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Kshama Holds Her First “District Meeting,” Wants MOney

Kshama Sawant

While Superstar Sawant claims to be running for re-election in Seattle’s District 3, two years into her term she had yet to hold a meeting in District 3.  So, now that she to campaign … Ms. Sawant has brought some fellow superstars from New York (no obvious relevance to Seattle or D3) and on an affair at TownHall.

Pina Orsillo Belgrano

Pina Orsillo Belgrano was also there. Clcik her image to get gushing comments about her heroes .. Chris Hedges and Jill Stein. (not much there about District 3).  She also posted a video clip of Hedges appealing for funds.

It does not seem from the account  below that any of the District 3 issues were raised.

The following is an account from FaceBook by an Eastsider and his friends  who decided to see what it was all about. I added in comments by some of the others at the rally to provide a sense of what happened. I would welcome rebuttals or additions.

 Lauren M. Tozzi What an awe-inspiring night! Even got to speak with Chris Hedges and he signed my book! VOTE SAWANT!! And donate and volunteer!!!!!!!
John Donoso The guy next to me, I’m really sorry to say, is gibbering to himself…
Andrew Lamb This just sounds boring and lame.
Chiho Fox It’s pretty interesting… Oh people
John Donoso “Kshama is the thunder… And the lightening and the rain… And the fog…”
“And the fog of Sawant shall consume this city!”
Chiho Fox Is that like farts?

 Lonna Marie Anderson shared her video.

The Living Tree Operational Model (OM)
3 Main Branches-
(S.O.E)
–Solar Energy Production
–Organic Agriculture
–Education (Innovative & Alternative Ed. Models)

John Donoso More incoherent rant heckling from a homeless-looking guy off to the right…

Chiho Fox There is definitely a homeless man next to John

John Donoso David Rolff is *very* articulate

Chiho Fox “This is the first city to go to $15” except no sea tac was

 

John Donoso So far everybody is quite on message, and well organized…

Tara Almond I thought she was fundraising in New York?

               Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

John Donoso Tara – I think she’s got some frequent flyer miles now grin emoticon

John Donoso I think we’re sitting just up the row from Joel Connelly grin emoticon

Chiho Fox I wonder if she will donate her flier miles?

Chiho Fox To the poor who have not even enough miles for a round trip ticket?!

 John Donoso So basically this row goes, from left to right, Ed Hodapp, Chiho Fox, myself, a homeless guy, Michael Maddux, and Joel Connelly…!!! Bahaha small town grin emoticon

 Chiho Fox Really small town And it’s like 900 degrees in her

John Donoso Oh shit somebody from Syriza  <Ed. Radical Left Governing Party of Greece> is speaking here… I wonder if he spends much time getting advice from the Russian embassy…

 Tandy Williams You guys slay me. This is the Best hospital entertainment all day! !! Thanks Chicho and John

John Donoso “NATIONALIZE THE… VICTORIES”

 Joel Connelly Tweeting my brains out.

 John Donoso Interesting about the international dimension of this… We’ve got Irish and Greek socialists here. I agree with a bunch of the issues, although of course not all, but I can’t help wondering: Are there any Russians lurking in the background here!?

  Chiho Fox I didn’t get like what the Greek guy said I just couldn’t really understand him…

 John Donoso Interesting – Irish working class pulling hard away from the Catholic Church, as demonstrated by their support for the equality referendum!

 John Donoso “We’re here to defeat corporate power! We’re not here to talk about it… We’re here to do it!! Well we are here to talk about it… To talk about doing it… And do it.

 Chiho Fox Haha who can do “$1400?!”  Someone screamed “we’re poor!”

 John Donoso As they’re asking for more money the one guy who gave like $1400 yelled “you got it already!!” and left…

Chiho Fox I’ve never been to a political event where they’ve pushed this hard for money

 Chiho Fox Like last 15 mins is just asking for money…

Chiho Fox Still asking for money…

 John Donoso Yea it really is a hard sell

 John Donoso Like… This part is lame. They should know that. The entire cadence is off now. I think the spell is broken.

Joel Connelly Doing Sawant money pitch, Nicole Grant of IBEW doesn’t just kill time. She tortures it.

  Chiho Fox “The average house in Capitol Hill is a million dollars” doesn’t kshama have one of those houses?

 Chiho Fox Joel Connelly is totally right

Joel Connelly Doing Sawant money pitch, Nicole Grant of IBEW doesn’t just kill time. She tortures it.

 John Donoso Sawant is not talking about big ideas very much… She’s talking a lot about the minutiae of low-level maneuvering in the Council…

 Chiho Fox I feel like this is an auction

 John Donoso All this talk about the People’s Budget is making me wonder how much support there is in the room for the People’s Eyebrow

Hahahaha omg so much rant heckling! Dude is just gibbering – Sawant is like “Can you please let me finish my speech? Can you please respect the use of time!?” To which the answer from the ranting dude is obviously “NO” grin emoticon.

 


0 Comments Add Yours ↓

  1. Geov Parrish #
    1

    Stephen, you’re entitled to your opinion about Sawant, though I have no idea what purpose a string of random (and – surprise! – sometimes factually inaccurate) Facebook comments is supposed to achieve. But your introduction also has factual inaccuracies – two of them – in the very first sentence: …Sawant claims to be running for re-election in Seattle’s District 3, two years into her term she had yet to hold a meeting in District 3.

    First off, of course, every incumbent council member, Sawant included, won office under the at-large system and was elected to represent the entire city, not the district they’re running for this fall.

    (And what’s with “claims”? She IS running for the District 3 seat. She’s on the ballot. She can, for example, “claim” to care about the district, but her ballot position is a fact, not a claim.)

    But beyond that, it’s simply not true, your headline and lede notwithstanding, that Sawant hasn’t held meetings in that district. There have been a number of them. For example, see http://realchangenews.org/2015/03/11/emotional-forum-lgbtq-hate-crimes-capitol-hill-generates-potential-solutions, when in March she hosted a forum on Capitol Hill hate crimes that attracted hundreds of people, scores of whom apoke (and led Mayor Murray to follow up by announcing a plan to tackle the problem a week later).

    Oh, also? Tonight’s event wasn’t a “district meeting.” It was her formal campaign kickoff, and was billed as such (hence the $15 ticket). And yes, she used it to ask for money, just like every other council candidate ever.

    You’re entitled to your opinion, but not to pass clear misstatements off as fact. Stop it.

  2. theaveeditor #
    2

    Josh, with all due respect YOU are factually wrong:

    1. Sawant’s posters claim she is running for re-election in Seattle’s District 3. Moreover she has known since her election that she would be running form District 3but has yet to hold a meeting in District 3.

    2. As for my use of the verb “claims” yeh she is on the ballot but she campaigns everywhere else .. New York, Olympia, etc. It s pretty hard to see this as a campaign for City Council in Seattle much less in the streets form the Canal down t Judson Park.

    What word would you use?? “pretends?” Does anyone actually think she is interested in District 3?

    3. I states correctly that has not had District meeting or meetings (that I know of) in any of our neighborhoods. Yes he has had meetings in the District. Sorry, there is a HUGE difference between having a meeting in District 3 and holding a meeting about District 3. I live here. I (as you know) am pretty political and tonight’s meeting is the first time that I know of a meeting directed at the District rather than at some group she thinks she can lead .. whether that is the LBGT community or the Seattle CC student body. Moreover a large part of these groups of her faas are NOT F3 residents.

    4. I do agree that “Tonight’s event wasn’t a “district meeting.” It was her formal campaign kickoff.” BUT .. what is notable is that she chose to feature such national figures as Hedges rather than local people (other than Jamila) who might show interst on Sawant’s part in the people who actually live in her District.

    Beyond all that there is the very, very scary way she has run this campaign. Were YOU at Mt.Zion? I was and to be blunt found it frightening. A crew of supporters imported into a Black church made its certain ..whether she intended it or not … that no Black voices could be heard. Josh and Erica, as moderators, did a great job controlling the crowd, but follow up questions were simply impossible thanks to the Sawant campaign. Have you read their comments on this event?

    I also resent her claims that Pam Banks or Rod Hearne are “corporate.” This is disgusting coming from someone like her with a very upper class background and large sources of out of state financial support. What she achieves by this sort of Bolshevikian rhetoric is what she must want .. a suppression of any discussion of real issues affecting District 3.

    Her self serving label as a “person of color” is a farce. She grew up as a Brahmin, among the most privileged of classes anywhere in the world. I s there anyone in Seattle who sees prejudice againt Brahmins (or other Indians?). Please understand, I do not hold her Brahmin identity against her any more than I would question your rights as an activist to support the causes of African Americans or Indigenous Americans. But claiming identity is hypocritical.

    Finally, I have never asked but I suspect that you are a BDS supporter? If so, that is your right as an individual. However, Sawant is not a private person. She has made support for Hamas a campaign issue by not only actively supporting BDS and campaigning for a BDS candidate in New York, but authoring a document she tried to get the city of Seattle to endorse. This offends me ..as a citizen. To be blunt and nasty about it, I am a “pro-semite.” I support peace, I contribute to Peace Now and if you read THE Ave, write very much about the horrid behavior of Netanyahu. HOWEVER, as someone who badly wants peace, I find Sawant and her ilk as much guilty of promoting War as the Settler movement or the “born again” Christians who infest and pervert the USA policy discussion about Israel.

    As I have offered before, you are someone I very much respect and I would more than welcome your words correcting anything I have said.

  3. John Donoso #
    3

    I’m the poster of these comments, and I’m glad Sawant is running, and I hope she wins. Not only does she make the council *much* more interesting than it otherwise would be – she shifts the center of the Overton window over towards progressive policy, where it needs to go. This meeting, in general, was remarkably well-executed and organized, and up till the asks, had a lot of energy in the crowd. The flattened all that, however. My posts are meant in a spirit of good humor, and are intended to show that ground-level politics is often *extremely* entertaining, especially if you bring a hip flask =D

  4. theaveeditor #
    4

    John,

    Thank you for the comment. However, I was not at all concerned with how well organized the Socialist Alternative Party is ..after all this is supposedly non partisan race. My concerns are two. First, with the way she is running this campaign. So far her packing of meetings and self promotion is blocking any discussion of issues facing District 3. Did she address any such issues?

    BTW are YOU a resident of District 3 and if so are you coming Monday night?

  5. theaveeditor #
    5

    Over at FB, another Sawantista challenged my comment that she supports Hamas. When I asked how could she deny that when she is a BDS supporter and BDS supports destruction of Israel, Maxamillion Mars responded.

    Stephen Schwartz How can Israel’s peace movement overthrow (by democracy) Netanyahu while BDS and Hamas offer no alternative to ethic cleansing? Are you a Jew? Whether you are or not, do you belong to Peace Now?

    ME:
    it is interesting that while Sawant condemns the Jewish state of Israel she makes no stand on Kashmir or Somalia. How do you explain her focus on Jews?

    Maxamillion Mars

    I have no interest to debate this with you. You believe Isreal is legit, I dont. Good day.

  6. sally #
    6

    The meeting started off by talking about how Sawant has worked with the LGBTQ community on hate crimes. It is hard to get any more District 3 centric of an issue than that.

  7. theaveeditor #
    7

    Yes, and great. She also deserves 5 stars for her fight for 15 (miunus three for refusing to sign onto the final agreement). BUT .. the LGBTQ community is NOT District 3, it is one of many groups that are here in D3 and elsewhere. Now that she has pushed the $15 issue, she is dramtically missing on other employment issues ..e.g. day care at the UW.

    More imortanlty, she is nto running as a cheerleader, she is running as a District 3 Councilor. D3 is a set of neignborhoods with different and complimentary interests. IN HER 2 years, I have yet to receive as much s a newsletter .. much less a meeting. There ahve also been numeorud community meetings, has she ever attended any? Finally. I have been told she does not return calls from stakeholders .. neighborhood counculs, etc.