Public Disclosure Commission - Who is Flush With Money?
You find out the most fascinating information at the PDC (Public Disclosure Commission) about candidates.
To note, school board campaigns are generally not big money campaigns in any way, shape or form. But anything over about $25K merits a look.
These races are a lot like races for judges - people feel kind of lost about who to vote for.
If you look at voter stats, the number of people who vote for mayor is quite high but as you go down ballot, voter numbers drop off. So WHO you can get to vote for you for school board, those numbers get hugely important. If you have people/groups who can mobilize in numbers, you are likely to win because of those low voter numbers for school board.
But more importantly who drives campaigns forward - influential people and groups - that helps a candidate win for school board.
Let's dive in. (I am only going to address the two highest in each race with one exception.)
District 2 - Sarah Clark versus Kathleen Smith
Smith who has a modest $900, most of that coming from the Washington Education Association PAC.
Clark has a bigger, although still not huge, war chest of $10K. The top donation - $1200 - came from political strategist, Sandeep Kaushik, who works at Sound View Strategies. (Disclosure: I do know Sandeep and we occasionally talk politics.)
This makes for an interesting race because Smith has The Stranger endorsement while the Times'went with Clark. The Stranger endorsement carries a LOT of weight in Seattle and they have masses of readers who do vote.
Who gave Clark money? You are going to see a pattern as I go along in reporting contributions. Besides Kaushik, there is former school board candidates Ben Gitenstein and Suzanne Dale Estey and former directors Michael DeBell and Peter Maier.
What's really intriguing is that Vivian Song also gave her money ($500). You'll see DeBell, Maier, and Song come up a lot and what's interesting is that Song lists herself as "unemployed."
PDC Findings
District 4 - Laura Marie Rivera vs Joe Mizrahi
Both are doing well in donations but Mizrahi's dwarfs all others. Rivera has $25K while Mizrahi has a whopping $40K.
Rivera has both Washington State Education Association and Washington State Democrats donating along with Dale Chihuly and his wife.
Mizrahi has Washington State Education PAC as well as two donations from Song, multiple union donations and former directors Peter Maier and Steven Sundquist.
That's an interesting disconnect between WEA and WEA PAC.
District 5 - Vivian Song versus Janis White
White has a modest $9K and she also has the endorsement of former directors Kay Smith Blum, Leslie Harris, Sherry Carr, and Steve Sundquist.
Song has $30K. That came from the WEA PAC and former director Lisa Rivera plus former candidate Ben Gitenstein. Song herself has donated a lot of money to her campaign.
Interestingly, former director Stephen Sunquist gave money to both candidates in this race.
Landon Labosky, another D5 candidate, has raised $6,000.
District 7 - Jen LaVallee versus Carol Rava
Rava has a large amount at nearly $25K and all of it in individual contributions. Besides the usual suspects of DeBell and Maier, she also has Sara Morris who formerly headed The Alliance for Education and Jessica de Barros, a former charter school commissioner. (I have heard that Rava supports charter schools but need to verify that.)
Rava also spent some campaign money to attend a "K12 finance" course at Georgetown University which was about $1750 just for the course itself. She also paid $6,000 to a group called NW Passage Consulting.
LaVallee has a modest $5400 with $600 coming from the the WEA.
As I mentioned in my post on whether a slate is forming (I'm calling them The Four), it feels like a slate is. If you look at endorsements, Rava seems a bit outside looking in but I'm sure she would be glad to be part of that slate.
Endorsements
Within The Four, three of them endorsed each other - Song, Clark, Mizrahi. Rava has no endorsements from current Board directors.
D2
Sarah Clark has Mizrahi, Song, and Topp. Even though some former directors gave her money, they have not publicly endorsed her. Among her, Mizrahi, and Song, she has the fewest endorsements. That SEA gave their endorsement to Smith, not Clark, is notable.
Kathleen Smith has The Stranger, the SEA, and the Alliance for Gun Responsibility Victory Fund and no single endorsers.
D4
Mizrahi has huge endorsements like Governor Bob Ferguson and Representative Pramilla Jayapal. This is impressive but also feels like Mizrahi, like Song, may be looking ahead. He is endorsed by Clark, Board president Gina Topp, Director Brandon Hersey, and former director Lisa Rivera. (I note that his race is the only one that Hersey has endorsed.)
Rivera has the SEA, state superintendent Chris Reykdal, a bunch of LDs, and the WEA PAC.
D5
Song has Topp, Clark, Lisa Rivera, DeBell, Sunquist as well as former directors Betty Patu and Sally Soriano plus SEA and many other groups. Very impressive. For someone who wasn't in public office long, she has really gathered a lot of people around her.
White also has very good endorsements that seem to have a wider reach than other candidates. She has King County Young Dems, Democrats for Diversity and Inclusion, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility Victory Fund, the National Women's Political Caucus of Washington, and Local 587. (That she managed to get even one union is impressive.)
What I find compelling is that Topp ALSO endorsed White as did Harris, Smith-Blum, and Carr plus former candidate Vivian van Gelder.
D7
Jen LaVallee has the endorsement of SEA, WEA PAC, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility Victory Fund, and the National Women's Political Caucus of Washington. She has no endorsements of current or former board directors.
Carol Rava has Carr, DeBell, Harris, Maier, and Sundquist. She also has the endorsement of Moms Demand Action, a gun safety group that counts me as a member but that is her ONLY group endorsement. Not good.
Comments
But is this the best trio for our students? NO
Song is looking after her own interests and her agenda, personal and otherwise. Students are not her priority. Janis is not perfect but absolutely invested in student outcomes. Vote White.
Mizrahi, same thing. Political ambitions over students. Likes to share deep thoughts through the media but has no backbone on the dais. Wanted Brent Jones to continue destroying this district. Jones is now out under suspicious circumstances. Maybe under investigation? Time will tell.
Laura Marie Rivera, Doctor Laura Marie Rivera. Maybe in another life. The perennial candidate, with passion and intention but just bad timing whether appointments that didn’t pan out and went to Dury and Mizrahi, or election that went to Song under suspicious circumstances. Vote Rivera.
Sarah Clark, for someone that barely attends meetings and when she does she is either putting lipstick on or eating a burger… what can we expect? Wondering why she’s got so much $$$. Suspicious. Time will tell.
Kathleen Smith, a new comer with I would assume little knowledge of the ins and outs of this district. But I venture to say anyone would be an upgrade. Vote Smith.
* To note, Song co-founded her own PAC, chaired by Robert Cruickshank. It’s all fixed.
Insider
Smith because she’s for the state making good on its constitutional paramount duty, not closing schools, holding SPS accountable for data-based decisions, and LBTGQ kids feeling safe in schools.
LaValle because she’s not a charter supporter. Enough said. Support public schools.
Mizrahi because he is a strong and thoughtful board member, leads with compassion and strategy, and he listens to and supports families, students, and educators. I find Rivera to be ethically suspect and too chummy with SOFG supporters.
Song because she digs deep into data and issues, develops strong strategies, and is excellent at communicating with SPS students, families, and educators.
I feel good about my choices now. I’m continuing to watch the campaigns for new developments but unless something swings wildly, I’m pleased to vote for Smith, Song, Mizrahi, and LaValle.
-SpEd Mom in D2
Bueller
Oh, and while recovering, she showed up while literally hobbling on crutches to Whittier Elementary School to support their Drag Queen Storytime when right-wing talk radio attacked it. Smith was nowhere to be seen.
Smith has hedged on whether she'd close schools. She's running as a Liza Rankin clone and so she'll just do whatever Rankin wants her to do, as Smith isn't very bright and doesn't really understand SPS very well. Besides, if Smith opposed closing schools, why would she run against the board member (Clark) who led the fight against closing schools on the board?
Ballard Parent
Second, not sure why someone not running at the time for the Board would show up to a school for an event.
Third, your last point does not hold water. But I will be asking Ms. Smith about many views.
I respect Clark. As one poster acknowledged, Clark has done very well for someone that had involvement with the foster care system.
~Voting Clark
More than anything, I'm finding "Insider's" comments off putting.
And I get you don’t like Smith but (thanks Melissa!) why would someone just insert herself even if in the future she would become a candidate? What are you asking people to do exactly?
And I get you don’t like Rankin but I doubt she has the power to tell another adult what to do. Elaborate how you measured Smith’s intelligence? Can you prove it?
And no, Clark did not led the fight against closures. She VOTED YES TO ALLOW THE SUPERINTENDENT TO EXPLORE AND PRESENT A PLAN TO CLOSE SCHOOLS. It started there. She later changed her tune. Like the rest of the board did when the district FAILED to present a plan.
Oh and Marni Campbell should gotten fired by the Superintendent and if he did not do it, he should have been fired.
But here we are.
Fed Up
Back to D2: I’ve met both Smith and Clark, and I like both! I appreciate Smith’s support for taxing the rich to pay for our public schools and her support for LBTGQ students.
Clark’s policy team and employees opposed taxes on even the very rich in Oly this year. If you have progressive friends, ask them and they can tell you all about it. Testimony videos of Clark’s employees testifying against wealth taxes are making the rounds. And Clark couldn’t answer the stranger’s questions about the attacks on LGBTQ students. I wish Clark *would* address the legitimate concerns progressives have about her. But she hasn’t done so. King Co Dems members, House Our Neighbors leaders, SEA, and other ed leaders have all shared their support for Smith or concerns about Clark and it’s been crickets from Clark.
To say it’s about Rankin is not seeing the reality of the race here and now. I prefer both Smith and Clark on the board over Rankin but thats not the race we have. @BallardParent, if you have friends in Rankin’s district, reach out and see if they will run against her in 2027.
If you haven’t met Smith, please reach out to her. If you’re in Ballard, then you’re in D2 and able to vote in this primary. As a fellow D2 voter, I encourage you to meet both candidates. Smith has been visible and meeting people in Ballard seafood festival, at farmers markets, at the Stranger, at the Burner, and other stuff.
This may be a total turn off you, @BallardParent and for people on this blog, but I find Smith to be similar to the very smart-cute-awkward of Katie Wilson. Smith cares and is smart. She earned my vote!
Satisfied in D2
Whereas Smith is going around repeating the Liza Rankin line about school closures not having been done well. Which indicates she absolutely would vote with Rankin to close schools in the future. Why would anyone take the chance on an unknown Rankin fan, as opposed to Clark who has shown she can be trusted to stop school closure plans?
Inside Observer
Why would anyone want to send more funding to Seattle Public Schools when the board can't be bothered with finance or operational committees? And why would you want to send money to SPS when the board passes tens of millions of dollars through the consent agenda and complains about not having influence over the budget.
Congratulations to Smith and all the others that want increased funding. Olympia just approved increasing the local school district property tax levy authority by 55% by 2031. These dollars will flow into Seattle Public Schools without adequate oversight.
~"Paramount Duty" argument gets old
~Oversight needed
Dig deeper into these candidates please.
--Behind the Curtain
This really is irrelevant if what voters want is a strong advocate for all, not only those any given candidate can relate to.
Queen Bee
Inside Observer is correct, Clark was the key leader on the board in stopping the closure plan last year. She worked the other board members hard and the Superintendent as well. Without her work, those closures would absolutely have happened. Liza Rankin and her allies are going after Clark as a result of this, hoping to oust her so they can resume the closure plan.
Clark has been responsive to parents, supports HCC and option schools, is bringing back board fiscal oversight, and wants to get rid of SOFG. We don't have to wonder how she'll do on the board, we've seen it and it's been good.
Smith seems nice and promising, but lacks detailed knowledge of SPS issues. To fill that gap, she has indeed turned to Rankin and friends. You see this extremely clearly in Smith's questionnaire responses, which sound exactly like things you hear Rankin say. Smith does indeed hedge on closures. Smith isn't going to remove SOFG. Smith even told the Rainy Day Recess podcast she is most looking forward to working with Rankin out of all the board members. Ultimately, if she really did oppose closures, why on earth would she run against the person who led the effort to stop those closures? It makes no sense.
If you like Liza Rankin and the job she's done on the board, then Smith is your candidate. If you don't, if you think we need a change in direction, then Clark is your candidate.
On progressive taxes: I've fought for this for 10 years. Clark is not the problem. She is not the obstacle. Ironically, Liza Rankin was a bigger obstacle, spending 2023 and 2024 going all over town saying that it wasn't worth fighting for new revenue (so that she could make a stronger case for closing schools). So that's another reason it's weird to see Smith ally herself to Rankin.
More importantly, as someone who is still strongly for taxing the rich to fund our schools: we're going to have a really hard time convincing legislators to go for it if we haven't fixed the problems with SPS. Legislators often use SPS's problems as a justification to deny us funding. Clark is already digging in and doing that work, including moving away from SOFG and restoring board fiscal oversight. Whereas Rankin has lost the trust of legislators and has poor relationships in Olympia with key leaders. Putting Rankin back into power and into a board majority, as would happen if Smith wins, is going to harm the progressive revenue for schools cause.
So there is a very strong case to vote for Clark, but no real case that I can see for Smith -- unless one is a Rankin ally and wants to get Clark out of Rankin's way.
Behind the Curtain, I'm just one person. While I think it interesting where the money comes from, I mostly care about what candidates say.
Robert, one commenter said this: "To note, Song co-founded her own PAC, chaired by Robert Cruickshank. It’s all fixed."
Is this true?
I am not seeing this evidence of Smith as a Rankin flunky. I did hear here say in a podcast that she would like to talk to Rankin because Rankin asks a lot of questions. I don't see that as alignment. I could be wrong.
Queen Bee, if that's true, great. I will say it's not so much being able to relate but life experience does this person bring to the table. For example, Janis White KNOWS Special Education (and that includes 2E students) and that's a big deal since 1) supporting these kids costs a lot of money (that's the district's take) and 2) she knows the laws around serving those students.
Robert, I will also say that I believe the entire Board voted for the Superintendent to explore and present a list of schools to be closed. Great that when that happened, there was pushback from some Boar members. But I think that had more to do with the number/type of schools presented than any "we don't want to close any schools."
Clark had no open community meetings. Not sure what "responsive to parents" means in light of that.
I do agree that Rankin was a mixed bag as being the legislative rep. I do think whoever gets that job needs to tell Seattle voters EXACTLY what they told legislators. Rankin tends to give a review of what is happening and leave it at that.
I agree that legislators - especially in Eastern Washington - are very against giving SPS MORE dollars when their finances are such a mess. How you overcome that might take a new Board and new Superintendent years.
What I find interesting is the most spirited discussion is around Clark versus Smith. This leads me to believe that Clark is in some trouble.
Yes, the entire board voted to let the superintendent propose closing schools. Clark and Mizrahi and Topp were brand new and didn't fully understand everything just yet. They weren't pro-closure, they were "well OK I guess if the superintendent thinks he needs to present a plan, sure." But they learned fast. Sarah Clark was the first one to turn against it and rallied three others to join her, alongside parents. I didn't just watch this happen. I was there, I was part of it, working with Sarah and the others as we blew up the closure plan. We would have failed, and 21 schools would have closed, without Sarah Clark's help. That is a fact.
Four board members rejected closures in their entirety. That plan is dead - for now. Rankin desperately wants to bring it back. If she gets three allies on the board, she will bring it back, she has made this clear. But the public is very strongly against it.
The idea that anything is "fixed" is absurd and I don't intend to dignify absurd comments others made with a response.
Sarah Clark regularly meets with the public. I don't know if she's had a formal "community meeting" the way board members used to have, but that may be because there were a lot of actual board-community meetings in the last 12 months where Clark showed up, engaged, and listened to members of the public. She is out there in the community and regularly responds to parents via email.
Smith is a Rankin flunky. This is something that is harder to see from afar, but is clear up close. Smith's campaign is run by one of Rankin's close friends. Smith's answers to questionnaires are all Rankin's (and Vivian van Gelder's) words. It's sad. I think Smith could have real promise but has chosen to ally herself with Rankin rather than bring her own independent analysis.
As to who is in trouble...these school board elections are all going to be very close, and I don't think anyone is a shoo-in.
Smith sounds like a Rankin clone. She talks a lot about advanced learning and differential learning. To me, it sounds like she is just fine with the district's trajectory. She has to get nailed down as to whether or not she supports a return of advanced math classes.
~Exhausting
I never thought I would witness you mansplaining Melissa. You say you respect her and then turn around to basically say she needs to be educated and you will do that. Is that your version of respect to women? I find that offensive. Maybe Melissa doesn’t but I do.
Melissa might not “be here” but knows much more than anyone else, you included.
Yes, you, Ben, Vivian and others started the PAC that will do anything to get people you want on the board.
https://wafamilies.org/
I will never understand why you don’t run yourself. You like to spread misinformation so a political position would fit like a glove. You talk about Rankin being desperate to close schools. I think you are obsessed with Rankin.
Last election you were fiercely pushing your candidates Carlsen and Gitenstein. I hear you have moved on and barely speak to those once you “cared” so much about.
Sarah Clark is not the heroine you want to sell. She does not meet with people regularly and does not reply to emails. Ask her for the couple of emails I have sent her and the entire board. Nobody has responded. Nobody.
My name Is Olga. I stand by my words.
Olga
https://apollo.pdc.wa.gov/public/registrations/registration?registration_id=61541
—Undignified
Dignified in JSCEE
Olga's comments shouldn't be dignified by a response.
~ Exhausting
-Interested Voter
I don’t buy that Smith is a Rankin clone. It’s a tidy dig that Cruickshank—and only him, it appears—is making to try to dismiss Smith. But Smith isn’t Rankin, and there’s no actual proof to back up that accusation. Smith’s answers to questionnaires don’t sound like Rankin to me; they sound green. And on that issue, I agree with Cruickshank. Smith is green to SPS and campaigning.
Is there any criticism of Smith other than the unfounded allegation that she’s a Rankin clone or the fact that she’s green? There may be, but with this distracting and lazy argument about Rankin—who isn’t up for election—I don’t think the right questions are being asked. For example, I hope someone asks Smith on the record if she supports SOFG or would vote to get rid of it because that matters to me. Who would she support to be President and Vice President? Does she support SROs in schools, police in uniforms, police out of uniforms, police giving out citations, police with weapons, etc? Can someone ask her and all candidates these questions on the record?
What I don’t want is one guy—who fixates on Rankin but hasn’t run himself—to throw out a huge unfounded allegation about a woman—Smith—he’s likely never met or talked to. I’d like to hear more from both candidates. Has either held their own event yet? Time’s ticking as the election is less than a week away.
~Wanting Facts For Voting
~ At waiting for facts