david noyes One of the only socialists in public office, Councilwoman Sawant is shaking up the Democrat controlled Seattle City Council (Where can we find *More Like Her*?!): I saw the Mayor and the majority of the Council attend a luxury retreat – paid for with $10,000 of tax payer money – with the Chamber of Commerce to hear big business’s budget priorities. I saw how many of the budget decisions are driven by informal agendas where the powerful have more access, rather than being driven by the needs of Seattle’s working people. And I watched as no other Councilmembers were willing to consider lowering their own salaries – the second-highest for city elected officials in the country – or capping City executive salaries to pay for increased social services to address the multiple crises faced by working people, youth, the elderly, and all who are marginalized. These problems are systemic. This is a process that has been perfected over years to protect and enshrine the interests of the rich and powerful, while giving elected officials the ability to claim that they are standing up for working people because of the amendments to marginal funding. This is the sort of cynical politics that caused the voter turnout in the recent elections to be lower than any election since 1942… I cannot endorse a fundamentally unjust budget which continues to ignore the severity of the crises growing in this city, especially the growing inequality across wealth, racial and gender lines. — Therefore I will be voting NO on this budget. But I will continuing to be working on the People’s Budget with community activists and workers. I invite all Councilmembers to join me in this effort. ow.ly/EWO1C
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 02:51:01 +0000
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