Seattle City Council Seat goes to Tanya Woo
Update 2 via Crosscut:
Crosscut had a wrap-up story on the pick for D8 on the Seattle City Council. In that story was this:
Labor backed Seattle Public Schools board member Vivian Song, who was elected to that position in 2021. The MLK Labor Council, which represents more than 150 unions in King County, and Seattle Building Trades, an influential political force, also came out in support of Song. Mosqueda, whose seat Woo now fills, was a progressive Democrat and staunch labor ally.
Song told Crosscut that she’s been overwhelmed by the support she’s received during the appointment process, and is considering running for the position in November.
Here's where everyone should put their foot down, whether you like Song's work on the Seattle School Board or not. Yes, serving on the Board is a labor of love because it's not for the money nor has it been a stepping stone to higher office. I'll certainly allow that thought.
But it is NOT a waiting room until something better comes along. Clearly Song either thinks she destined for higher office and/or she knows that in the time left in her position, she is going to be time being marginalized and dismissed by most of the Board (senior staff seem to respect her but she asks a lot of questions).
end of update
Update 1 via The Stranger on Twitter:
Morales picked Mari Sugiyama, Hollingsworth picked Linh Thai, Strauss picked Vivian Song, everyone else voted Woo.
end of update
Seattle School Board director Vivian Song's attempt to fill the empty City Council seat of Teresa Mosqueda has failed. No idea where she came in the final vote but I suspect she was in the top three given her calm and in-depth answers to questions during a candidate questions period in the process.
What does this mean for her now:
- Will she stay on the Seattle School Board? No idea how much pressure she is getting to clarify her living situation. Should she say anything at all?
- Will the rest of the Board let her move on or will Director Michelle Sarju keep bringing up the issue? Will other directors tell Sarju to let it go or will the majority continue to marginalize Song?
- Song is very smart and asks the best questions. To lose her would be terrible but I think she is a thorn in the side of both the majority and of some senior staff.
So pressure her or let it go and get on with the work?
Personally, I hope the Board lets it go if only to spare the SPS community the ordeal of doing what the City Council just did.
Comments
Vivian didn’t get it because council members heard of her registration fraud and did not want anything to do with a liar.
People have requested public records, the truth will come out and we won’t be able to blame SPS, the school board, the board office or Greg Narver. So Vivian will be left standing alone and hopefully do the right thing and resign. And then we can let Laura Marie Rivera take the spot she would have gotten had Vivian stayed in her district and run against Sarju and lose.
Poetic Justice
1. Geary tried getting elected to the legislature.
2. DeWolf tried getting elected to the Seattle City Council.
3. Song tried getting appointed to the Seattle City Council.
4. Mack resigned, and the community was put through an appointment
process.
Puh-lease. Talk about your false equivalency. Our ex-president stormed the Capitol and was impeached twice. The residency facts are not good, but she’s a volunteer for a struggling school district. She won’t be dialing up the Proud Boys on Twitter when called into question. This type of polarization is driving our democracy off a cliff.
Knock it off.
Real life
Say all you want about LMR but she is the only past candidate that actually continues to show up and advocate. Where is Molly Mitchell, Debbie Carlsen, Crystal Liston, Ben Gitestein, Romanita Hairston, Eric Souza, Rebecca Muniz, Eric Blumhagen, etc etc etc?!?!?
And say all you want about SCPTSA but first check your spelling. It is flunky, not "flunkie"
Transparency Please
Enough, and three of your four were in D4.
Real Life, well, I don't know that we know how the vote would have gone in the Song/Rivera/Dury matchup. But Rivera clearly got many more votes than Dury.
Transparency, that is a good point on people popping up at Board meetings when they are running and then you don't see them again. I will say that Eric B. was going to Board meetings for a very long time. I think his daughter may have graduated high school and he no longer has a kid in the district.
There are some wonderful people that ran for office and lost. Their words would be dismissed by the current board.
If you add the votes citywide for those center candidates, and those who ran to the left, the overall totals city wide far surpass the skimpy margin for Morales. Several of the candidates in the final round for appointment aligned with what the majority of voters said city wide. We wound up with Woo instead of an actual police hard liner.
Song never had a shot. It had nothing to do with Tim Ceis or Song’s pitiful obfuscations. The progressives are in complete denial that the Overton window shifted and that their people didn’t show up to vote. As the City Council goes, so will this school board.