Sawant settles ethics charge, admitting violation

On Monday, the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission will hold a special meeting at which it will vote on whether to approve a negotiated settlement with Councilmember Kshama Sawant over an ethics charge stemming from last year’s “Tax Amazon” ballot proposition campaign. The ethics charge is the basis for one of the three charges in the recall petition against Sawant.

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A financial disclosure points to long-standing conflict of interest, and the weakness of City Hall’s ethics code

In the past few weeks both the city’s eleven elected officials and also the current candidates for elected office have filed their required financial disclosure forms, indicating their personal assets, their debts, and any positions they hold in external organizations. One of those financial disclosures, by a candidate who currently works for the City Council, raises conflict of interest issues — as well as questions about the low standard under which such entanglements are policed.

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Judge certifies updated recall petition against Sawant

This afternoon, King County Superior court Jim Rogers briefly heard oral arguments and quickly issued a ruling certifying an updated ballot synopsis for the recall petition against Councilmember Sawant. That allows the recall campaign to immediately turn to signature-gathering, though Judge Rogers still must resolve one remaining issue related to how long the campaign has to turn in the required signatures.

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Sawant recall petition now awaiting state Supreme Court ruling

Last week the final legal briefs were filed with the Washington State Supreme Court in Councilmember Sawant’s challenge to a recall petition. In late September four charges against her were certified by a King County Superior Court judge, and Sawant subsequently appealed that decision. Now it’s up to the Supreme Court to decide whether any of the charges can continue on to the signature-gathering phase.

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The Sawant recall: a tale of two campaigns

As the legal proceedings in the effort to recall District 3 City Council member Sawant begin to wind down, the election campaigns — both for and against recall — are spinning up. Over the last two months the “Recall Sawant” campaign and the “Kshama Solidarity” campaign have both formally organized, filed their paperwork, and begun furious fundraising. While there are many similarities between the two sides of the recall — including their use of mailchimp to send out regular missives demonizing their opponent while pleading for money (Recall Sawant, Kshama Solidarity) — their campaign finance filings reveal some stark differences …

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