Harrell Administration Consultant Tim Ceis Urges Business Interests to Back Tanya Woo for Open Council Seat

Don't let "unions and the left" choose Teresa Mosqueda's replacement, the longtime City Hall insider says.

By Erica C. Barnett

Tim Ceis, a longtime City Hall insider who has received more than $300,000 in consulting fees from the Harrell Administration, sent an email on Monday to supporters of the independent expenditure campaigns that helped sweep a centrist slate onto the city council last year, asking them to urge council members to appoint Tanya Woo, not Vivian Song, to the open citywide council seat that was recently vacated by progressive Teresa Mosqueda.

According to Ceis' email, he believes six of the eight council members support Woo, but "a union campaign" by the MLK Labor Council and the Building Trades unions "could cause some of that support to weaken. Let’s not take that chance. I don’t believe all of you worked so hard and gave so much to let unions and the left decide who gets this seat."

While it has been "a great two weeks watching the outcome of our effort as the new City Council has taken office," Ceis wrote,

the pending open seat appointment could upend some of our work. The Building Trade unions and the MLK Labor Council have started a campaign to get Vivian Song appointed. I know some of you may have met with her and come away with the impression she could be another moderate voice like the others we supported and elected. But I’m not so sure. For instance, she endorsed the left lane candidates like Ron Davis and Teresa Mosqueda. Additionally, I don’t think her experiences on a dysfunctional Seattle School Board are the credentials that will bring reform and a better way of doing business at the City Council.

Woo ran against District 2 incumbent Tammy Morales, and lost, last year.

Independent expenditure campaigns funded by real estate investors, developers, and banking and business interests spent at least $1.2 million supporting six of the seven centrist candidates who ran last year; five of those six won, with Woo the only loser. Installing Woo would give business interests a 100 percent return on their investment.

In his email, Ceis said Woo was "tested in her campaign and grew and learned and almost pulled off the upset of the year in the most progressive district in the city. She is ready to take office and, even more importantly, she is ready to defend and win that seat this fall."

Ceis’ partner is Rachel Smith, the head of the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce—another group with a strong interest in increasing the current business-backed supermajority on the council.

Ceis received $310,000 from the city to lobby Sound Transit in favor of a “south of CID” light rail station alternative that skips over the Chinatown International District and instead includes new stations in SoDo—where developer Greg Smith owns large swathes of underutilized property—and Pioneer Square, where King County Executive Dow Constantine has dreams of building a brand-new residential neighborhood after moving many county functions near the proposed new SoDo station.

Woo was the face of the neighborhood campaign to eliminate the long-planned CID station, which opponents said would cause too much disruption to the neighborhood during construction. She also led the successful effort to stop the expansion of a Salvation Army-run homeless shelter that would be displaced by the new “south of CID” light rail station.

Assuming Woo is appointed, Song will likely be among those challenging her in November. Historically, turnout in Presidential election years skews younger and more progressive than in odd-year elections, particular compared to local elections that do not include a race for mayor, like last year's.

In related election news, Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission director Wayne Barnett recommended eliminating caps on campaign fundraising and spending during a commission meeting last week. In 2015, voters adopted the Honest Elections initiative, which imposed a cap on campaign valuations (defined as the greater of money, including democracy vouchers, raised or spent) ranging from $75,000 for a primary campaign in a district city council election to $800,000 for a primary and general mayoral campaign.

Noting that the commission has had to raise the caps in 15 out of the 17 elections held since voters adopted the measure, Barnett suggested eliminating the cap on fundraising and spending but establishing a separate cap on democracy voucher redemptions. However, he noted that this would probably require legislation—unlikely under the current council. Unlimited independent spending has dwarfed campaign contributions, which are capped at $500 per election cycle, over the past decade.

CityClub will host a public forum on the council appointment in the Bertha Knight Landes Room at Seattle City Hall this Thursday, January 18, from 5:30 to 7:30pm. After that, the council will hold one public hearing on the appointment on January 22, and will vote on the appointment the following day.