An election is coming up, and nobody cares. There aren't many races and ballot measures to be decided Nov. 6 that weren't already on the ballot last September. And while the last week of that campaign was obliterated by September 11's attacks, the entire campaign since then has been invisible, too. People care about anthrax, about terrorists, about war. They couldn't care less, at this point, about who will be Seattle's next mayor.

That's a worst-case scenario for the future of Seattle, because it opens up the probability of another record-low turnout. And that could mean the same thing that happened in September--Mark Sidran getting the most votes for mayor. And that could turn the city of Seattle into a living hell for the next four years, and possibly much longer.

Anybody who has read ETS! regularly at any point in our history knows what we think of Mark Sidran. He is a menace. He is by far the most repugnant elected official in recent local history. His appeal rests upon class and racial bigotry; he has a long history of union-busting; he's a horrible manager; the budget of his office has ballooned during his tenure; his contempt for political dissent--legal or otherwise--is legendary.

Mark Sidran is a nightmare. And unless there is a visible public counterweight to the blitz of Sidran TV ads and local media hagiographies we'll get hammered with in the next two weeks, this man will be our mayor until at least 2006.

Unfortunately, where we need a counterweight, not much is likely to come from Sidran's opponent, Greg Nickels, who is a featherweight. Nickels is ahead in the polls today, but that's deceptive. He's an archetypical wishy-washy liberal, a guy who's made some horrible decisions (e.g., his entire Sound Transit record) but who basically stands for nothing. He's been running for mayor for 18 months and almost nobody knows who he is or what he stands for.

His support stands a very good chance of melting before the Sidran onslaught. That leaves it to you and I. Because folks aren't focused much on local politics these days, a lot of people don't know much more about Mark Sidran than what his ads and op-ed apologists tell them. Every person in Seattle reading these words needs to start talking up Mark Sidran: his record, his threat, what his hate-mongering in the mayor's chair--proposing legislation, making recessionary budget cuts, and using the mayor's bully pulpit--will mean for this city and region.

Nickels is no great shakes, and Christal Wood (the Green Party endorsee in the primary), who is much more progressive, is in fact running a write-in campaign. But the stakes are too high for a protest vote on this one. Think the unthinkable. And then work to stop it. Greg Nickels for mayor.

For updates on anti-Sidran activist contact the Sidran Truth Squad at 206-732-0668.

The Rest of the Ballot

Seattle City Council Position No. 2: Our primary choice didn't survive, so we're left with incumbent Richard Conlin and challenger Michael Preston. Both have significant strengths and weaknesses. Conlin has been wonderful on some issues, but a nightmare on others; his new agey arrogance, especially on race and class issues, has been frankly offensive. Preston, on the other hand, a 20-year veteran of the school board, says all the right things but has other problems: a history of financial improprieties at the Central Area Youth Association (where he was once director), weirdness around his business practices and whether he lived in the city, and a strong tendency to be MIA his last two school board terms. That said, school board is a very part-time job, and city council isn't -- he'd be there. And the bottom line is that Preston would not just add an essential non-white presence, but he'd be a strong vote on council along the Licata/ Steinbrueck line. Conlin is anything but. Michael Preston.

Seattle City Council Pos. 6: Nick Licata running for re-election against some anonymous idiot named Peter Olive who paid to get his picture in the voters' pamphlet, but who otherwise hasn't campaigned at all. Nick, by contrast, has been the best elected official I've ever seen. At any level. Anywhere. Nick Licata.

Seattle City Council Pos. 4 & 8: As in the primary, two lousy incumbents are being challenged here by folks we endorsed in our Sep. 12 issue: Curt Firestone and Grant Cogswell.

Seattle City Attorney: At least Sidran is out of this post, and the good news is that both remaining candidates are anti-Sidrans, far, far better than Mark and actually two of the better people running for anything this year. Of the two, African American activist Edsonya Charles is best.

Seattle School District No. 1, Director, District. No. 4, 5, and 7: Two of our Sep. 12 endorsees survived to run citywide: Mary Bass, a wonderful African-American financial analyst who is running against the ambitious and rather oily Juan Cotto; and Garry Breitstein, a dynamic Beacon Hill teacher who is running against incumbent nothingness and educrat autovote Jan Kumasaka. In the other seat, former Schell press guy Dick Lilly is running against PTSA mom Pat Griffith. Neither seems bad, but neither is very good, either; fair trade hero Sally Soriano almost made the cut here (in one of the city's richer districts) in the primary and might have done better citywide.

Mary Bass, Garry Breitstein, and write in Sally Soriano again because she deserves it.

King County Executive & Council: Same races, essentially, as September, and the same endorsements. (See our Sep. 12 issue.) For Exec, Sims is a pig with no appealing opposition; for council; our only endorsement no longer in the race is Les Thomas, and we endorsed him only to prevent Pam Roach from advancing. She did, and now it's up to an unappetizing Democrat, Julia Patterson, to keep this dangerous ideologue off of county council.

Ed Sterner, Dwight Pelz, Julia Patterson, and skip the County Exec race.

King County Sheriff: Dave Reichert is unopposed. This is the Clint Eastwood wannabe who got such favorable publicity for tracking down a WTO anarchist all by himself. Whoop-de-fucking-do. Write in Katya Komisaruk. She lives in L.A. now, but she'd come back.

Port of Seattle Pos. 1: Incumbent Jack Block has used his claim that he's a "union guy" to put a fake working person's stamp of approval on corporate greed for twenty-five fucking years. He hasn't done anything else in anyone's memory, and he's so bad that even the King County Labor Council has endorsed his opponent, an exceptionally knowledgeable environmentalist named Lawrence Molloy. Molloy is the best chance in years to get some real changes at the Port, by far the most obscure and corrupt local government branch we have. Lawrence Molloy.

Port of Seattle Pos. 3: Incumbent Paige Miller is another venal trough-feeder. Her opponent, Richard Pope, is a lunatic. Write in Lawrence Molloy again.

Port of Seattle Pos. 4: WTO protester Christopher Cain is an even better candidate than Molloy, but he has a harder task because he's not as well known and faces a stiffer opponent, uber-graftess Pat Davis. Davis is the WTO and WCIT queen who has been the front person for everything bad not just at the Port, but among much of our region's business community. She actually did pretty poorly in the primary; folks remember and dislike her from WTO. A good strong push could get Davis out, which would be manna from heaven. Christopher Cain.

Initiative 747: Tim Eyman's latest is actually a lot less insane than his past efforts--in part because he actually paid a lawyer to look at it, but more importantly, because it focuses on limiting future tax increases, not cutting taxes radically. And our state's regressive property taxes desperately need reform. If Eyman had even chosen, say, 3%--the inflation rate--this would be a reasonable idea. But by moving the threshold over which the public must vote from 6% to 1%, Eyman forces the voting public to approve, each year, a tax rate which would increase at the rate of inflation--in other words, an automatic tax cut unless we vote otherwise. The electoral safety valve is there, but too many times, it won't be used. No.

I-773: Slaps a huge tax increase on tobacco products (60 cents a pack, and the equivalent for other forms of nicotine). A bit would go to pay for anti-tobacco programs and to make up the difference in programs that would lose money when tobacco use declines from the price increase, but mostly the extra revenue goes to put over 40,000 more people in the state's Basic Health Plan. There's something fundamentally unfair about the majority of voters (77%) that doesn't smoke deciding to tax the minority that does. But it both reduces smoking, especially among kids, and gets health insurance to a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't have it--both essential goals. Yes.

I-775: Takes an industry in which sloth and abuse is far too easy--home health care--and dumps a huge and complicated regulatory bureaucracy on it. There's got to be a middle ground. But which is worse: too many bureaucrats, or elderly people dying or being robbed blind by their home care "help"? Yes.

Senate Joint Resolution 8208: Constitutional amendment to use "temporary superior court judges" to hear cases. Backers call it a solution to court congestion. Well, then, hey, how 'bout repealing some of the idiotic laws (like the entire War on Drugs) clogging our courts, instead of finding more "efficient" ways to warehouse people? This smells like a recipe for giving favors to lawyer friends and retired judges, and passing off cases too politically loaded for the comfort level of judges in cushy jobs. No.

House Joint Res. 4202: Amendment that allows the state greater "discretion" in how to invest its (i.e., your) money. Danger, Will Robinson. No.

King County Charter Amendment No. 1: Adds a section guaranteeing freedom of religion. And here you thought you had it already. Yes. King Co. Proposition No. 1: Property tax levy to help fund Medic One. This is an accounting trick governments have been using more and more lately: put the pork in the general budget, and then ask voters for extra to fund the really essential services. Make them cut the pork instead. No