Seattle City Council Wants To Change Ethics Rules To Vote In Their Financial Interest

City Hall FYI

Draft legislation shows the Seattle City Council may amend the City's Code of Ethics to allow members to vote in their own financial interest. Under the draft rules, council members could vote in their own financial interest the member publicly discloses their "appearance" of a conflict at an open public meeting of the council or one of its committees. This marks a change from current policy, which requires council members to recuse themselves from votes where the elected official or an immediate family member stands to benefit financially unless a substantial portion of constituents also hold that same financial interest.

The council will likely unveil the policy officially next week, but its been a long time coming. As I reported in November, Council President Sara Nelson took issue with Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) Director Wayne Barnett's decision that then-Council Member Tanya Woo couldn't vote on her egregious attempt to repeal the minimum wage for gig workers. Nelson wrote in a heated email exchange with Barnett that she was concerned the ruling failed to “strike a balance between preventing personal interests from affecting a Councilmember’s official actions while at the same time not preventing a Councilmember from participating in a matter where an alleged financial interest is too remote or speculative to justify legitimate skepticism about the integrity of an official’s participation." Barnett made a snippy remark that she was actually mad his decision "stymied" her bill.

Then, just a few weeks later, emails showed Barnett responding to questions from the City Council’s legal counsel Lauren Henry about potential legislation to loosen up ethical standards. The proposed change in question — to allow member to disclose their financial conflicts before voting instead of totally recusing themselves — looks very similar to the draft legislation expected for next week. The council has tried to lower these standards before under now-Mayor Bruce Harrell's watch.

The draft policy also adds a provision that a council member would have to disclose conflicts of interests of people they are dating to a list of other relationships that implicate them, including someone they live with and immediate family.

The legislation comes as the landlord lobby works behind the scenes to push major rollbacks to renters' rights. Two members of the City Council currently collect rental income and, based on previous rulings, would not be allowed under current ethical standards to vote on policies that would affect their rental income. If the council approve these changes, then even the landlords on council could vote on renters' rights.

The policy is headed for Nelson's Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee, sponsored by Council Member Cathy Moore. Progressive organizations are already organizing to testify against the changes at public comment next Tuesday.