so much support from enviros.
Jessie Israel was boasting about her updated list of endorsements at the City Neighborhood Council’s lively candidate forum at City Hall last night. For an unknown candidate running against a long-established incumbent (Nick Licata), Israel’s list does include some impressive names, including numerous local enviros and elected officials. Among them: FutureWise field director Megan Blanck-Weiss; freshman state reps Reuven Carlyle (D-36) and Scott White (D-46); Seattle Port Commissioners Bill Bryant, Gael Tarlton, and John Creighton; green developer Liz Dunn; Earth Day founder Denis Hayes; state rep Zach Hudgins; enviro and civic activists Bridgette and Brice Maryman; Washington Conservation Voters spokeswoman Sudha Nandagopal.
This morning’s Morning Fizz is brought to you by:
Re: Conlin vs. Ginsberg. This race wasn’t considered last night. Under our rules, only races which will be on the primary ballot were considered. Since there were only two candidates filing, the race isn’t on the ballot until November. The rules could have been amended to consider that race, but both candidates agreed that they would like to wait.
Voila. Thank you. I feel dumb. I’ve now taken my reference to the Conlin race out of the post.
FYI, Josh, both Royer and Williams are also from the 46th.
Thanks David. I knew Williams was (which makes the footnote even funnier.)
Interesting to note: Miller was one vote shy of a sole endorsement on the 2nd ballot, getting almost twice the # of votes as Forch. Dual endorsement was made, but sense of body was clearly in preference of Miller.
Results are here: http://46dems.com/2009/endorsementresults20090618.pdf
Do the enviros supporting Israel realize that she OPPOSES the bag tax, favors a “voluntary” approach instead?
Also Erica’s list is hardly exhaustive. Was she too tired to also note the enviros supporting Nick?
@6 Is the bag tax really something we should be talking about right now? I think there is a long list of more important issues that need to be addressed in Seattle, starting with public transportation. The bag tax is frivolous.
@7 — There is no such thing as a bag tax. It’s a fee, easily avoided by carrying your own tote with you.
The bag tax is on the August 18th ballot. Maybe it’s frivolous but it’s the type of frivolity our mayor and city council deal with all the time.
There’s no doubt Israel has traction among the silk stocking crowd. But doesn’t that make her just another typical city council candidate? If you want change, then you have to elect people who not only say new things but don’t have the support of the same old people. Licata is not perfect by any means, but he doesn’t march in lock step with the rest of the council and is not afraid to take singular positions. If David Bloom (old and un-sexy as he is) gets on the council you have the beginnings of some real change.
Licata’s unafraid to take singular positions, including ones that are singularly wrong, like being Sound Transit’s biggest foe on this side of the lake. For most enviros, I suspect that counts for more than the bag tax.
Clearly I’m an idiot because I still don’t understand (but please enlighten me) why we are spending tens of billions of dollars on light rail. It simply duplicates the function of buses except not as well, not as cheaply and not as flexibly. The only rail this region really needs is heavy rail, connecting urban communities to one another at high speed. Light rail is another one of those silk stocking baubles. It’s an urban ornament.
@9 – silk stocking crowd. nice sexism dude.
Royer and O’Brien are far stronger candidates than Miller. Both have better environmental policies and both have broader cred with neighborhoods and business.
The Israel-Licata matchup is fascinating, as the grassroots-oriented District Democrats flock in support of Licata, but the issue-based establishment orgs (KCCV, Cascade Bicycle, the Chamber) and civicl leaders rally behind Israel. We’re interested to see how this plays out.
Miller has been a leader on tree preservation inside of Seattle. It’s a hugely important issue, but one that environmental organizations usually ignore.
Miller has more neighborhood cred than the rest of the candidates in his race put together, because he’s worked on neighborhood issues.
Not sure whether I’ll vote for him or O’Brien, but gotta set the facts straight.
Obamanerd–
Don’t show your ignorance. Guys wear silkstockings and there’s where the reference comes from.
Friends of Seattle–didn’t the Sierra Club endorse Licata? Suppose that would fit under the more grassroots-oriented groups.
Obamanerd–
Here’s citation for you from Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers: “Mr. Pickwick called attention to his speckled silk stockings, and smartly tied pumps.
‘YOU in silk stockings!’ exclaimed Mr. Tupman jocosely.”
As you see, the men also wore pumps. You might also want to steer clear of ad hominem attacks.
I might, but when you don’t disclaim something with a citation or clarification (which you have now done) it comes across as a little sexist. Any reasonable person, absent the clarification, would conclude the same when you are talking about how Jessie Israel, a woman, is no doubt gaining traction among the silk stocking crowd. Most people don’t jump to 19th Century Dickens literature. The image conjured is professional women in silk stockings.
You’ve clarified it, it’s out there, it’s done.
Lots of enviros opposed the monorail for the same reason some people opposed sound transit– concerns about accountability, changing plans, believed to be a boondoggle that was badly planned, etc. We never had a revote on Sound Transit when it drastically revised its promises from its original vote, and the finances were murky for some time. Unless enviros supported both projects, and criticize Nickels for his anti-monorail tactics, their attacks on Nick over Sound Transit politics are basically specious.
The real issue is that some groups are deep in bed with the Mayor– for instance WCV, which endorsed Nickels over McGinn and includes Rachel Smith (Nickels employee) and Thao Tran (City employee) on its King County Board. I’m too lazy to do all the research on Nickels donors for that group or the Bike Alliance, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find more of these connections.
Meanwhile the local Sierra Club endorsed Nick and McGinn, and there are plenty of other enviros out there who haven’t yet drunk the Nickels/ developer cool aid.
Yes. I have to agree with ObamaNerd. It did come across a little sexist. But now with your clarification, it just comes across as a little classist.
Obamanerd–
You should know that “silk stocking” was a phrase used in reference to Obama during the campaign. I don’t think I should have to explain phrases in common use. Read a little.
@21 It’s absolutely classist.
@22. Not that common. An informal, totally self-selected and self-serving poll of 10 people who answered my phone call did, in fact, confirm that your Dickens reference is totally obscure and that the 1991 show “Silk Stalkings” was more common. You should watch more TV.
Let’s do a compare/contract with “bluestocking.”
ObamaNerd, how could you possibly think Mikos is sexist when Mikos is -clearly- the consolidated entity representing multiple Japanese priestesses here on Publicola. Honestly, even ObamaJock didn’t miss that reference.
Mikos, when you say “you have to elect people who not only say new things but don’t have the support of the same old people” are you arguing that people should elect Nick Licata to another term so he’ll be on the Council for 16 years? And
What a nice “when your cat steps on your keyboard” moment.
Mikos, I get what you’re saying on the reread. But I bet Nick enjoyed these endorsements and campaigned on them last time he ran. I think it’s meaningful they decided not to support the person they’ve supported in the past. That’s one thing about established issue advocacy groups, their big-picture goals basically don’t change. Politicians may shuffle their priorities or their positions. It’s certainly the council race I’ve most enjoyed watching thus far!
Okay, I just have to throw this out there:
“Silk stocking” has referred, for many years, to those of wealth and privilege, aristocratic, etc. The title of the television show, “Silk Stalkings” was a play on the phrase. It isn’t particularly sexist; it is generally used as a commentary on class, but not in a perjorative sense — unless you are a reverse-snob. Which, of course, someone here might be .. I don’t know.
“Blue stocking” is a phrase that comes out of the – hmm – 18th century, I think, creation of women’s literary clubs. The women were privileged, and trying to “improve” themselves through a sort of book club. But some of the (exclusively male) intellectuals that they invited to their parties couldn’t afford the fashionable black silk stockings. So these male guests came to speak to the ladies in their plain old blue wool stockings. This phrase — bluestocking — is both sexist and descriptive of a lower class and thus perjorative.
That was fun. Thanks for the opportunity.
ObamaNerd, you’re showing your lack of (old-style) education.
I first heard the term in reference to the late John V. Lindsay, who represented New York’s “Silk Stocking District” (the Upper East Side) in Congress before he was elected Mayor in 1965. The implication is definitely Dickensian … snooty upper-class.
Y’all are officially weird.
That’s the pot calling the kettle black. (We will NOT do a derivation of that phrase, okay?)
Thanks for the clarification.
I see what we have here is a generational divide,
not an educational divide. And I studied Latin for 8
long, painful years. So my reading breadth and/or my
educational level -old style or
otherwise – isn’t really at play. All this really
amounts to is that you’ll get the brown pie piece
in Trivial Pursuit faster than I.
Unless it involves Latin, in which case you’ll get the pie piece first. What the hell is the brown category? Will admit that I’m out of synch on that one …
Arts and Literature. My least fave of all categories.
Oh and sports.
Ian– You’re right. Nick took the endorsements but, after years of service and community activism, we already knew what we had in him. I remember Nick biking around town, trying to keep the city from subsidizing professional sports (Safeco Field). He put himself out there. We (the broad public) really don’t know Jessie Israel. What has she done? Campaigning and serving are two different things and who knows what she’ll be like in office. Nick often looks tired these days but I’m banking on the idea that, given a little company (like David Bloom), he’ll be reinvigorated and some organized opposition to Nickels can begin to form on the council. If Israel had decided to run against Conlin I’d probably vote for her. I think her calculation is that she can beat Licata, not Conlin. I don’t think she is thinking, beating Licata is the best thing for the city. So, right now, what I know about her is that she is about politics not governance.