If You Can't Stand the Heat...
Less than a month out from Election Day and things (for Seattle anyway) are starting to get heated. The latest imbroglio? The Firefighters' Union says word from City Hall is that they better lay off their support of challenger Tim Burgess... or else.
Firefighter Union Local 27 Vice President Ken Stuart claims David Della's chief of staff said as much over beers last week. "He said David's going to win. If you continue to support him it's going to be bad for the firefighters. [Della's] on the Finance [and Budget] Committee. It's not going to go well for you."
David Namura, Della's chief of staff says he wasn't trying to threaten the firefighters. "David's the only one on the council right now with a labor background. He's been endorsed by most of the unions. I said we need to start off on the right foot together after this election." Namura says.
The firefighters, who have more than $100,000 in the bank, have come out in force for Burgess, flanking him at most public events, handing out fliers— and they're not shy about touting their political clout.
But Stuart says this was too much. "When I walked away, I thought this was odd, I've never had someone from council talk to me in a way that wasn't positive," he says. "It definitely wasn't business as usual."
Namura says he was only trying to extend the olive branch. "It's unfortunate they decided to play politics as unusual and sabotage this relationship before it gets started," he says.
One thing's certain: the firefighters are still going to spend cash on Burgess, though Stuart won't say when or what.
2 comment(s)
Seely says:
While it\'s certainly refreshing to see the gloves come off in Seattle electoral politics, I wonder what the \"bad for firefighters\" threat actually entails. Is he going to put a cap on how much water they can use to fight fires? Cut their uniform budget in half? I\'m trying to think of a maneuver Della could pull that would pass muster with the public, who probably consider firefighters to be infinitely more important than, say, city councilmembers. My sense is the firefighers have the upper hand here.
Posted On: Tuesday, Oct. 9 2007 @ 7:49AM
Gabe Global says:
Last night I went to the second candidate forum in a week where all the city council candidates were there minus David Della. His Chief of Staff lied through his
teeth and said he didn\'t know where he was. The Eastlake Council representative I talked to said his campaign manager mentioned that he was no longer working for Della. I also asked another candidate where she thought Della was and she said he was mad because he didn\'t get some key endorsements and has been MIA of late. Hopefully someone can find out if
Della has truly dropped out or at least stopped
campaigning. I was actually fairly impressed with Tim
Burgess and he made a good case that he was the best candidate. His strongest point was how all the environmental groups who work with Della on a regular basis are supporting him. May not matter now because it looks like Della might be throwing in the towel.
-Gabe Meyer
Eastlake Resident
Posted On: Wednesday, Oct. 10 2007 @ 9:31AM