Burke Museum Bug Blast

The Burke Museum sponsored their annual Bug Blast at the University of Washington today. Ciscoe Morris from KIRO 710 radio was there too, giving a talk about his experiences with local bugs.  He's a local gardening expert and author.  Hey, did you know he's originally from Wisconsin?

 

Turns out there's a whole community of bug lovers in the Seattle area, the "Scarabs", a club founded in 1937 and open to the public. They're hosting a Bug Jam on Monday, September 24th at 7pm in the rear classroom at the Burke Museum and we can't wait.

National Issues, local governments

As I wondered about why non-locals would care about a Mercer Island city council election, one conspiracy theorist pointed me to an article called "They Won't Know What Hit Them" in March 2007 Atlantic Monthly that describes a brilliant strategy to influence national issues through local elections:

Ted Trimpa, who is Colorado’s answer to Karl Rove ... cited the example of Barack Obama: ... It feels good to write him a check. “The temptation is always to swoon for the popular candidate,” Trimpa told me, “but a fraction of that money, directed at the right state and local races, could have flipped a few chambers.

The idea is for a national organization to encourage its members to send checks, not to national campaigns (where a single contribution won't make much difference) but to local ones where a small donation can make or break an election.  Since nation-wide politicians have to start somewhere, you can dramatically affect the future in the long run if you can prevent the opposition from ever getting elected in the first place.

A quick glance at the donor list for our election makes it clear that the specific issues in the article don't apply to current Mercer Island elections, but I think it's a great idea and something all political interest groups will do eventually.

Incidentally, I'm getting a bunch of emails from both campaigns and while I'm happy to hear from you directly , I encourage you to please, post to my comments.  I'm not intending this to be a political blog and I'm too lazy to check all the facts before summarizing into another post. Go ahead and post anonymously if you like.

City Council Partisanship

Many people have been responding to my observation that much of the campaign money for Maureen Judge comes from off-island special interests -- nearly as much as she receives from Mercer Island residents themselves.  Now three people have asked me to take a closer look at Mike Cero's donors, which I called "boring" because they're all from individuals, not national organizations.  Maureen's funding and endorsements come from the Democratic party and orgs typically associated with Democrats, like NARAL (Pro-Choice) and the Sierra Club. Peek into Mike's funding, I was told, and you'll find Republicans.

Sure enough.  I won't bother naming people, since they're individuals and not organizations, but you can check for yourself. Looks like Mike received several contributions since I did my last check of the Public Disclosure Commission database, and what do you know, some of these so-called MI residents are donors to national political campaigns too!

Seriously, I suppose if we were going to do this right we'd check every single individual on both campaigns, look into their past history and decide whether they're more "Republican" or "Democrat".  But I'm not convinced that a private donation from an Islander who happens to donate to other causes, is the same as a check from an off-island special interest group.  This is an election for city council, for crying out loud, an office that influences road construction and zoning, not the War in Iraq. If individual MI residents, out of their own pockets, choose to donate to a local campaign, then who am I to say they're doing it for partisan reasons?

On the other hand, when an organization based in Olympia or Washington D.C. donates,  I have to wonder what would motivate their central committees to spend precious donations to influence an election in a place where they will never set foot.  And remember, we're talking about a local government office that, being non-partisan, has nothing to say about Supreme Court nominees, or logging in state parks, or whatever pressing international issues that matter to national political groups.

I want City Council members who will fix my roads, ensure good cooperation between the City and the schools, and avoid embarrassment.  I trust that every individual MI resident who gave to Mike (or Maureen) has some interest in those issues as well.  But Maureen's biggest donor is the Washington Conservation Voters.  If they really cared about Mercer Island, I bet they'd be upset that her campaign signs are still polluting Island Crest Way.

How about it Republicans?  Maureen is using state- and national political donations to fund her City Council campaign. Are you going to sit this one out?

Bellevue traffic map

Everybody knows that the Washington Department of Transportation web site has a detailed traffic map, updated in real-time to show how long your commute will be.  That's nice if you take the freeways, but what about the side streets?  I just found out that the City of Bellevue has a network of road sensors and traffic cameras that let you see at a street level what the traffic is:

Can't wait to try this the next time I see the freeways covered in black clog.

More on Maureen Judge Campaign Donations

Many people have emailed about my recents posts about the off-islanders behind Maureen Judge's campaign for city council. I was out of town this weekend and I'm finally catching up. Here's one from David Goldstein:

Hi Richard,

I noticed your posts on donations in the MI city council races. My interest in that race is that Maureen Judge is my ex-wife, and my daughter is about to start a new school year at Island Park Elementary. As a political blogger I've got a bit of experience analyzing PDC reports, and a bit of knowledge in the way campaigns raise their funds, so I just wanted to point out a couple subtleties regarding off-island and "special interest" donations that you may be missing.

When candidates raise money -- especially first time candidates who lack an established donor base -- they are advised to start with friends and family first, extending their fundraising efforts out in concentric circles, using established donors to help you connect with their close friends and family. This is particularly true of very local races, and can particularly distort the fundraising reports in low budget campaigns.

In Maureen's case, looking at the contribution detail report on the PDC website, I can tell you that all but 3 of the top 25 individual donations come from very close friends and family members; the other three donations came from the Clarks, who are active in the local Democratic Party. Apart from her Uncle Martin and Aunt Delores Judge who are longtime residents, and one person who is in the process of moving to the Island, the other top individuals have no interest in the race other than their love and respect for Maureen. Quite frankly, as a relative newcomer to the Island, Maureen simply doesn't have an established circle of close friends from whom to make this kind of ask, but as the campaign continues and Island residents get to know her better, I expect the bulk of her remaining fundraising will come in relatively small donations from Island residents. This is very, very, typical, and while I do not know Steve Litzow's circumstances, it wouldn't surprise me if the bulk of his out of state donations came from close friends and family too. That's just the way small campaigns work.

As to "special interest" money, well, no doubt, that's exactly what it is, but it isn't really fair to consider that off-Island, as groups like Washington Conservation Voters, NARAL/Pro-Choice WA, Cascade Bike Club, and the Women's Political Caucus represent many, many Island residents. As for Progressive Majority of Washington, it's mission is to elect progressive candidates into local races, so as to build the farm team from which future political stars might rise. There's nothing secretive or nefarious here.

Anyway, just thought I'd add my two cents.

David

Thanks, David, for the clarification and for giving me permission to post your reply. You offer good explanations for the off-island giving, but you've also raised some other questions.

1. By saying "she doesn't have an established circle of close friends" -- well, then how does she know what Islanders want? I was disappointed that she didn't bother to attend the all-Island debate last month; How exactly are we supposed to get to know her?
2. It's great that Maureen has so many off-island friends, but how do I know those gifts have no strings attached? and how much off-island influence should the public tolerate anyway? What if Maureen starts taking donations from friends in Renton?
3. Is Maureen turning a non-partisan office into a partisan one? Should her competitor, Mike Cero, try to recruit money and support from special interests as well? Note that she receives about as much from special interests ($2100) as she gets from Islanders ($2400).

Incidentally, I've been too busy to post Mike Cero's contribution numbers, but frankly the list is pretty boring: a bunch of $100 checks from miscellaneous residents who support him one at a time. I have no idea what Mike Cero's political leanings are, but I think it would be a shame if, to compete with all her special interest and off-island money, he were forced to solicit similar donations from the opposing sides of state-wide and national organizations.

Road Narrows

This sign greeted us when we returned from last week's vacation:

It's on a street not far from our house.  The neighbors, especially those with children, have been wanting it for a long time because too many cars like to tumble down this hill at full speed, unaware children and bicyclists might be ahead. At the narrowest section, it's effectively a one-way street so cars often find themselves head-to-head.

Do you recognize this street?  Dan Grausz, on Mercer Island City Council does. He helped the neighbors get that sign. He's a good city councilman.  Guess how much he raised for his last re-election?  Answer: $7500, virtually all of it in small donations from local people. None of it from big off-island special interest organizations.

Everything is local, in politics and in the rest of life. Mercer Island's not a big place.  I wonder how many of the candidates in this year's City Council election can name this street?  I wonder how many of them ever been on this street? If I were on the Seattle Times editorial board, that'd be one of my questions to people like Maureen Judge, Mike Cero, Bruce Bassett, Patti Darling:  can you name this street? 

Sell your photos

We take more photos than any family I know, enough that our kids probably think their parents have lenses attached to our faces.  When you take that many pictures, some of them are bound to turn out to be interesting enough that somebody else might want to buy them.

I have no interest in going through the trouble to get extra change from this, but a friend at work recently wrote up his experiences selling to sites like Shutterstock and iStockPhoto. He makes about $150/month, on a few hundred images he's uploaded over the years. Basically these sites give you a cut (25 cents or so) per photo their users download; users are charged from $1 to $10+ depending on the resolution.

Most of the pictures people buy, apparently, are travel-related; something to consider if you go on trips to places like Switzerland, Argentina, or China.