Renton does mayor/council/manger and it works pretty well. At least in Renton the manager acts under the direction of the mayor.
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
I will readily admit that I only know that because of Parks & Rec
I do think it's a pretty interesting and effective form of government when it works, though
I actually lived in a city that used the mayor/manager setup while growing up (the mayor was, oddly enough, one of the nurses in the high school.) There was a good deal of friction between the mayor and city manager, as I recall.
The former bothell "mayor" (we don't really have a mayor? I dunno it was explained to me once but considering I give less of a shit about my towns local city politics than I do proper parking I don't remember) is challenging Inslee for governorship. He's a corrupt real estate developer who claims he'll solve the homeless situation while fighting the scourge of non existant income taxes.
for those curious:
bothell has a city manager
city managers are appointed by the council, not elected
they typically have a lot of training in public administration, but not always, as in the case of this clown
most cities that have city managers have one instead of a mayor, but some cities will have both, with the mayor being largely a ceremonial position
it's...a decent form of municipal government, but like many governments involving appointed executives it places a lot of importance on the assumption that everyone involved is acting in good faith
the fictional Pawnee, Indiana depicted in Parks and Recreation used a council-mayor-manager government
Tacoma also has a Mayor-Manager government for years. In their case, the Mayor effectively serves as the head of the city council. The position came under scrutiny years back when it was discovered that a city manager had placed a No Arrest Zone bubble around his shitty, delinquent adult son, effectively preventing local cops from doing anything about his chronic awful behavior (like drunk driving, assaults, sexual misconduct, etc.). As I recall it was the same city manager who bungled the David Brame fiasco!
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
The former bothell "mayor" (we don't really have a mayor? I dunno it was explained to me once but considering I give less of a shit about my towns local city politics than I do proper parking I don't remember) is challenging Inslee for governorship. He's a corrupt real estate developer who claims he'll solve the homeless situation while fighting the scourge of non existant income taxes.
for those curious:
bothell has a city manager
city managers are appointed by the council, not elected
they typically have a lot of training in public administration, but not always, as in the case of this clown
most cities that have city managers have one instead of a mayor, but some cities will have both, with the mayor being largely a ceremonial position
it's...a decent form of municipal government, but like many governments involving appointed executives it places a lot of importance on the assumption that everyone involved is acting in good faith
the fictional Pawnee, Indiana depicted in Parks and Recreation used a council-mayor-manager government
Tacoma also has a Mayor-Manager government for years. In their case, the Mayor effectively serves as the head of the city council.
The fucking sacklers are going to get a sweet heart deal on the opiate crisis, but at least our AG opposes the bullshit deal for what little good it'll do.
More like a standard plea deal, I think. Basically, don't drag this out in court, don't cause further trouble, and you'll get out with just paying a small fine.
In other news, this popped up when searching for Tim Eyman: https://mynorthwest.com/1463254/tim-eyman-contempt-campaign-finance-lawsuit/
Tim Eyman is facing more contempt charges for “refusal to disclose complete information related to hundreds of thousands of dollars of payments he solicited from individual donors.” This is on top of his other current contempt charges, which are still in effect, and are currently at $500/day.
What's going on here? Why is Eyman willing to accumulate $225k in contempt of court fines so far (which I doubt he's paid) in order to hide this money? Well:
* Let's assume I have a reputation for getting initiatives on the ballot.
* A company has an initiative they want on the ballot.
* The company pays me $100k.
* I spend $50k getting the initiative on the ballot, and pocket the rest.
Is the $100k a gift, completely unrelated to me getting their initiative on the ballot? Then that's fine. Is the $100k a payment for getting the initiative on the ballot? Then I illegally pocketed a lot of political donations that were earmarked for a specific purpose. The attorney general wants to ask the groups that give him his money why they gave Eyman money, but Eyman is refusing to tell who gave him the money on the grounds that you don't need to declare when someone gives you a gift.
Declaring this money to be political donations shuts down Eyman's defense entirely, and also means he's been accepting political donations without bothering to fill out the legally-required paperwork for years, which isn't great.
Also, Eyman is representing himself. Why? Because he had the bright idea of declaring bankruptcy at some point because of the massive contempt of court fines, so getting a lawyer requires court approval; you don't get to purchase the services of a high-priced lawyer for an unrelated case when you're deeply in debt. That might change, as Richard Sanders, an ex-Washington State Supreme Court judge agreed to take his case. Step 1: actually do what the court asked you to do:
“First, you MUST comply with the court’s orders, like it or not,” Sanders wrote in a Sept. 23 letter to Eyman. “If there are other discovery issues, I will work with you and the state to cure any deficiencies after I am authorized to appear on your behalf.”
The court will decide whether to allow this in three weeks.
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
oh man, Richard Sanders, I'd forgotten about that guy
this is like a picayune version of Giuliani representing Trump
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HacksawJ. Duggan Esq.Wrestler at LawRegistered Userregular
Suffer, Eyman. You richy deserve it.
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daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
More like a standard plea deal, I think. Basically, don't drag this out in court, don't cause further trouble, and you'll get out with just paying a small fine.
In other news, this popped up when searching for Tim Eyman: https://mynorthwest.com/1463254/tim-eyman-contempt-campaign-finance-lawsuit/
Tim Eyman is facing more contempt charges for “refusal to disclose complete information related to hundreds of thousands of dollars of payments he solicited from individual donors.” This is on top of his other current contempt charges, which are still in effect, and are currently at $500/day.
What's going on here? Why is Eyman willing to accumulate $225k in contempt of court fines so far (which I doubt he's paid) in order to hide this money? Well:
* Let's assume I have a reputation for getting initiatives on the ballot.
* A company has an initiative they want on the ballot.
* The company pays me $100k.
* I spend $50k getting the initiative on the ballot, and pocket the rest.
Is the $100k a gift, completely unrelated to me getting their initiative on the ballot? Then that's fine. Is the $100k a payment for getting the initiative on the ballot? Then I illegally pocketed a lot of political donations that were earmarked for a specific purpose. The attorney general wants to ask the groups that give him his money why they gave Eyman money, but Eyman is refusing to tell who gave him the money on the grounds that you don't need to declare when someone gives you a gift.
Declaring this money to be political donations shuts down Eyman's defense entirely, and also means he's been accepting political donations without bothering to fill out the legally-required paperwork for years, which isn't great.
Also, Eyman is representing himself. Why? Because he had the bright idea of declaring bankruptcy at some point because of the massive contempt of court fines, so getting a lawyer requires court approval; you don't get to purchase the services of a high-priced lawyer for an unrelated case when you're deeply in debt. That might change, as Richard Sanders, an ex-Washington State Supreme Court judge agreed to take his case. Step 1: actually do what the court asked you to do:
“First, you MUST comply with the court’s orders, like it or not,” Sanders wrote in a Sept. 23 letter to Eyman. “If there are other discovery issues, I will work with you and the state to cure any deficiencies after I am authorized to appear on your behalf.”
The court will decide whether to allow this in three weeks.
I think the internal communications between Sanders and Eyman will end up like that Reddit thread with the UK business owner who posted the shady business things he was doing, followed by the illegal business things he was doing, capped off by him complaining that his lawyer kept telling him to stop doing the crime thing.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
"The Court finds that the Citizen Solutions Defendants not only knew the extent of Defendant Eyman’s scheme, but actively assisted with his violations, helping him mislead contributors into believing their contributions would go to support ballot initiatives, when in fact, they were benefiting Defendant Eyman personally. Crucially, the Citizen Solutions Defendants assisted Defendant Eyman in laundering payments purportedly for signature gathering, which were made after the signature gathering was completed and accepted by the Citizen Solutions Defendants solely to conceal that they were being funneled to Defendant Eyman."
If anyone is interested in board games and is available this weekend, Flying Frog Productions will be hosting their third annual event Dice Fest at Valley View Middle School in Snohomish.
Also, a certain Canadian Zergling from these very forums will be in attendance, running games for their Shadows of Brimstone line (think wild west meets Stargate with horror, steampunk, and other fantastical elements), but there'll also be tables for Fortune and Glory (Indiana Jones style pulp adventures), Conquest of Planet Earth (play as aliens invading the world!), Last Night on Earth (heroes fending off a zombie assault) and others.
I hope it's not bridging the shill line too hard, but I realized too late last year that it might be worth mentioning to the forums. I... err, probably should've mentioned it with more than 4 days notice, but I've seen plenty of people reference the area around Seattle, and if anyone is interested in a day or two of board gaming shenanigans that's much more local to you than I, here's a chance to cross paths!
I'm pretty sure the 5-6 days I'll be out there in total are pretty heavily packed, but if anyone does plan to swing by, feel free to look for a tall guy in glasses at the 3D Swamps of Jargono table (shouldn't be hard to pick out at the venue).
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
Reminder to all, vote no on Actual Criminal Tim Eyeman's latest bullshit designed to cripple the state. No on 976.
Tell your friends and family.
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
+16
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knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
Got mine as well.
Voted yes on I-1000, no on Tim Eyman’s latest bullshit, maintain on all the advisory votes.
Almost all the local elections were uncontested, but I did vote for one guy for the hospital board strictly because his opponent seemed like a dick. (Dickhead sent out a mailer describing the guy I ended up voting for as a “3-time Seattle politician”. Again, this is for a position on the hospital board for a town in a rural area)
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
But Dan, he's a Seattlite, he's going to give everyone heroin and homelessness drugs.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
For the Bellevue City Council elections, you may have noticed a few candidates speaking in opposition to safe injection sites. This has the background on that mess: https://komonews.com/news/local/bellevue-to-king-county-we-dont-want-any-safe-injection-site-here
Basically, the plan was to open two "community health engagement locations" in King county, one in Seattle, and the other outside. Bellevue immediately said "not it" and banned building it here, even though there was no plan to do that.
That was back in 2017. Currently, even the one in Seattle hasn't been opened yet, and is currently on hold. The location outside Seattle currently looks like it'll be a mobile thing. Bellevue City Council members are still running on opposition to it.
Bellevue is like an entire city made up of people who would be villains in Zombie movies.
Society saved in future as groups of people unknowingly put into VR simulation of Zombie outbreaks to identify folks willing to hold onto antisocial grievances even as world is ending.
RedTide#1907 on Battle.net
Come Overwatch with meeeee
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
Bellevue is like an entire city made up of people who would be villains in Zombie movies.
I recently saw a thing on twitter where someone polled a bunch of people in every US state with the question "what's the worst city in your state?"
and I was furious that the Washington answer was, of course, Spokane, and not Bellevue
Well I think like number of overall awful people Spokane wins there. But like on damage caused by influence yeah Bellevue by a country mile, but that's nuance.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
I think low of Spokane more on the right wing people like Cathy Mcmoriss Rodgers and my brother than brown people. Hell spokane to me has always come across as more idaho than yakima.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
i am so tired of throwing away the same 3 heidi wills ads from my mailbox every day
campaign finance reform now
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
the main problem with campaign finance laws in this area is that the penalties are basically nothing, especially when you've got that downtown $$$
Heidi wills and that PAC put together by Tim Burgess keep blatantly violating the rules because all they get hit with is a thousand-dollar fine
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
Spokane is fiiiiiine, Sacramento was way worse to live in. There's a lot of dumb shitkickers out here for sure but we're also probably the most diverse city in the inland northwest, and the harm wrought by the complete collapse of many local industries is only just now, a couple decades later, starting to heal.
My Gram has lived here since the seventies or so and she's seen it all, and she says that the big thing that's hurting Spokane right now is high housing prices. You can find plenty of fairly reasonably priced apartments, sure, but if you're looking for a house? Good luck, hope you got some rich folks. I'd rather love here than... I dunno... SeaTac. Port Angeles has apparently become a total methed out no-man's-land since I lived there as a kid, which is sad. But I lived in Spokane as a kid too, and I can tell you, compared to the late nineties, I think ol' Spokaloo has improved considerably!
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
the only thing that would give me pause about living in Spokane over any comparably-sized Washington city is the weather
I'll take the Long Grey over that much sun any time
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HacksawJ. Duggan Esq.Wrestler at LawRegistered Userregular
Port Angeles is fine. It has no more methed out parts that any other non-Seattle town in Washington, per capita.
Also I dropped my ballot in the mail the other day. All non corporate candidates, all the way down. Fuck Amazon.
the main problem with campaign finance laws in this area is that the penalties are basically nothing, especially when you've got that downtown $$$
Heidi wills and that PAC put together by Tim Burgess keep blatantly violating the rules because all they get hit with is a thousand-dollar fine
the absolute dumbest things is that the ads themselves call out the ridiculous amount of outside money being spent on this race as a reason to vote for heidi. like goddamn, you're the one getting all the fucking outside money.
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Shortytouching the meatIntergalactic Cool CourtRegistered Userregular
Port Angeles is fine. It has no more methed out parts that any other non-Seattle town in Washington, per capita.
Also I dropped my ballot in the mail the other day. All non corporate candidates, all the way down. Fuck Amazon.
That's good to hear. I still dream about it sometimes, the ocean and the rainforest and stuff.
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
I always assumed Spokane had a shitty reputation for being a place where all the people who want to be cowboys and ignore all the rules congregated. I had no idea it had any significant non-white population.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Posts
I do think it's a pretty interesting and effective form of government when it works, though
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
I actually lived in a city that used the mayor/manager setup while growing up (the mayor was, oddly enough, one of the nurses in the high school.) There was a good deal of friction between the mayor and city manager, as I recall.
"Majoring in civics was your mistake, Shorty. Don't punish the rest of us for it."
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Tacoma also has a Mayor-Manager government for years. In their case, the Mayor effectively serves as the head of the city council. The position came under scrutiny years back when it was discovered that a city manager had placed a No Arrest Zone bubble around his shitty, delinquent adult son, effectively preventing local cops from doing anything about his chronic awful behavior (like drunk driving, assaults, sexual misconduct, etc.). As I recall it was the same city manager who bungled the David Brame fiasco!
I believe Fife follows this model as well.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/tentative-opioid-deal-wont-end-court-battles-for-purdue/
pleasepaypreacher.net
Couple weeks old at this point, but Tim Eyeman's court troubles have come to a middle, thanks to a judge declaring that all the "gifts" he's been receiving over the years are actually political donations.
What's going on here? Why is Eyman willing to accumulate $225k in contempt of court fines so far (which I doubt he's paid) in order to hide this money? Well:
* Let's assume I have a reputation for getting initiatives on the ballot.
* A company has an initiative they want on the ballot.
* The company pays me $100k.
* I spend $50k getting the initiative on the ballot, and pocket the rest.
Is the $100k a gift, completely unrelated to me getting their initiative on the ballot? Then that's fine. Is the $100k a payment for getting the initiative on the ballot? Then I illegally pocketed a lot of political donations that were earmarked for a specific purpose. The attorney general wants to ask the groups that give him his money why they gave Eyman money, but Eyman is refusing to tell who gave him the money on the grounds that you don't need to declare when someone gives you a gift.
Declaring this money to be political donations shuts down Eyman's defense entirely, and also means he's been accepting political donations without bothering to fill out the legally-required paperwork for years, which isn't great.
Also, Eyman is representing himself. Why? Because he had the bright idea of declaring bankruptcy at some point because of the massive contempt of court fines, so getting a lawyer requires court approval; you don't get to purchase the services of a high-priced lawyer for an unrelated case when you're deeply in debt. That might change, as Richard Sanders, an ex-Washington State Supreme Court judge agreed to take his case. Step 1: actually do what the court asked you to do: The court will decide whether to allow this in three weeks.
this is like a picayune version of Giuliani representing Trump
I think the internal communications between Sanders and Eyman will end up like that Reddit thread with the UK business owner who posted the shady business things he was doing, followed by the illegal business things he was doing, capped off by him complaining that his lawyer kept telling him to stop doing the crime thing.
"Conservative activist Tim Eyman received a $300K kickback from a signature gathering firm, a Thurston County judge found.
Now, the judge has ordered the firm and its principal to pay $1 million for deceiving Washington state residents."
I can't and won't put any effort to get through Seattle Times' paywall, but the tl;dr is in the tweet. fuck tim eyman
This shouldn't be behind a paywall:
https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/eyman-associates-ordered-pay-1-million-ag-campaign-finance-case
"The Court finds that the Citizen Solutions Defendants not only knew the extent of Defendant Eyman’s scheme, but actively assisted with his violations, helping him mislead contributors into believing their contributions would go to support ballot initiatives, when in fact, they were benefiting Defendant Eyman personally. Crucially, the Citizen Solutions Defendants assisted Defendant Eyman in laundering payments purportedly for signature gathering, which were made after the signature gathering was completed and accepted by the Citizen Solutions Defendants solely to conceal that they were being funneled to Defendant Eyman."
If anyone is interested in board games and is available this weekend, Flying Frog Productions will be hosting their third annual event Dice Fest at Valley View Middle School in Snohomish.
Also, a certain Canadian Zergling from these very forums will be in attendance, running games for their Shadows of Brimstone line (think wild west meets Stargate with horror, steampunk, and other fantastical elements), but there'll also be tables for Fortune and Glory (Indiana Jones style pulp adventures), Conquest of Planet Earth (play as aliens invading the world!), Last Night on Earth (heroes fending off a zombie assault) and others.
I hope it's not bridging the shill line too hard, but I realized too late last year that it might be worth mentioning to the forums. I... err, probably should've mentioned it with more than 4 days notice, but I've seen plenty of people reference the area around Seattle, and if anyone is interested in a day or two of board gaming shenanigans that's much more local to you than I, here's a chance to cross paths!
I'm pretty sure the 5-6 days I'll be out there in total are pretty heavily packed, but if anyone does plan to swing by, feel free to look for a tall guy in glasses at the 3D Swamps of Jargono table (shouldn't be hard to pick out at the venue).
Reminder to all, vote no on Actual Criminal Tim Eyeman's latest bullshit designed to cripple the state. No on 976.
Tell your friends and family.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Voted yes on I-1000, no on Tim Eyman’s latest bullshit, maintain on all the advisory votes.
Almost all the local elections were uncontested, but I did vote for one guy for the hospital board strictly because his opponent seemed like a dick. (Dickhead sent out a mailer describing the guy I ended up voting for as a “3-time Seattle politician”. Again, this is for a position on the hospital board for a town in a rural area)
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
As opposed to someone from Bellevue who will do the same thing as long as you are leaving Bellevue first...
pleasepaypreacher.net
https://komonews.com/news/local/bellevue-to-king-county-we-dont-want-any-safe-injection-site-here
Basically, the plan was to open two "community health engagement locations" in King county, one in Seattle, and the other outside. Bellevue immediately said "not it" and banned building it here, even though there was no plan to do that.
That was back in 2017. Currently, even the one in Seattle hasn't been opened yet, and is currently on hold. The location outside Seattle currently looks like it'll be a mobile thing. Bellevue City Council members are still running on opposition to it.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Society saved in future as groups of people unknowingly put into VR simulation of Zombie outbreaks to identify folks willing to hold onto antisocial grievances even as world is ending.
Come Overwatch with meeeee
I recently saw a thing on twitter where someone polled a bunch of people in every US state with the question "what's the worst city in your state?"
and I was furious that the Washington answer was, of course, Spokane, and not Bellevue
Well I think like number of overall awful people Spokane wins there. But like on damage caused by influence yeah Bellevue by a country mile, but that's nuance.
pleasepaypreacher.net
pleasepaypreacher.net
rich people so cheap they couldn't even run this shit by a copy editor
campaign finance reform now
Heidi wills and that PAC put together by Tim Burgess keep blatantly violating the rules because all they get hit with is a thousand-dollar fine
My Gram has lived here since the seventies or so and she's seen it all, and she says that the big thing that's hurting Spokane right now is high housing prices. You can find plenty of fairly reasonably priced apartments, sure, but if you're looking for a house? Good luck, hope you got some rich folks. I'd rather love here than... I dunno... SeaTac. Port Angeles has apparently become a total methed out no-man's-land since I lived there as a kid, which is sad. But I lived in Spokane as a kid too, and I can tell you, compared to the late nineties, I think ol' Spokaloo has improved considerably!
I'll take the Long Grey over that much sun any time
Also I dropped my ballot in the mail the other day. All non corporate candidates, all the way down. Fuck Amazon.
the absolute dumbest things is that the ads themselves call out the ridiculous amount of outside money being spent on this race as a reason to vote for heidi. like goddamn, you're the one getting all the fucking outside money.
I was stoked to check a box for Shaun Scott, that guy's the real deal
I met him a few times while he was canvassing at my grocery store
That's good to hear. I still dream about it sometimes, the ocean and the rainforest and stuff.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain