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The ad Sound Transit doesn't want to run

May 5, 2012 @ 6:07 pm (Updated: 9:11 pm - 5/5/12 )

The ACLU of Washington has joined a lawsuit against Sound Transit, which has rejected an advertisement about low-wage airport worker jobs.

The ad (below) features champagne being served in the first class section of an airplane, coach class where most of us fly, and Hosea Wilcox representing the "poverty class." He's been a skycap at Sea-Tac airport for 31 years making minimum wage, according to the ad.

Airport

Ad photo courtesy ACLU of Washington

The ad is sponsored by a group called Working Washington. It's described as a "non-profit coalition of individuals, neighborhood associations, immigrant groups, civil rights organizations, people of faith, and labor groups united for good jobs and a fair economy."

The group spent $6,300 seeking to display the ads on Sound Transit trains running between Westlake Center and the airport, but the money was refunded last month after the ad was rejected.

Sound Transit said it tries to maintain a safe and welcoming environment for riders on the trains. Ultimately, the ad was rejected because Working Washington violated a rule requiring sponsors to be clearly identified in the ad.

The transit authorities's guidelines include "political" messages among the 18 categories of restricted materials. They define political ads as anything that "promotes or appears to promote any candidate for office, any political party or promotes or implies position on any proposition, referendum, proposed or existing laws, or other ballot measures."

The ACLU says Sound Transit's refusal to run the ad is censorship.

"The Working Washington ad does not fit any of the grounds Sound Transit gives for prohibiting political ads. In rejecting it, the agency is mis-applying its own policy," says the ACLU's Sarah Dunne in a statement.

The civil liberties group also points out that Sound Transit has run a wide variety of ads on issues of public interest, including ones by Working Washington in 2011 with taglines "Our Bridges Need Work. So Do We." Sound Transit also has approved an ad by Planned Parenthood promoting condoms that said, "Where Did You Wear It? Be Proud to Wear Protection."

Ironically, the Port of Seattle, is running the advertisement inside Sea-Tac airport.

By LINDA THOMAS

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Comments (27)


  • Add A Comment

  • Jeddite wrote...
    ARE WE REALLY TO BELIEVE
    May 5, 2012 8:06 pm
    That this man has been in the exact same position for 31 years and over the course of three decades has been compensated at the current minimum wage? Really? Who are these morons kidding? Is my heart supposed to bleed for a man who has (allegedly) spent three decades working in the same position for minimum wage? Am I to suspend disbelief that this man has had no opportunity for advancement in his role at Sea-Tac and has had no opportunity to ever seek more lucrative employment elsewhere? Maybe Sound Transit doesnt want to run this ad because it's so moronically unbelievable and an insult to the intelligence of anyone who can figure out which side of their body is their left in three guess or less?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • littlefish wrote...
    What a stupid controversy.
    May 6, 2012 10:35 am
    This whole controversy is another example of why government should not try to run a business. What a stupid controversy. If you can’t discern a misleading ad, no amount of government intervention will help you. You might say it is in bad taste, but much of what the Seattle government does is ill conceived, in bad taste or just plain inept. How many tax dollars are being wasted on this discussion?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Kosh wrote...
    Please !!!
    May 5, 2012 8:51 pm
    Show us the photo of the person that held the gun to your head and FORCED you to work at this for decades?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • A T Larabee wrote...
    Minimum wage?
    May 5, 2012 11:21 pm
    I wonder if he has claimed his tips. Tips for a skycap can exceed $1,000 a week with very little effort. People that use skycaps are usually very generous.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • black_bart wrote...
    I'm pretty sure that.....
    May 5, 2012 11:45 pm
    skycaps receive tips in addition to their pay. I am also pretty sure that if he has been doing it that long, that the tips are pretty dang good. I don't mind real political debate but this is pure nonsense.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    Mr. Wilcox,
    May 6, 2012 5:12 am
    Who is currently on vacation in Hawaii, was unavailable for comment.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Comments are missing the point...
    May 6, 2012 5:43 am
    This isn't a question of whether Mr. Williams has been, or should be, working for minimum wage. It's a question of whether Sound Transit should reject an ad calling for better wages for service workers like Mr. Williams.

    If Sound Transit were a private company, that private company would have the option to reject any ad for any reason. A private company might reject an ad for Skippy peanut butter merely because the CEO prefers another brand. No big deal.

    However, Sound Transit is publicly funded (and how!) so it becomes a defacto forum for free speech. The policies that are outlined in Linda's story seem like a reasonable way to keep the forum from dissolving into chaos- and as long as those policies apply to all parties at all times there's nothing discriminatory or unfair.

    This ad does not appear to be promoting a political cause or candidate. People from all political perspectives could agree (although not all people from any perspective will do so)that paying a person a fair and equitable wage is better than taking economic advantage of a person in desperate straits. Nothing really partisan about it.

    They should run the ad.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • fartforce1 wrote...
    You guys sure do have a lot of hate for blacks at minimum wage,.
    May 6, 2012 6:05 am
    One person says tips exceed $1000 per week, well, where is your proof? Whats worse, is that the only person who gets the point is Chuck Gould, the rest of you are pretty lame.
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  • fartforce1 wrote...
    There are bigger problems in America than cutting taxes for the rich.
    May 6, 2012 6:16 am
    Economic slavery, Economic Fascism.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    Yes, Mr. Fartforce
    May 6, 2012 9:29 am
    You have figured us out. We hate the blacks.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    And
    May 6, 2012 9:29 am
    The poor.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Thank you, Fartface, for playing a race card.
    May 6, 2012 6:57 pm
    The only thing that says "black" in either the story or any comments prior to yours is the PICTURE of Mr. Wilcox. And, at that, I am reading little (if any) 'hate' - mostly disbelief that Mr. Wilcox earns ONLY minimum wage after 31 years. ...... Glad you're profiling for us. But I don't think 'race' has any thing to due with this issue. ............................................................................................................. Oh, and Hey Chuck - who is Mr. Williams ???
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    ron.......sorry for the mental slop
    May 7, 2012 8:30 am
    My brain switched tracks between two similar names. Hosea is a fairly unusual first name, and Hosea Wil-liams was a pioneer in the American civil rights movement. Hosea Wil-cox is the baggage handler featured in the ad. Happens when you type 80 words a minute and think at about two or three words a week. :-)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Forrest wrote...
    Conservatives answer to any question concerning the poor is for them to get a job.
    May 6, 2012 7:02 am
    Yet they can't help them selves from berating a man for staying in a minimum wage job for thirty years. What disgusting hate filled, narcissistic lives they must live.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Zagnut wrote...
    Forrest, huh? Your interpretation of comments is lacking, which is not a surprise.
    May 6, 2012 8:03 am
    Nobody is "berating" Mr. Wilcox. They are berating the notion that he has a "poverty class" job. What a pathetic, logic-lacking life you must live.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Forrest wrote...
    Thanks Zagbut
    May 6, 2012 9:49 pm
    I understand much better now.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Zagnut wrote...
    I'd like to give Mr. Wilcox a choice.
    May 6, 2012 7:57 am
    He can be paid minimum wage plus tips OR he can be paid double the minimum wage with NO tips. I'd be willing to give very high odds that he'd choose the former. It is a typical advertisement and/or argument by the left which tricks the stupid people they target into believing they have a valid point.
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  • kata wrote...
    I can't figure out why they won't run the ad
    May 6, 2012 3:12 pm
    Unless not running the ad gets more mileage than running it. I hope SEIU is paying Mr. Wilcox well. If the ad is to be believed - the guy could use it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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