SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Cowardly council covering its hide with head tax repeal

Jun 11, 2018, 7:34 PM | Updated: Jun 12, 2018, 7:15 am

head tax, Seattle head tax...

People fill a hallway before the Seattle City Council approved a head tax on May 14. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

The people have spoken loudly and clearly — they have had it with the incompetence of the Seattle City Council. And let me drop some truth on you before the politicians get their spin out there.

RELATED: Why would anyone start a business in Seattle? 

The breaking news Monday was that seven of the nine council members have signed a letter with Mayor Jenny Durkan saying that they are open to repealing the head tax that they just passed a couple of weeks ago.

There was an organized grassroots effort to get a referendum to repeal this head tax. Last night they had a celebration to announce that they’ve received more than enough signatures.

What’s happened is that the Seattle City Council has seen some polling that the head tax would lose in November; that an overtaxed populace would have a say. So the council members are all saying, “This proves that we’re listening.”

Wrong. They had a chance to listen before they passed the head tax.

What this displays, unequivocally, is that the members of the council are incompetent, in over their heads, and really under-qualified for the job that they do. No major corporation would pass a $400 million price increase on its customers without knowing how the money would be spent. Any executive that approached a company that way would be fired. But that’s how the council does it because the council is full of a bunch of low-IQ zealots. They’re just not very bright. So they pass this head tax and then a few weeks later, they say, “Oopsie-daisy.”

Their hope is that by November 2019, when seven of the nine council members are up for re-election, is that everyone will forget how stupid and incompetent they were in May 2018. But I won’t let you forget.

The only reason they want to get rid of the head tax is to save their own hides. Once again, they put their political aspirations ahead of what was best for the city.

Erika Nagy, who worked on the grassroots movement to repeal the head tax, agreed with me on the show.

“They know that they are going to be voted out in 2019 if they don’t start to try to do things that make it appear on the surface that they’re listening to their constituents,” Nagy said. “But they’re not.”

Seattle City Council members, you’re all incompetent. None of you have the mental capacity to help run a major city, and that has been proven through this. You are not listening to your people; you are listening to your pollsters telling you that this is the only way to avoid political suicide.

“We just need to campaign … just continue beating the drum and making sure that we’re reminding everyone every day of what they are not doing to help this city,” Nagy said.

Nagy said that before now, people in Seattle were “afraid to speak their minds.” But the head tax was the final straw for an over-taxed population that is sick of the problems in this city, and people began to fight back.

“People started to pay attention and they started to wake up, and quite frankly now, you can’t avoid it, because all of these problems that the city council has created for Seattle are at every single one of our doorsteps,” she said.

Everybody in the public knew that this was a horrible idea. The head tax was a job-killer. But the city council decided to push forward because of their insatiable desire for more money. All nine of these council members are ridiculous human beings.

Jenny Durkan is the weakest — you can’t call her a leader, because she doesn’t lead. She doesn’t stand for anything. She cannot answer a basic question. And that’s why we’re in this mess that we’re in.

You’re going to vote for a multi-hundred million dollar tax, and then when you find out you pushed people past the breaking point, you’re going to repeal it? What a brilliant strategy. If you’d listened to the voters, you wouldn’t have needed a repeal, because you wouldn’t have passed this tax in the first place. Bruce Harrell congratulated the council for being good “listeners” to their constituents — this is delusional.

Good job, well done by the people who said loud and clear that they weren’t going to take the nonsense anymore.

FILE - A vendor waits for customers near Santa costumes for sale at the Yiwu International Trade Ma...

Associated Press

US and China detail list of products agreed under $30 billion tariff cut deal after Trump-Xi meeting

HONG KONG (AP) — The United States and China released Monday reciprocal lists of products worth about $30 billion that will see tariff cuts, in a deal expected to boost bilateral trade. The details came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President Donald Trump in Washington in his first state visit to the […]

2 minutes ago

Police officers guard a road leading to RAF Fairford, after an incident in Fairford, England, Monda...

Associated Press

British police investigate whether arrests near US-run air base foiled an Iran-linked attack

FAIRFORD, England (AP) — Police were holding five men on Monday and examining suspected explosives found near a U.S.-operated air force base in England, as counterterror detectives investigated whether the arrests foiled an attempted attack linked to Iran. The men were detained early Sunday after three vans were spotted near RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base […]

32 minutes ago

From left, Amelia Woods sits in front as Samantha Hatch holds Elsie Bickett, while Maliyah Rider st...

Associated Press

People with Down syndrome and other disabilities find their rhythm in Indiana dance program

FISHERS, Ind. (AP) — Finn Vester, who has autism and Down syndrome, tried a martial arts class but it proved unsuitable because he learns differently, his mother said. Then he joined Dance Abilities, a program at Academy of Dance Arts in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers for people with physical or intellectual disabilities. Now dance […]

37 minutes ago

FILE - An aircraft lands at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP P...

Associated Press

High airfares could stick around even if jet fuel prices fall

Travelers could be stuck paying high airfares even if oil and jet fuel prices fall, major U.S. airlines and industry analysts say. The price of jet fuel shot up after the Iran war began and retreated sharply in the spring before surging again as the summer went on. Such fluctuations make it harder for airlines […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

Asian benchmarks are mixed despite Wall Street’s rally finish last week

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were trading mixed Monday after a cooldown in oil prices last week helped U.S. stocks close out their first winning week in the last three. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 declined 0.7% to finish at 65,877.62. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 8,679.70. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 2.7% to 6,889.74. Hong […]

5 hours ago

FILE - Brooke Covington, a member of the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Spindle, N.C., leaves a...

Associated Press

Assault and kidnapping retrial for Word of Faith religious group leader set in North Carolina

An assault and kidnapping case against a leader of a secretive North Carolina religious group appears to be finally returning to the courtroom more than nine years after her first trial ended without a verdict. Word of Faith Fellowship leader Brooke Covington was first tried in 2017 on second-degree kidnapping and simple assault charges. Prosecutors […]

5 hours ago

Dori: Cowardly council covering its hide with head tax repeal