Sawant... what a treat

[douche]

Seattle Councilmember Sawant says her property is being vandalized, criticizes police investigation


By Sarah Grace Taylor
Seattle Times staff reporter

Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant criticized the city’s police department Wednesday for its response to repeated “disturbing incidents” at her home.

According to Sawant, bags of human excrement have been thrown on the lawn of her private residence six times, including as recently as last week, and the Seattle Police Department has failed to properly investigate.

“The material used in these repeated attacks is classified as biohazardous waste. The police informed me the material can’t be sent to their lab for further investigation due to its hazardous nature. That seems quite odd considering that hospital labs do tests on human fecal matter all the time, but it does speak to the danger of having it repeatedly thrown in one’s yard,” Sawant wrote in a letter to police and city leadership on Wednesday, noting she had to call poison control on one instance after her dogs got into the bag of waste.

“Most concerning is the very high likelihood that this extreme and hostile behavior is politically motivated, and could turn into more serious and dangerous harassment,” she added, noting past threats made against her.

According to Sawant, the police have failed to seriously investigate the incidents reported by her and her husband, including ignoring two witnesses, refusing to test the fecal matter, not taking video evidence collected by a neighbor and not investigating a recent email sent to Sawant in which the sender calls her the “the queen of [expletive]” and tells her to “sit on [her] throne of human excrement.”

The police department would not release any reports related to the incidents on Wednesday, citing the investigation as ongoing, but said it is doing its due diligence to investigate Sawant’s claims.

“The department takes incidents involving public officials seriously, and investigators have canvassed for evidence, gathered information from witnesses and reviewed everything collected thus far,” a statement from the department read. “At this time, the department has not found any evidence this case would meet the city or state standards for hate crime laws, but SPD will follow available leads should new information arise. The department encourages anyone with additional information about this case to contact police.”

SPD Detective Patrick Michaud said Wednesday that the report doesn’t meet state or city standards for a hate crime, but the department would continue to investigate.

Michaud did not share whether any other local elected official had any open harassment complaints or complaints related to incidents at Sawant’s house, citing a policy against identifying victims.

Last month the council unanimously passed a resolution “condemning harassment, threats, and political violence against elected officials, election
workers, those seeking elected office, and other public servants,” in step with the Metropolitan King County Council passing similar legislation. The resolution followed an incident this summer in which the Rev. Cary Anderson of Seattle’s First AME Church was reportedly shot with a BB gun while campaigning for a vacant seat in Washington’s 30th Legislative District.

Harassment or provocation of local elected officials came to the forefront in Seattle during protests against police violence in summer 2020, when activists went to the homes of several City Council members and some, including Councilmember Alex Pedersen and now-President Debora Juarez, reported intimidating behavior like written messages left at their homes. Then-Mayor Jenny Durkan was the subject of significant protests at her home and enough reported threats and harassment that she had SPD staff round-the-clock security detail at her home for her last year in office.

As a socialist and the furthest political outlier on the council, Sawant has faced opposition from the community ranging from a failed recall attempt in 2021 to death threats during the first months of her time on the council in 2014 and as recently as last winter.

Mayor Bruce Harrell, who is in Buenos Aires for a summit of international mayors, spoke to Sawant on Wednesday after being named in her SPD complaint letter, according to the Mayor’s Office.

“These incidents go against our core values as a city. Elected officials should not be harassed at their homes. While Mayor Harrell does not direct individual investigations, we have been assured that SPD will follow all standard protocols and practices regarding these incidents in the appropriate manner,” a spokesperson for the mayor wrote Wednesday. “The mayor has spoken directly to Councilmember Sawant to discuss and understand her concerns.”

[Mel Bradford]

She needs to get with the program. India has been using yuman poop as a fertilizer for years. Maybe the bags on her lawn are a gift from her Hindi gods. So unappreciative.

These darn socialists. They work overtime finding fault with the workers of public safety. Side with criminals and derelicts for political purpose. And have an overall bad attitude toward any social norms.

[ddraig]

It's funny how many Indian immigrants come here and proceed to want to turn the U.S. into the hell holes they just left. And yet the vast majority of Indians who come her just want a better life far different from what the likes of Sawant envision.

[Grandma Lynn]

It's funny how many Indian immigrants come here and proceed to want to turn the U.S. into the hell holes they just left. And yet the vast majority of Indians who come her just want a better life far different from what the likes of Sawant envision.

And they are still voted in!

[D-train]

Wow, Sawant roasted by the Seattle Times! Tide may be turning finally

By The Seattle Times editorial board
First off, it goes without saying that everyone should feel safe from violence and vandalism.

Last week Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant complained to Mayor Bruce Harrell that she wasn’t receiving a vigorous police response after someone repeatedly threw human excrement on her lawn. The perpetrator must stop and be brought to justice.

But this story is rich with irony, and demonstrates the hypocrisy and cluelessness of the three-term lawmaker.

Sawant describes the six occurrences as a “serious matter” and “serious incidents.” Detectives stopped by her house and tried to take fingerprints (of the bags containing the feces, one hopes) but, in her mind, cops did not display the expected professionalism and investigatory zeal.

“Is this the kind of ‘help’ working people and communities of color can expect from the Seattle Police?” Sawant rhetorically asks.

This criticism is just too much. Sawant led the unsuccessful charge to defund SPD by 50%. She has been a relentless critic of police. In 2019 exit interviews, three former cops cited Sawant by name as a reason why they left the department. Police ranks dropped precipitously since 2020, increasing 911 response times across the city and leaving many, many residents frustrated that police arrived hours late to nonemergency calls, if at all.

And then there is Sawant’s contention that her case should be given special treatment because she is an elected official.

Remember, it was Sawant who led protesters in June of 2020 to former Mayor Jenny Durkan’s house in an action dubbed “March to the Mayor’s Mansion.” Durkan and her family are in a state program to keep their address confidential because of death threats related to her work as Seattle’s U.S. Attorney under President Barack Obama.

A series of protests turned ugly, with homophobic and misogynistic graffiti left on her property and her neighbors’. SPD never investigated any of the vandalism Durkan experienced.

Last year, Sawant faced a recall effort, based in part because she “led a protest march to Mayor Jenny Durkan’s private residence, the location of which Councilmember Sawant knew was protected under state confidentiality laws,” the ballot read.

Sawant survived the recall by 310 votes out of 41,002 cast.

So here we have a city lawmaker who actively seeks to reduce police ranks and has no qualms about bringing protests and violence to someone else’s house. Now she has the audacity to knock police for not moving fast enough when she is the complainant, implying that detectives and crime lab personnel set aside sexual assault cases or any number of other needs that cops are struggling to balance.

Sawant doesn’t like to feel like a helpless victim. Maybe that empathy will lead to a more nuanced view about public safety and respect for the personal well-being of politicians with whom she doesn’t agree.

If not, voters in District 3 should take note: Unless she bows out, Sawant will be on the ballot in just over a year. Without a doubt, Seattle has had enough of this … show.

[ddraig]

She'll still get re-elected. Isn't the UW in that district?

[Mel Bradford]

What an entitled dalit.