A political professional who worked here for Pramila Jayapal just posted his triumph on FB.  After all, he gloried, Sawant beat Amazon

My response:

Dan, yep you and I disagreed.  I opposed Pramila because she had and has little interest in the issues that directly affect this Congressional District. That is still true now that she is headed for a third term.  Her original opponent is part of this District and he had much greater knowledge of ways the federal mess affects Seattle. That said, Sawant and Jayapal are very different issues.

Jayapal is an impressive national figure, an old fashioned pol. She has built a traditional machine to serve her clientele. She works nationally on a set of issues that I usually agree with. My objection to her is solely that she does not do a good job of representing local interests. She could, like Representative DelBene or Senator Murray, do both! Still, like any good Representative, Jayapal maintains a strong local office and clearly works for her constituents.

Sawant is no Jayapal.  She NEVER works on interests for HER district. Her office is staffed not by the divers types of people she supposedly represents but by her husband (an officer of her Socialist Alliance party) and by SEIU folks who work for that union …  a union opposed by many other unions in Seattle, including the nurses and construction workers.

Sawant also magically considers herself, a very privileged Brahmin from India, as a “person of color.”  Did you know Seattle now ranks #2 in USA “whiteness.”  Someone needs to tell Sawant that she ain’t black.  Sawant has little interest in support in the AA community of D3.

Who benefits from Sawant? The biggest beneficiary, from my vision, is … get this .. the dead Paul Allen.  Paul died but  left behind a trust that exists now on its own, freed from any human influence Allen might have had.  The creation, VULCAN, continues to expand, controlling … since you left, about a third of Seattle’s property.  This includes  Lake Union as well as swaths of what was once our African American region … the CD where she supposedly represents! black folk.

Lake Union? Do you like that gem? Remember sailing boats out of the Wooden Boat center?  Vulcan now is changing Lake Union into a mega-yacht port! No surprise when the city council has ceded that amazing place to a ghostly presence with no purpose other than making money.

23rd and Jackson? Do you remember that as what was once going to be an African American hub?  The corner in the Central District where the Red Apple grocery once was and the black owned Promenade promised more black property, is now being redeveloped by a dead white man into super priced condos. Meanwhile the wonderful Langston Hughes center is dying and no longer a center for African Americans who, after all, have now moved out of Seattle.  Oh yeah, Mt. Zion Baptist … can no longer hire a minister … too many affluent Black families have moved out!

Then there is Sawant’s biggest meme, the “homeless.” They serve her and Vulcan’s interests as an election foil but nothing real is being done. I ‘spect where you now live in Virginia, cities deal with this horrible issue in two ways: 1. Having vagrancy laws backed up by laws that guarantee a right to housing. 2. Providing much better help for the mentally ill so they do not need to live on the streets. Sawant shows no interest in either of these issues.

Meanwhile, the Seattle schools are deteriorating to the point where no one who can do otherwise will send their John or Jamila to these schools. Yep, 1/3 of our kids are now in private school.  I know the City Council does not run the schools but a true tribune of the poor schools would take a stand.

So here is a bet for you. Thursday night I am going to a book reading by a young, black, gay man.  Azure Savage is his name and he is the poster boy for the District’s fight to destroy elite education.  You see Azure is graduating from the elite program and has been very critical of the race issue. The District’s response?  abolish gifted programs and more strongly segregate the schools.  I will bet you that Sawant does not show up.

OK?   I bet you a Seattle beer!