SHSC - 2009 Voter's Guide - Seattle City Attorney

2009 Seattle City Attorney Candidates

Tom Carr

Peter Holmes

Printer Friendly Version of the Voter's Guide (pdf format)

Q1. What uniquely qualifies you to serve as Seattle’s City Attorney

Carr: Raised in a one bedroom, rent-controlled apartment shared with 5 others in the Bronx, I rose to be an Assistant US Attorney in New York and specialized in organized crime cases while also handling a wide range of civil matters similar to those managed by the Seattle City Attorney. I moved to Seattle in 1991 and become a partner with Barrett Gilman & Ziker and have 25 years of litigation experience in commercial, environmental and other complex cases.

A former board member of Legal Services for the Homeless and homeless women’s shelter volunteer, I ran for city attorney in 2001 for special reasons: to help make people’s lives better, especially those who need our help the most. I helped raise my developmentally disabled brother, and have worked with the King County Parent Coalition to advocate for better care for the developmentally disabled and he served on the King County Board for the Developmentally Disabled. My father, a combat veteran, was a chronic alcoholic who died in a drunken fall, leaving my mother to raise four kids before she developed Alzheimer’s, which claimed her life. The City Attorney affects people’s lives in many ways. I will continue to use my compassion and my legal expertise to improve justice for the poor, the ill, and the abused, to benefit all of the people of Seattle.

I have served Seattle as its City Attorney since 2001, and was a founder of the Seattle Municipal Community Court. Community Court started as an effort to more effectively address low-level crimes in Seattle. 57% of Community Court defendants were homeless and 55% reported chemical dependency. Community Court provides these defendants with a means to address their problems and give back to the community. Defendants who chose to participate are given access to social services and required to do community service rather than go to jail. And recognizing that prostitutes are in a vicious cycle of victimization, I also developed a program that makes Johns pay for counseling and treatment of prostitutes, the majority of whom suffered rape or sex abuse as children. And I came up with a novel approach to Seattle’s 2nd-in the nation level of car theft, reducing car theft by more than 60% in the City.

But importantly, my compassionate and pragmatic approach have dropped Seattle’s share of the King County Jail population from a daily average of 409 in 2001 to just 254 in 2008, leaving jail space available for truly dangerous and violent offenders, including Domestic Violence perpetrators. I have been one of the early leaders in helping Seattle reduce the need for a new jail.

Ultimately, as the only candidate with civic law and prosecutorial experience, I am the only candidate qualified to hold this office.

Holmes: I have spent my 25 year legal career (24 in Seattle) working hard to build consensus in order to achieve lasting solutions. By bringing everyone to the table, I worked to avoid the costly process of litigation whenever possible. I will continue this approach as City Attorney, saving the taxpayers millions in unnecessary judgments. Additionally, as Chair of the Office of Professional Accountability Review Board, I gained hands on knowledge of Seattle’s criminal justice system, from participating in ride-alongs and roll-calls with police officers to working directly with leadership at City Hall. I will use this experience to bring a smarter approach to criminal justice in Seattle. On Day One, I will bring a true commitment to alternatives to incarceration and take a leadership role in preventing the need for a new jail.

By ending the prosecute-first, litigate-first mentality at City Hall, we can focus on violent and property crimes while conserving resources—something that will become increasingly important with the $72 million revenue shortfall the City is currently facing. As City Attorney, I will be an advocate for the people of Seattle, not just City Hall.

Q2. What are your priorities for prosecution?

Carr: While I have been City Attorney, crime dropped to the lowest level in 40 years. Working in conjunction with community leaders, elected officials, and police officers, I helped create alternatives to sentencing non-violent and low-level offenders who make up the vast majority of misdemeanor crimes (the City Attorney only prosecutes misdemeanors, not felonies or drug crimes). These low-level crimes impact our quality of life and the security and cohesiveness of our neighborhoods. I hold offenders accountable and yet provide them training, tools, and services that put them into the community. This approach has helped my office direct attention to more dangerous and criminal offenders, such as domestic violence perpetrators.

Holmes: As the City Attorney only prosecutes misdemeanors, violent and property crime must be the paramount focus of the office. I will bring this focus while emphasizing community-based diversion plans to keep low-level offenders out of jail and on a path away from crime. The recently implemented Drug Market Initiative (DMI) is a step in the right direction, but late in coming. I will bring this commitment on Day One and on every day after that, providing opportunities for offenders to break free from the cycle of recidivism as well as providing opportunities for at-risk you to avoid the criminal justice system in the first place. With these priorities we will reduce our need for jail beds while cracking down on crimes that threaten public safety and our quality of life.

Q3. What do you think are some specific challenges for the City of Seattle’s criminal justice response to domestic violence, and what will you do as a City Attorney to address them?

Carr: About once per year, a former misdemeanor offender murders someone. The hardest part of my job is ensuring that DV victims are provided the protection they need so that these violent assaults do not escalate. When a UW Research Assistant was trying to get protection, she went on a circuit that included dozens of service providers. I pulled together several conferences and developed a plan for a one-stop family justice center, so that DV victims and others in need of protection have a single stop to better secure their protection.

Holmes: We need to make sure our Domestic Violence programs have the funding they need and shield them from cuts as much as possible. We also need to do more to support the victims of DV. Currently, DV advocates are employees of the Law Department, potentially confusing their roles with prosecution investigators. As City Attorney, I will push to make these advocates independent in order to ensure that victims have all the support they need.

Q4. What is your approach to addressing crimes against refugees, immigrants, people with disabilities and people without homes?

Carr: I was first robbed at knifepoint at the age of 6 in the South Bronx. I witnessed hate crime as well as horrific crimes against immigrants and the disabled, and those experiences drove me to become a prosecutor; crimes against the vulnerable, the disabled, those struggling with adaptation are among the most deplorable. I take aggressive action against such offenders, and will continue to do so.

Holmes: I am a strong supporter of hate crime laws and feel that crimes motivated by hate and intolerance warrant aggressive prosecution in order to protect our City’s most vulnerable populations. I believe we also need to address conflicts in such areas as landlord-tenant law and felon reentry/housing programs.

Q5. People who are homeless, even those who have overnight shelter, must conduct many basic activities (such as resting, eating, etc) in public places. How do you think the City Attorney can respond productively to the reality of homelessness in Seattle and to the existence of laws and regulations that criminalize the conditions under which people who are homeless live?

Carr: I advise the City Council and the Mayor on the legality and constitutionality of policies, as well as the ease of enforcement, but it is not my job to make policy. When the City Attorney makes policy, as previous City Attorneys have done, the process is skewed away from the legislative process that includes public involvement. The creation of the Community Court is my response for how to deal with individuals who violate the laws that the City Council and the State Legislature have passed. But one of the things I am very proud of is that I found a solution for Tent City IV, which had been in a legal backwater for years before I became City Attorney. I believe we can reach similar arrangements with other homeless activities, and that is why I serve on boards of homeless advocacy organizations.

Holmes: We need a new approach to these “crimes of poverty”. Through a proactive, community-based approach, I will work to ensure that our homeless population receives the services they need without fear of being caught up in a sweep of their encampment or even arrested for staying in one. Not only are such approaches detrimental to our homeless, but they are also a waste of time and resources.

Q6. Do you think that Seattle’s Sunshine Laws and policies for implementing it are adequate to ensure citizens access to public information?

Carr: Seattle has one of the best compliance rates for public disclosure in the state, especially in comparison to other jurisdictions. While a small city, Prosser, was fined nearly a quarter million dollars last month, Seattle’s fines for the last several years are one-fourth of what Prosser incurred in a single incident. King County has been fined millions and millions of dollars in the past several years. Our policy is to release information to the public as quickly as that information can be gathered, and as long as we can legally share that information. Sometimes, the release of information involves sensitive data, such as a news outlet request for employee birthdates. Another individual wanted the names of city employees involved in a historically disenfranchised alliance. While I will guide greater openness, I will continue to work to protect the privacy rights of employees.

Holmes: No. There is much that must be done in the City Attorney’s Office alone in order to ensure our City is open and accountable. First of all, indexing of records is a simple solution for making it easier for citizens to request information as well as easier for city employees to find information, saving time on both sides. Currently, the City Attorney’s Office does not publish its opinions for the public’s consumption. I will change this policy. The City Attorney is in a position to be a real leader in government transparency, and I will fight for the people’s right to know every day in office.