As drop-dead dreadful as this year's races for Seattle City Council have turned out to be, things could still be much worse: the candidates could all be gentrification-enabling former gossip columnists. Instead (and in spite of this article's teasing headline), there's in fact only one such creature in the running--and her main opponent happens to be the most exciting possibility for the council in almost a decade. Nevertheless, more than one current council candidate can be charged with the same degree of developer-friendliness that has made Jean Godden a must to remove from public office. Thus, if Joe Szwaja finally gets his long-overdue local election victory this year, the struggle to end the era of "public-private partnerships" in Seattle's city government will likely be far from over.

As for the Seattle School Board races, our headline could easily have been "Revenge of the Downtown Sith." The great progressive ETS!-endorsed slate elected to the Board in 2003 is now seriously endangered. While two of the four genuine School Board progressives from that year's amazing victory are already retiring after one term, one of the remaining ETS! faves will soon (in the general election) be under serious attack from the same downtown Old Boy/Gal crowd who made such a financial and pedagogical pigsty out of Seattle Public Schools back in the Olshefsky day. All of which makes it imperative to support the one School Board ETS! fave running for re-election in the primary. Darlene Flynn--remember that name.

And the Port Commissioner races? How about "Return of the Sweetheart-Deal Jedi?" Fortunately, in this year's races for these most scandal-plagued of local public offices, more than one formidable candidate appears poised to bring serious reform and accountability to the Port of Seattle. The Port will be terribly unsexy without the sleaze of recent years, but really, no, we won't miss Bob Edwards when he's gone.

Our usual caveats apply: we do not endorse unopposed candidates, our endorsements are just one opinion among many, do your own research, make up your own mind. This year, we're adding a special caveat: On Election Day, if you see Bruce Harrell coming towards you with a football, run the fuck away. All that having been said, we now hereby present the ETS! endorsements for the 2007 Seattle and King County Primary. Vote, as always, early and often!

Seattle City Council, Position 1: We begin with the race to watch, with one of the starkest contrasts between a dreadful incumbent and a genuinely exciting challenger that Seattle politics has seen in quite a while. That incumbent is the inimitable Jean Godden, the former Seattle Times and P-I reporter-turned-gossipmonger whose name recognition unfortunately trumped her considerable cluelessness on the issues at the polls in 2003. In the four years since, she's done very little to merit re-election--and the very little she's done crucially includes her failure to take action against the gentrification that's been metastasizing in our fair city on her watch. And given her notable campaign donations from such local developer luminaries as Paul Allen and Martin Selig, why would she? Meanwhile, Godden's environmental record, despite her obviously-well-funded greenwashing campaign literature (nothing's greener than a kayaking candidate--not even permaculture!), basically amounts to support for other people's green ideas (such as the city's recently-adopted Zero Waste policy). That's not leadership--that's a weak incumbent.

Godden has also been a major disappointment on the currently crucial issue of police accountability. Her civic voice was noticeably absent in the media during the recent political storm over Chief Gil Kerlikowske's flouting of disciplinary recommendations by the Office of Professional Accountability. That's not leadership either--especially on an issue that goes back well before Godden's arrival in City Hall.

Which brings us to Godden's main opponent, local lefty legend Joe Szwaja. Longtime ETS! readers will likely already know that, in this town, Szwaja can be confidently called a "known quality." Most of his local name recognition comes from his 2000 Green Party electoral challenge to Seattle's Congresscritter-for-life, Jim McDermott. While these days McDermott has been a reliable leader against the occupation of Iraq, back then he was drawing much well-deserved criticism for his support for free trade and other such Clinton-era Blue Dog follies, and Szwaja wisely chose to run to the left of McDermott, where he found a surprisingly strong base of support from local liberals fed up at the time with McDermott's venal triangulation.

Now, both Szwaja's experience as a city councilmember in Madison, Wisconsin in the 1980s and his (unsuccessful-but-still-heroic) run against McDermott have well prepared him to fill a position on Seattle's city council that clearly needs a dramatic change. His solidly progressive positions on a variety of crucial Seattle-specific issues (gentrification, police accountability, sustainability, the viaduct problem) make him an absolute must to elect--as well as support in the weeks leading up to the general election. He's a shoo-in to survive the primary: Lauren Briel and Robert Sondheim, the remaining challengers, are both decent candidates, but, simply put, they're not Joe Szwaja. Nevertheless, a strong showing from Szwaja supporters on August 21 will of course bring much-needed clout to his campaign for the general election.

Our most enthusiastic endorsement this year: Joe Szwaja.

Seattle City Council, Position 3: "My name is Bruce Harrell and I vote you'll hope for me!"

No, he didn't actually say that--at least as far as we know. But the unfortunate front-runner-apparent in the race to replace the irreplaceable Peter Steinbrueck has already proven so adept at the subtle art of the cringe-inducing political platitude that we'll be disappointed if that charming gaffe doesn't find its way into his microphone by November. And by the way, did you know he used to play football for the UW? It's true!

Seriously, while Bruce Harrell's classically cliched political persona is quite amusing, his vagueness on crucial issues makes him in fact the most troubling prospect for the council this year, a definite Must To Avoid Electing. It's enough to make us consider endorsing his main challenger, Venus Velazquez, who is reportedly running neck-and-neck with Harrell as the primary approaches. We understand why Steinbrueck himself has endorsed Velazquez--she's fiercely intelligent and articulate, and has specific ideas (as opposed to Harrell's platitudes and soundbites) to offer for action on the council. However, a comparison of Harrell's and Velazquez's respective campaign contributors makes them look uncannily like the same candidate. Basically, in both cases, there's an alarming number of high-end contributions (i.e., chits from the powerful that will eventually have to be cashed in). And Velazquez, rather than looking like an heir-apparent to the reliably progressive Steinbrueck, actually reminds us more of current councilmember (and re-election hopeful) David Della, who ran in 2003 with a strong background in--and strong support from--local labor, only to prove yet another disappointingly lukewarm liberal once elected.

We much prefer Al Runte, the former UW historian who, despite his dismissal in certain other local media venues as "The Nutty Professor," reminds us for many a good reason of Charlie Chong, the glorious gadfly (rest his soul) who shook up the council in the late 1990s with his healthy hostility towards both the infamous "Seattle Way" and the public-private partnerships then festering in City Hall. Runte similarly has expressed a healthy contempt for the influence that developers have had in the City Council's decision-making process in recent years. He also has a strong progressive agenda, including and especially impact fees for new development as part of the solution to creeping gentrification. Crucially for us, Runte is apparently the only council candidate who considers Peak Oil to be a credible sustainability issue; he wants to see a heavy emphasis on hydro and electric power in future local transportation initiatives, to prepare Seattle for a low-carbon future. Call that "nutty" if you must; we prefer to call it "independent thinking"--in other words, leadership.

Our endorsement, then, to replace Peter Steinbrueck? Watch our boldface carefully: If you're voting your fears (i.e., voting to keep Bruce Harrell out of the city council), vote for Venus Velazquez. If you're voting your hopes, vote for Al Runte.

Seattle City Council, Position 9: Sally Clark is obviously going to keep her city council seat this year; none of her challengers are even remotely serious. And we basically like her, since she's got a super-sharp mind and is already profoundly educated about Seattle-specific issues after a mere year-and-a-half on the council. Unfortunately, a year after we endorsed her for election to her then-appointed position, she still hasn't taken any strong stands (such as against the Mayor or the Chief) or, well, basically done anything! Give the incumbent a scare to let her know you care: Cast your protest vote for vaccine-obsessed permacandidate Stan Lippmann.

Seattle School District No. 1, Director, District No. 2: Darlene Flynn is one of the aforementioned ETS!-approved School Board members elected in 2003. She's done our 2003 endorsement proud, helping to change a $30 million budget deficit created under the watch of business school graduate Joseph Olshefsky (ironic, wasn't it?) to a $20 million reserve, among other positive accomplishments. While we like the fact that her main challenger, Sherry Carr, supports a ban on military recruiters in schools--a rave fave cause within the ETS! kitchen crew--we'd rather stay with the obvious known quality in this case: Darlene Flynn.

Seattle School District No. 1, Director, District No. 6: This is the race to replace Irene Stewart, one of the two aforementioned ETS!-approved retiring School Board members (the other being the truly heroic anti-commercialism activist Brita Butler-Wall--truly a great loss for the board). The only apparently serious candidate in this race, Steve Sundquist, is a former investment group manager whose least vague goal is to "bring strategic focus to the School Board." Smells Like Olshefsky Spirit! Skip it.

Port of Seattle, Commissioner Position No. 2: Incumbent Bob Edwards has got the aforementioned scandal plaguing the Port of Seattle all over his hands. He's been directly implicated in the golden parachute given to retired port CEO Mic Dinsmore. The best shot for bringing the aforementioned reform and accountability to this position is Gael Tarleton, who, in addition to putting reform at the top of her campaign agenda, also claims experience in developing strategies to prevent terrorist attacks on ports. Since Seattle's waterfront, being ridiculously close to the downtown core, is one of the most vulnerable in the world to such an attack, port security is one anti-terror strategy that actually makes sense for Seattle. (As opposed to, say, increasing anti-American sentiment abroad with unprovoked invasions of foreign countries. But we digress!). Edwards has gotta go, Tarleton has a smart agenda, so the clear choice is: Gael Tarleton.

Port of Seattle, Commissioner Position No. 5: Here's another race with a standout candidate worth an enthusiastic endorsement. Alec Fisken ran in 2003 as a downright gadfly reformist, and he's been consistently true to his word, opposing the Dinsmore golden parachute as well as other waste and abuse at the Port. His main challenger Bill Bryant, by contrast, is as venal as Bob Edwards, being an ally of both Dinsmore and the historically horrific Pat Davis. (You remember Pat Davis, right? The free-trade shill who, once upon a time, thought it would be a swell idea to bring the WTO to town? Yes, that Pat Davis.) Fisken, meanwhile, has got local progressive support to boot (lots of small contributions). How do we spell no-brainer? Alec Fisken.

King County Proposition No. 1: Regional and Rural Parks Levy; King County Proposition No. 2: Open Space, Regional Trails, and Woodland Park Zoo Levy: Sorry, folks, no local political soap operas here--levies are usually no-brainers, and these two are no exception. Also no fun, you say? ETS! to the rescue! We have a bold proposal for how to bring glamour and clamor to the next set of local ballot levies. Two words: circus animals. Imagine: After her election defeat this year, Jean Godden could come roaring back into the Seattle spotlight in 2008 by proposing to make our parks more "vibrant" by making each one home to an abandoned circus animal. Oh, the huffery and puffery that would ensue in Joel Connelly's P-I column! Vote Yes on the parks levies.