Socialist Seattle City Councilmember's recall appeal heads to Washington Supreme Court

Seattle Councilwoman Kshama Sawant is fighting a recall. Seattle residents are not happy with her personal conduct during recent protests. The bitter fight is going to the Washington Supreme Court in January after an appeal from Sawant.

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Kshama Sawant is a socialist. She’s proudly left of traditional socialism, as she is a member of the “Socialist Alternative” party. The party is farther left than the Democratic Socialists of America, who backed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She is accused of abusing her office. Of the six original charges, in September, King County Superior Judge Jim Rogers tossed out two charges in the petition. At the time Judge Rogers said, “the petitioner has shown actual knowledge of facts indicating that the councilmember intended to commit an unlawful act.”

The remaining four allegations against Sawant are giving protesters access to City Hall, leading a march to Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s house, using city resources to promote a Tax Amazon ballot initiative, and delegating hiring decisions to her political group, Socialist Alternative.

On Thursday, Seattle resident Ernest Lou made his case again for the recall effort, which he based on four specific charges relating to how Councilwoman Kshama Sawant. allegedly abused her office. Specifically, Lou alleges that Sawant let protesters into City Hall during a nighttime protest and spoke at another demonstration in front of the Democratic Mayor Jenny Durkan’s house.

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In September the Seattle City Council voted in favor of paying for Sawant’s legal bills – reported to be $75,000. Sawant is facing criticism from Mayor Jenny Durkan who faced her own recall battle recently.

A recall effort in Seattle, Washington, to recall Mayor Jenny Durkan was initiated in June 2020.[1] On October 8, 2020, the Washington Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling which allowed the recall effort against Durkan. The supreme court’s order read, “The allegations in this case are deeply troubling and our review requires that we treat the factual allegations as true. Nevertheless, after carefully considering the issues presented, the court concludes that the recall charges presented in this case are factually and legally insufficient.”

You remember Mayor Jenny, right? She’s the liberal kook who originally characterized the protests and rioting and looting going on in Seattle during the summer as a reincarnation of the Summer of Love. Now her support for the degenerates and violent Antifa thugs in the streets of Seattle has evaporated. It’s all fun and games until the angry mob protests in front of your own home and spray-paints bad words on it.

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“All of us have joined hundreds of demonstrations across the City, but Councilmember Sawant and her followers chose to do so with reckless disregard of the safety of my family and children,” Durkan said in a letter to the city council president this summer. “In addition, during or after Councilmember Sawant’s speech at that rally, her followers vandalized my home by spray-painting obscenities.”

Why wasn’t Mayor Jenny concerned for the “safety of her family and children” when Seattle first began to burn? The woke are so short-sighted.

Sawant’s legal defense lawyer submitted an appeal of the lower court’s certification of the recall. In the Appellants Brief filed last week by Sawant’s legal team, the defense doubled down on arguments that the charges were “factually and legally insufficient”. The team disputes that Sawant didn’t meet the burden of proof that is required. “This is not a campaign event, this is not a process through which people who have political disagreements with council members who want to level a laundry list of complaints about her conduct,” Iglitzin said. “You can’t convert political disagreement into a recall.”

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On Thursday, in accordance with the state-set timeline for the appeal, Lou and the Recall Sawant effort filed their response to the brief. Their argument is that “voters can decide for themselves” and decide if Sawant’s actions warrant removal from office.

“Councilmember Sawant repeatedly denies that there is evidence of her intent to act unlawfully, when there is substantial evidence from which to infer her intent,” the petitioners wrote. “Voters have the right to draw that inference and determine the facts.”

Mayor Jenny wants Sawant investigated after her participation in the protest in front of her home. She wrote to councilmembers in June requesting an investigation. Sawant has until June 10 to issue a reply brief on that investigation.

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Beege Welborn 5:00 PM | December 24, 2024
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