The Metropolitan Democratic Club of welcomes you to its fourth annual Chautauqua Afternoon a festive event where you will enjoy:

• speeches by candidates seeking election in the primary • classic picnic fare and beverages Hear the • and mingling with MDC members, candidates, and friends candidates speak The following candidates have signed 1-5 pm, Sunday June 11, 2017 up to speak at the Metropolitan Demo- at the home of Ann and Tony Martin, 3618 SW Orchard cratic Club of Seattle’s fourth annual A Chautauqua Afternoon 1 – 5 pm, June 11. State Senate LD 48 Senator Patty Kuderer King County Sheriff Sheriff John Urquhart Mitzi Johanknecht Master of ceremonies Keynote speaker Seattle City Councilmember King County Councilmember City of Seattle Mayor Lisa Herbold Jeanne Kohl-Welles Casey Carlisle Chautauqua Afternoon Charles and Jonis Davis, Jill Geary, sponsors Kiku Hayashi, Sen Pete Francis, Lem Jessyn Farrell Each year the Metropolitan Demo- Howell, Allan Munro, Eleanor Munro, Senator cratic Club of Seattle asks members Charlton Price, Al Rasmussen, David and friends to sponsor its Chautauqua Rudo, Dan Shih, Sheriff John Urqu- Mike McGinn Afternoon. This year’s sponsors are hart, Harriet Wasserman and Jack Cary Moon Whisner. Seattle City Attorney It’s not too late to be a spon- sor. Pay at the event, or go to Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes Metropolitan metrodems.org, or send a check to DeMocratic club st Scott Lindsay of Seattle Eleanor Munro, 1925 41 Ave SW, Seattle WA 98116. - continued to p6 - Promoting progressive values since 1956 PAGE 2 - Task Force continued from pg3 - op-ed reach and to maintain ongoing contact Standing in Line: The Productivity Illusion with their legislators. Legislative dis- by Allan Munro tricts with the most MDC members are the 32nd, 34th, 36th and 37th. The MDC Recently I was standing in a line, prob- Health Care Task Force is comprised of ably at a bank or a pharmacy, and I be- Charlton Price, Bert Wyman, Vinod Gos- gan to wonder why customer service wami, Lem Howell and Seth Armstrong. counters appear to be deliberately under- Mr Armstrong has developed a “working staffed. For example, at my bank most of paper” on the subject of health care for teller stations are always empty. I quickly all, which the group will continue to re- deduced that the reason was productivity. fine and at some point to publish. By having a line of customers a business can work its employees continuously, get Ms Mosqueda’s presentation focused on the most out of them, and hold labor costs what’s at stake for Washington in terms down. The fact that a line necessarily of health care. If the Affordable Care Act means that someone else is wasting time is repealed and replaced, she said, thou- is a secondary consideration because it Allan Munro sands of seniors and people with disabili- does not affect the bottom line of that ties will lose comprehensive drug cover- business. The annual reports for service becoming a real problem. age because the Medicare donut hole will sector businesses are full of CEOs brag- reopen. In addition Washington state will ging about productivity increases and us- Remedies are hard to imagine. Competi- lose billions in federal Medicaid funding, ing that as a reason to further inflate their tive pressures are obviously not working. 775,000 residents would lose health cov- pay packages. But the damage is widely dispersed and erage, and three million with pre-existing hard to measure. conditions could be denied life-saving Other examples of the phenomenon are Thought should be given to altering the coverage. the mechanical phone receptionist who tells you that “your call is very impor- incentive system so that CEOs are not The human rights principles that should tant to us” and then gives you 15 minutes rewarded for making the rest of us wait. inform all our decisions about health of elevator music; and Dr Dao v. United One remedy might be to request large care, she noted, are universal access, ab- Airlines (overbooking). shareholders such as the California Pub- sence of financial barriers and availabil- lic Employees Retirement System to ity. The problem is that this is a zero sum pressure CEOs by threatening to vote game. A business may gain by making against executive pay packages. Ms Mosqueda joined the WSLC in 2011 other people wait, but there is no net gain and in 2013 became the organization’s for society. One entity’s gain is another’s [Footnote: The United Airlines board of government affairs director and lead on loss. These illusory productivity gains directors has voted to change its CEO health care policy. She has served as should not be used to further the increas- incentives compensation program to chair of the Healthy Washington Coali- ing income inequality we see in US so- make it “directly and meaningfully tied tion and was appointed by the governor ciety. to progress on improving the customer to serve on the Healthy Insurance Ex- experience.”] change Board. She earned her master of Of course, this practice only occurs in the ttt public administration degree from The service sector, which is the component of Evergreen State College. our economy that has been growing for the last six decades. The service sector In January she launched her campaign employs approximately 80 percent of US for Seattle City Council position 8. workers. This means the productivity il- lusion has a very sizeable presence and is ttt From the editor Metropolitan Democratic Club of Seattle – Board of Directors Please send notices of upcoming Executive committee President Eleanor Munro ▪ Vice President Jack Whisner ▪ Secretary events, letters, articles, and book re- Nicole Gomez ▪ Immediate Past President Kiku Hayashi ▪ Director of Information views to Editor Eleanor Munro at Technology and Interim Treasurer Jayson Morris ▪ Director of Outreach Kathleen Flynn ▪ Directors Bill Bradburd ▪ Joanna Cullen ▪ Dan Fievez ▪ Sen Pete Francis ▪ Judi Gibbs [email protected] or 1925 41st Ave ▪ Vinod Goswami ▪ Jerome Greene ▪ Lem Howell ▪ Anne Johnson ▪ Peggy Maze Johnson SW, Seattle WA 98116 no later than the ▪ Sen Eugene Lux ▪ Mark Marshall ▪ Allan Munro ▪ Dr David Rudo ▪ Rep Gael Tarleton ▪ fourth Wednesday of the month. All Elizabeth Stanton ▪ Harriet Wasserman ▪ Bert Wyman Lifetime honored members Kay contributions are subject to editing. For Bullitt ▪ Sen Pete Francis ▪ Hon Nick Licata. more information call 206‑370‑1374. THE M D C Promoting progressive values since 1956 www.metrodems.org JUNE/JULY 2017 NEWS A monthly publication of The Metropolitan Democratic Club of Seattle upcoming program Burbank speaks on Seattle income tax John Burbank, founder of the Econom- ic Opportunity Institute (EOI), will speak about the potential for a Seattle city income tax at the June 14 meeting of the Metropolitan Democratic Club of Seattle. The title of his presentation is “Creating Progressive Funding for John Wilson Urgent Public Needs.” The meeting King County assessor: John Burbank takes place, as usual, noon – 1:30 pm, at the Plaza 600 Building #205, 600 tax structure outdated Stewart St.

King County residents continue to vote for Before founding EOI, Mr Burbank levies on property taxes, which is why prop- was project manager of the Sand Point erty taxes have increased 30 percent over the last five years, said King County Asses- Community Housing Association, po- sor John Wilson, in his May 24 presentation litical director of the Washington State to the Metropolitan Democratic Club of Labor Council, staff coordinator for Seattle. That’s why we need to reform our the Washington State Senate and di- outdated tax structure and service delivery rector for the Community Labor Co- model, he added. alition in Rhode Island. He is a clini- The state tax cap of one percent forces lo- cal instructor in community-oriented cal governments to pass special levies to public health practice with the Depart- pay for basic operations, he continued, and ment of Health Services at the Univer- this puts tremendous pressure on small gov- sity of Washington. He has a master Teresa Mosqueda - continued to p4 - of public administration degree from Task force focuses 35-minute documentary, after which they the UW Graduate School of Public Af- led a discussion of the current efforts of fairs. the Republicans to repeal and replace the on health care for all Affordable Care Act. Mr Burbank has spoken to the MDC The Metropolitan Democratic Club of several times in the past on local eco- Members of the task force noted that al- Seattle’s Health Care Task Force has or- though 67 percent of the population na- nomic issues. ganized two programs on health care this ttt tionwide have some sort of health insur- spring. Teresa Mosqueda, political and ance, 30 million are still uninsured. They strategic campaign director of the Wash- believe that we will be more successful New members ington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, in effecting change at a statewide level spoke about the Health Care is a Human The MDC welcomes new than nationwide. Thus they plan on as- Right Campaign at the April 12 meeting members Ahmed Abdi, Stasha sembling work groups of MDC members of the MDC. On May 10, the task force ar- Dennard, Seattle School Board by legislative districts and eventually ranged for MDC members to view “Now Director Jill Geary and returning helping them to conduct community out- is the Time; Healthcare for Everybody,” a member Peter Steinbrueck. - continued to pg2 - PAGE 4 - Wilson continued from pg3 - ernments in King County. In Seattle alone A Fatal Flaw? the cost of services on the 2017 tax bill by Al Rasmussen amounts to $3.5 billion; the tax rate has gone up $2.01/$1,000 since 2009. Apportionment of the US Senate, two The voter’s approval of expensive new senators from each state, is central in the proposals (think ) is not US Constitution and cannot be changed the only reason taxes are so high. Another by constitutional amendment. It could factor is skyrocketing property values. In be changed only by another Constitu- addition, school districts are being forced tional Convention at which the whole to ask for more in property taxes for opera- document would be subject to revision. tions and construction; many passed huge The average population of states Al Rasmussen bond issues last year for this purpose. with Republican US senators is 5.37 million; with Democratic senators, A more fundamental force lead- Some taxpayers are trying to game the sys- ing to this pattern is the heav- tem, Mr Wilson said, but the county has 7.59 million; and with independent ily Democratic strength in cities. been able to find ways to get these peo- senators (ME, VT), 0.97 million. ple to pay their fair share. He noted that An example of the latter is Penn- the people in West Seattle who cut down That apportionment resulted from a sylvania, where 13 seats are held dozens of trees to afford themselves better compromise at the 1787 convention by Republicans and five by Demo- views, received tax statements that reflect- in Philadelphia, which revolved main- crats -- in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ed the new property values consistent with ly around the issue of slavery. At that and Harrisburg. Of the 435 seats in their new views. time the US was an agrarian society the US House, in the 2016 election the 194 Democrats had an average of We can’t continue to use special levies of three million with only a small ur- 316,000 votes, whereas the 241 Repub- to pay for basic services, Mr Wilson re- ban population. Distribution of politi- marked, as this is risky and inequitable. cal strength then was suitable for the licans had an average of only 260,000. But what if the voters say no to levies? society of yeoman farmers envisioned How will services by funded? by Jefferson but is not suitable for to- The non-representativeness of the US day’s heavily urbanized nation. A re- Senate extends to the Electoral Col- Mr Wilson explained that Washington has cent expression of dissatisfaction with lege, but distortion of it can be relieved had property taxes even before statehood the current situation was the futile con- without needing revision of the Consti- in 1889. Washington was an agrarian econ- tution. In 2016, 95 percent of campaign omy then; no one was thinking about the sideration of seceding in California. spending and candidate visits were in needs of 2017. As far back as the 1920s, though, experts reported an over reliance Although the US Civil War was just 12 states. more than 150 years ago, its on property taxes. Common Cause proposes a National fallout has been long lasting. Popular Vote Compact, which can The King County Assessor’s office is ap- Racism, religious fundamental- ensure that the electoral vote result proaching this problem by beginning dis- ism, and militarism are still strong cussions with state and community lead- coincides with the total nationwide in the South, where representation in ers and asking for their support in having popular vote. It would be achieved by both the US Senate and US House is a community conversation about what to a compact with each state’s award- strongly dominated by Republicans. do next, said Mr Wilson. The outcomes are ing all its electoral votes to the win- not predetermined but the media, taxpayers ner of the nationwide popular vote. There are in the US some notorious in- and key stakeholders will be kept informed Of the 270 votes needed, 165 of progress. stances of malicious partisan gerryman- are already pledged: CA, HI, IL, dering, such as the 12th Congressional MD, MA, NJ.NY, RI, VT, WA. Mr Wilson was elected in 2015 to the of- District in North Carolina, as well as in fice of King County Assessor after serving Those states are very blue, and getting Iowa and Georgia. The mathematical as chief deputy assessor for four years. He another 105 would be formidable. later worked in the King County’s Infor- principle of gerrymandering is to con- mation Technology department. In addi- centrate the opponent party’s strength Another question is whether those tion he worked in communication-related in a small number of districts, which it pledges would need to be renewed ev- positions with leading public officials in- will win by large margins, while leaving ery four years. Even if this is achieved, cluding Congressman Al Swift, Governor other districts with a slight margin for which seems unlikely, the apportion- Dan Evans, and one’s own party, which it will win. ment of the US Senate will be unaf- Ron Sims. He also served as an executive fected. ttt producer at KING 5 News. ttt PAGE 5 Governor , 1939 - 2017 Lifetime honored member of the MDC

Goodbye Mike. We’ll miss you.

Clockwise from top left Judge Ed Heavey, left, and Governor Two decades of public service Lowry at an MDC winter holiday party.

Governor Lowry, left, chats with Anne , 1975 - 1978 Johnson at an MDC event. US House of Representatives, 7th Congressional District, Senator Pete Francis, left, Dr Carol 1979 - 1989 Simmons, and Governor Lowry at the MDC’s Diamond Jubilee, 2016. Washington state governor, 1993 – 1997 MDC President Eleanor Munro, with Governor Lowry at a fundraiser for King We salute him for his championship of the causes of universal County Executive . healthcare, protection of the environment, redress to Japanese and Aleuts incarcerated during World War II, and other liberal causes. All of those named above are members of the MDC METROPOLITAN DEMOCRATIC CLUB of SEATTLE Eleanor Munro Return Service Requested 1925 41st Ave SW Seattle WA 98116

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