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ELECTION 2002
You may think that Nov. 5 is Election Day, but in fact many of the key races in King County will be decided long before that date. First of all, the number of voters who go to their polling place on Election Day has dwindled—in the last election, 64 percent of King County voted by mail. And absentee ballots will start getting mailed Aug. 30, far in advance of the official primary day, Sept. 17. Also since Seattle is a one-party town, many key races will be decided in the next six weeks. This week, we start our election coverage and our endorsements.
If a race is too hot for veteran political consultant Cathy Allen's liking, you know the contest is scorching. Allen says she's keeping out of the fiercely contested race for state representative, position two, of the 37th District (southeast Seattle and Renton).
The three Democrats are competing to fill the open seat left by the departure of Rep. Kip Tokuda. This family feud isn't husband vs. wife or brother against sister, it's a face-off among three political families and their philosophies: Eric Pettigrew carries the standard for former mayor Norm Rice's crowd, with its consensus-building, win-win smoothness; Angela Toussaint holds the banner for former state Rep. Dawn Mason's bunch, with its feisty, grassroots activism; and Cheryl Chow keeps aloft former King County Council member Ruby Chow's emphasis on personal relationships leading to cutting deals. (Libertarian Ruth Bennett is also in the race but probably won't be a factor in this liberal Democratic district.)
Eric Pettigrew, 41, works for Safeco, but he doesn't sell insurance. Pettigrew is in charge of an innovative business strategy to open insurance offices/community centers in urban neighborhoods. Pettigrew launched the effort in Safeco's Central District office. The idea is to connect the insurance company to the community in tangible ways: Safeco's office includes a room for community groups to hold meetings and nonprofits to run classes; Pettigrew hired local businesses to do catering and janitorial work; he also made sure Safeco donated time and money to worthy community projects. Corporate headquarters was so pleased with Pettigrew's results—in other words, healthy insurance sales—that Safeco asked him to open similar offices around the country. He's opened one in Atlanta and now is working on another for L.A.
Pettigrew believes he can translate his success at bringing business and community together to the political realm. The key is not to be a boat rocker but to keep paddling forward.
His approach to transportation typifies his general approach. He supports Referendum 51 (R-51)—the road-heavy $7.7 billion gas tax increase—because, "It's a step in the right direction." He doesn't want to carry on an unending debate over the fine points but instead wants to move forward with the current plan.
He takes the same approach to Sound Transit's light rail. Although he preferred a tunnel option, now that the plan calls for surface rail right through his district, he wants to make the most of it. He fought hard to get the Seattle City Council to pony up $50 million to clean up the transit giant's impact on neighborhood businesses and homes. He also hopes to get resources from the state to make the neighborhoods around light rail a model of transit-oriented development, where apartments, stores, offices, and recreational centers will grow around rail stations so cars will be less necessary. He sees his political role as "an advocate and a resource identifier" for his district.
Isn't the state cupboard bare? Always the optimist, Pettigrew hopes to push Olympia to institute the Holy Grail of every liberal Democrat: a state income tax.
Angela Toussaint, 40, formed her political philosophy early on in life—at recess. As a girl, Toussaint kept getting in trouble by interceding in playground conflicts on behalf of the underdog. Exasperated, her father demanded to know why she kept fighting other people's battles. "Dad, it wasn't fair!" she answered. "Angela, life isn't fair," he counseled. "Well, it should be," she replied.
While she gave up physically jousting at age 8, she never stopped in her fight for the little guy. It has animated her work in community groups as varied as Parents for Student Success, where she met her political godmother, Dawn Mason; the Brighton-Dunlap Community Council, where she struggled to improve inner-city supermarkets; the King County Organizing Project, where she pressed candidates to support a living wage; and the Civic Foundation, where she worked to make City Council members accountable to poorer, South End neighborhoods. Her time in the activist trenches has taught her to stand her ground, to not be intimidated by the powerful, and to win by using collective power—or go down swinging. Along the way, she's also learned the importance of using finesse, not just political muscle.
Toussaint shows no signs of becoming too mellow, however. While many elected officials and candidates express private doubts about R-51, she is the only one with the guts to do so publicly. "Something is not always better than nothing," she says. She believes R-51 is too little money focused on the wrong solution. "As fast as we build roads, they fill up. We need to be more creative." She particularly thinks that trip reduction programs such as telecommuting need to be emphasized more heavily.
