Unpopular City Council Withdraws Plan to Allow Conflicts of Interest

Seattle City Councilmember Cathy Moore has pulled her bill l that would have legalized a touch more corruption—allowing councilmembers to vote when they have a financial conflict of interest on the line, rather than recusing themselves. Because of all the things our leaders need to focus on right now, it’s relaxing their own ethic rules.

The bill was openly supported by Maritza Rivera and Mark Solomon. Rivera has consistently taken the most conservative position possible on every issue, so her pro-corruption stance was unsurprising. Solomon, a temporary appointee, has political instincts that are a bit less widely understood.

The pushback had been intense. Scores of people have showed up and fiercely protested the council’s actions. Councilmembers Dan Strauss and Alexis Mercedes Rinck strongly opposed the bill.

Even Mayor Harrell, who, now that it is campaign season, is pretending to embrace mainstream Democratic party priorities like protecting people who have been abused (despite his long history of standing up for abusers)—chimed in and said he opposed Moore’s unethical rule change.

The bill could come back - but like most of the initiatives driven by Sara Nelson’s handpicked and famously incompetent and chaotic council - it looks just like another ship gone to pieces against the rocks.

Incidentally, Cathy Moore—the Councilmember, ringleader, and former Judge who should know better about ethics and recusal but pressed this issue at this time anyway — has seen her approval ratings drop more than her peers in recent weeks. She fell from an 18% approval in the winter Civic Heartbeat poll to a ghastly 13% approval now. Disapproval grew from 31% to 36% in the same time frame. While public sentiment is slumping for the whole group, Moore’s drop is more severe. She fell from fifth place out of nine council members to eighth out of nine—taking Maritza Rivera’s place as second-worst on the council.

Credit to David Ryder at Cascade PBS for the photo and Lin Manuel Miranda for being the lyrical genius of my generation.

An earlier version of this article said that CM Rob Saka had abstained from voting in committee. That was an error - he is not on the relevant committee. Apolg