SUPPORT FROM Council 2 was crucial in the victories of several candidates in the November general elections.
One was in Spokane where City Councilwoman Mary Verner was elected as the new mayor of the city. She beat out Dennis Hession, former president of the City Council, who had been named acting mayor in the wake of the recall of Jim West in December 2005.
Local 270, whose members work for the City of Spokane, spearheaded support for Verner and vigorously opposed Hession.
“Hession advocated layoffs and privatization,” says Council 2 Staff Representative Mike Smith. “He spent a lot of money on an efficiency consultant out of California who provided him with a flawed study that suggested the City would benefit from privatization and laying-off of employees.”
Although Hession outspent Verner three-to-one on his campaign, Verner won by a healthy margin.
Another race was in Snohomish County where two former legislators vied for an open seat on the County Council.
Council 2 supported Mike Cooper, who has a 100-percent pro-labor voting record in the council and has long been supported by Council 2. His opponent represented big business interests and outspent Cooper two-to-one.
“Despite a last-minute expenditure of $90,000 on a smear campaign against Mike Cooper, he prevailed by 63 percent of the vote,” Council 2 Deputy Director Pat Thompson says.
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“When we conducted our interviews of the six mayoral candidates, we liked a candidate who, at the time, was a long shot even to make it through the primary,” says Staff Representative Vinnie O’Connor. “His name was Dan Pike. He came across as just a nice guy. He was honest, sincere and smart.”
During Pike’s interview, he said health care was one of the most important benefits that all public employees and their families should have. He also spoke of the importance of wages being fair to market value, to the employee and the employer.
Impressed by his honesty and candor, Local 114 endorsed Pike early in the primary. Word got around and support for the candidate grew. When Pike ended a few percentage points below the leader in the primary race, the Local supported him with more money and substantial volunteer membership support.
As a result, Pike won handily.
O’Connor praised the work of Local Vice President Mark Bastedenbeck who mobilized the membership volunteer campaign for Pike. Without Bastedenbeck’s work on behalf of the Local, Pike might not have been victorious, O’Connor says.
“This could be a model for other Locals,” O’Connor adds. “The interview process and the organizing worked really well.”
In the elections overall, the results of the initiatives were less favorable.
“Obviously the citizens were in no mood to have anything to do with increasing taxes,” Thompson says. As a result, Proposition 1, known as the roads and transit package, failed heavily in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.
The measure called for the spending of $18 billion on improving the region’s roads and transit system. It would be paid for by an increase in the sales tax.
The voters’ mood also was reflected in the passage of Proposition 960, sponsored by Tim Eyman, that requires a two-thirds vote by the Legislature or a public vote to raise taxes. “The effects remain to be seen as the measure will face a court challenge suggesting it is unconstitutional,” Thompson says.
“It is ironic that his victory was overshadowed by the court throwing out Initiative 747, another of his initiatives that we opposed when it was approved in 2001.
“Proposition 960 is just another example of Eyman promoting unconstitutional measures that have died in the courts.”
