Candidate Profile: Pete Holmes For Seattle City Attorney

Seattle WA

21 July, 2021

1:22 PM

Description

SEATTLE — Voting is underway and the 2021 primary election is heating up in King County ahead of Election Day, Aug. 3. Nearly 650 candidates are seeking various offices in 2021, beating the previous record set in 2017. Out of that total, more than 200 candidates appear in the primary, which features all the races with three or more people seeking the same office. Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles leading up to Election Day. Candidate Pete Holmes Age (as of Election Day) 65 Position Sought Seattle City Attorney Party Affiliation Democrat Family My wife Ann and I are the proud parents of two adult children Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? No Education BA Yale University JD Virginia University Occupation Before my 2009 election as Seattle City Attorney, I was a civil commercial litigator with over two decades' experience. I was the Partner-in-Charge of the Insolvency & Reorganization Group at Miller Nash LLP, as well as the Seattle office Hiring Partner. Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office Seattle City Attorney Campaign website holmesforseattle.com Why are you seeking elective office? I am seeking re-election to continue serving as Seattle's elected City Attorney. As Seattle recovers from the pandemic and continues addressing critical issues of policing, criminal legal reform, and turnover in City Hall, I'm proud to provide consistent, principled, and progressive leadership for our city--at a time when we need it most. The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it. My top priority in office over the next four years will be addressing the homelessness and housing shortage crisis. My office's defense of Seattle's eviction moratorium has been truly essential to preventing further displacement during the pandemic. Furthermore, my attorneys successfully defended 3 separate lawsuits challenging the creation of the South Lake Union tiny house village, in which the Freedom Foundation and the Facebook group "Safe Seattle" were plaintiffs, for example. It's ridiculous that my attorneys have to spend time defending common sense solutions in the face of conservative opposition, but I'll continue to do so. Another critical effort is to support the new regional homelessness authority, which must be an effective and proactive partner for Seattle and King County. My office provides quality guidance regarding the transfer of operations and programs from city agencies to the new authority -- a complex process that requires experienced leadership. I'm hopeful that as a region, we will more effectively address the homelessness crisis. A person living unsheltered one block outside Seattle is just as tragic as someone living within Seattle city limits, and a city boundary shouldn't be the limit of our society's assistance. More importantly, we must continue to pursue progressive revenue streams to fund permanent supportive housing and wrap around services. The burden of helping the unhoused can't fall on those who are bordering on housing instability themselves. I am proud of my office's recent victory defending the City's JumpStart tax. What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post? Despite years of advancing progressive policies and implementing proven diversion programs as alternatives to incarceration, I am being challenged by opponents from opposite extremes. To my right, I'm challenged by the 2020 Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor; and to my left, I'm challenged by someone seeking to abolish the police and to stop prosecuting misdemeanor crimes. Both filed at the very end of Filing Week; neither has significant legal experience. The most critical difference between me and my two opponents is that I am the ONLY candidate in this race with ANY Civil Legal experience, despite nearly 60% of the City Attorney's budget being dedicated to the Civil Division, which advises policymakers and both defends and brings lawsuits on behalf of the City. I am the only candidate who has the extensive experience and progressive track record of being effective in promoting positive social change. Finally, voters should be wary of a Republican running her third campaign in as many years, this time to be the independently elected attorney of Seattle. Are you for or against the proposed "Compassion Seattle" charter amendment? Please explain your priorities for addressing homelessness. If the charter amendment is approved by voters and a lawsuit is (likely) filed challenging it, it would be the Seattle City Attorney's Charter obligation to defend the will of the voters in court. If the amendment is ultimately upheld in the courts, it would fall to the Seattle City Attorney to defend the Mayor and City Council's implementation of the measure should their actions be challenged. It would be inappropriate for the City's legal counsel of record to taint likely future proceedings by validating or undermining the proposal before voters have had their say. How should Seattle proceed with changes to policing? What does an acceptable police contract look like? The conversation to reimagine policing in Seattle has only just begun. Police officers are the first to say they aren't the most effective response to certain distress calls, and I believe in setting up effective alternative options. No one can deny that the current system still disproportionately affects BIPOC communities, unhoused people, and other vulnerable groups -- that's unacceptable. As we look to reimagine policing, I will advocate for alternatives to law enforcement that can better address public safety challenges, while working with communities impacted by policing, as well as the new Mayor, Police Chief, and Councilmembers. Although the City Attorney does not control the SPD budget or negotiate the police contracts, I'm a strong proponent of decreasing funding for militarization and excessive surveillance, and increasing funding for diversionary programs, therapeutic courts, and other measures which help people recover and rehabilitate. In cases where overly broad criminal statutes have allowed police to engage in racial profiling and other abuses, I have worked with the Council to revise the city code. We need to set our vision and concrete goals, then work backwards from there to achieve the policing system we hope to realize and reinvest accordingly. Further, I'll continue to advocate at the State level to change the way a terminated police officer can appeal their misconduct finding, just as I did in Olympia earlier this year. Public trust in their police service is essential, which is why we need the authority to discharge officers at the local level who have been found to commit egregious acts that erode community faith in our police service. That is why I support legislation to place guard rails around the arbitration procedures for police officers while maintaining due process rights. I believe we can have both strong unions and constitutional policing by enacting targeted measures. Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform. I'm eager to continue fighting against income inequality -- most importantly by extending collective bargaining rights to so-called independent contractors, such as Uber and Lyft drivers, arising out of employer abuses of the "Gig Economy." I advised the Mayor and Council on the best legal strategies for Seattle's groundbreaking ordinance and assisted with negotiations that led to a minimum wage for all Uber and Lyft drivers -- a HUGE victory for thousands of gig workers -- but we must do more. During the pandemic, thousands of unemployed workers turned to gig work like grocery delivery to make a living. Our work has never been more urgent, and I'll continue to deploy the City Attorney's resources to improve working conditions and pay for workers. Additionally, I filed suit against the Monsanto Corporation, seeking compensation for the damage caused by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), industrial products banned because of their impacts on human and environmental health. Unlike other jurisdictions, I refused to settle unless the money offered is commensurate with the damage caused to Seattle's Duwamish River, so the case remains ongoing. Finally, reducing gun violence is a top priority of my campaign. Our Regional Domestic Violence Firearms Enforcement Unit has yielded such remarkable results in so short a period of time! I've continued to advocate for staffing-up this regional unit in partnership with King County. A short while ago, the FBI didn't have their own legal tools to confiscate an arsenal of weapons from a race war accellerationist Neo-Nazi, so they came to our team seeking to surrender his guns, located far outside Seattle and King County. Further, with the spike in domestic violence incidents over the pandemic, our regional unit has never been more essential, and I support its continued growth. Gun violence is another pandemic, alongside COVID-19, that we must address with a public health response. What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job? I'm very proud of my work changing sentencing laws to protect immigrants from deportation; advocating for legalization, regulation and taxation of adult use marijuana; vacating past marijuana possession criminal records, developing new incarceration diversion programs to help young people avoid lifelong criminal records, and redoubling the city's efforts to address gun violence. CHOOSE 180, a diversion program for youth and young adults, has shown a 92% non-recidivism rate from the program's founding in 2017 through October 2020. (2020 Annual Report on the program.) My office's track record speaks for itself in Civil victories, including successfully upholding Seattle's Democracy Voucher program and phased move-in fees for tenants; overturning Tim Eyman's transit-killing Initiative 976; vindicating Hazard Pay for Grocery Workers, the Firearms & Ammo tax, the JumpStart Tax, and more! The best advice ever shared with me was: "It isn't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." (Mark Twain) What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions? I'm honored by the outpouring of support I've received in my campaign for re-election, including endorsements from MLK Labor and progressive leaders like Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, King County Executive Dow Constantine, County Councilmembers Dembowski, Kohl-Welles, and Zahilay, and many more! Here are a few helpful links to make sure your voice is heard: Find your nearest dropbox out of the dozens across the county using an up-to-date map.Verify your voter registration status or update your address.Learn more about the candidates and ballot measures in your town, including those that will appear only on November ballots.Monitor your ballot's status using King County's ballot tracker tool.