Ethics Commission To Discuss Mayor Bruce Harrell Alleged Electioneering On City's Official Social Media Accounts Oct. 1

Seattle Ethics and Election Commission (SEEC) Executive Director Wayne Barnett dismissed a complaint that Mayor Bruce Harrell's use of the City’s official Tik Tok account qualifies as electioneering and violates the law. Harrell’s saving grace from ethical violations, it appears, is that his conveniently timed self-promotion just didn’t work that well. As Barnett explained in an email, the content did not primarily promote Harrell, the videos didn’t get many views, and most of the comments clowned on him. 

In an email Thursday evening, Barnett said the concerned party filed an appeal of his dismissal. Now the issue will go to the Commission on Oct. 1.

Support Local Journalism

As The Burner reported last month, the City of Seattle launched a new official Tik Tok account featuring almost exclusively Harrell, coincidentally on the same day that same day polling predicted a win for Harrell’s progressive challenger. Similarly, after that progressive pulverized him in the primary, the City’s Instagram has doubled the total number of posts about Harrell for his entire three and a half year term in just two weeks. It read sort of like a girl going through a break up who wanted to post a lot so her ex would see she's having fun without him.

The Burner asked Barnett if the uptick in Harrell-related content violated rules against using official City resources for campaign purposes. At the time, Barnett said, “I’m not going to say this is a problem, but nor am I going to say it is not a problem. I will look into it."

On Thursday afternoon, Barnett dismissed a complaint from a Seattle resident, specifically accusing Harrell of electioneering on the City’s official Tik Tok account. To reach this conclusion, Barnett looked at ruling in former Mayor Greg Nickels’s “Accomplishment Document” or the 2005 “propaganda bomb” as the Seattle Weekly called it. 

In a narrow 4-3 decision, the SEEC found Nickels misused taxpayer money to design and distribute an eight-page, self-promotional booklet that borrowed, almost word for word, all but two of a couple dozen “accomplishments” listed on Nickels campaign website. 

The SEEC considered two main factors in the 2005 ruling: “content and style” and the timing of the effort, Barnett described in an email. 

The debate over the content of the booklet focused on whether, to a reasonable person, the document appeared designed primarily to influence an election or primarily to inform. The title of the document,  “Mayor Greg Nickels THREE YEARS OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Making a difference in people's lives”seemed to convince the SEEC that Nickels intended the booklet primarily as a means to influence the election as it clearly emphasized his record as an individual. 

As far as timing, the commission basically said it will apply  “heightened scrutiny” to any use of official, public resources during an election year. The commission wrote, “timing may cause the Commission to more readily conclude that the primary purpose of the communication is to influence the outcome of an election."

In applying this precedent Harrell’s social media bender, Barnett said, “No one can credibly dispute the spike in activity in the month of August.” However, the timing on its own is not sufficient to establish violation of the law, he argued. 

Unlike the Nickels case, the “content and style” of the City’s social media posts “militate against a finding that they are primarily to promote his reelection.” Barnett argued that incumbents seeking re-election want to convince voters that they spent their time in office producing concrete results, which is what Nickels’s Accomplishments Document did. Harrell’s Tik Toks and Instagram reels instead focused on daily events such as the opening of the Odessa Brown Children's Clinic and the Parks and Recreation department’s “Big Day of Play,” Barnett said. 

Additionally, the social media posts had a smaller reach, Barnett argued. While Nickels pushed his braggadocious booklet to approximately 40,000 residents, the Tik Tok account only has 1335 followers. Barnett said two-thirds of the posts have less than 1,000 views and only one post garnered more than 10,000.

Barnett also noted that these posts “attract scathing commentary.” For example, one commenter said, “The guy literally once, as an adult, flashed a gun at someone simply because they got a parking space he wanted. Vote him out” and another said,  “another day another ribbon cutting meanwhile harrell’s office is canceling safety infrastructure on lake Washington boulevard lol.”  

While Barnett doesn’t think Harrell’s appearances on social media turned out all that flattery, Harrell’s campaign seems to see their promotional value. On Aug. 15, Harrell’s campaign account reposted to their story a video, posted collaboratively by both the City of Seattle account and the Mayor’s official account, featuring Harrell at the third annual Seattle Street Sports Showdown. 

But even if Barnett had filed charges against Harrell and the SEEC ruled he had broken the rules, he would only get a slap on the wrist. Nickels’s 40,000 mailer stunt earned him a fine of $2,205, only part of the cost of labor. And at that point, the damage was already done. 

As basically every candidate starts to take inspiration from the vertical short-form videos that catapulted Zohran Mamandi from polling single digits to the winner of the New York City Democratic primary for Mayor, the SEEC will undoubtedly face more questions about the use of official social media accounts by incumbents running for office. But it looks like Barnett will be pretty lax about indirect promotion on social media. So, if I was a council member feeling a little wary of my chances in the next election, I’d hire a new Gen Z comms person and start pumping out profile-boosting puff posts now, potentially saving tens of thousands on digital strategy.