...Socialist Seattle city council member who has difficulty distinguishing between her money and the city's...in which she admitted improperly using city money and other resources to support a proposed ballot measure.
The Seattle Times reports the Monday vote means Sawant must pay the city $3,516. That's twice the amount she spent to promote a payroll tax on big businesses like Amazon.
The decision comes as a recall campaign is collecting signatures for a ballot initiative seeking Sawant's removal from office. In a statement Tuesday, Sawant described her ethics infraction as minor and blasted the recall effort as a right-wing attempt to quash her support at City Hall for workers and renters.
A group pushing to recall Sawant started mailing out signature requests late April.
The campaign said roughly 40,000 signature petitions were mailed out.
The group plans to start in-person signature gathering in the next few weeks. They need to gather 10,739 valid signatures to qualify for a special recall election.
Sawant, a socialist and vocal proponent of defunding Seattle police, fought the recall effort in court, calling it "completely unjust." But earlier this month the state Supreme Court allowed the recall effort to move forward.
Under state law, an elected official can be recalled after an involved process that begins with a recall filing submitted to the county's elections office. Once county workers have verified the filer’s complaint of charges have followed the proper technical requirements required by law, the request is forwarded to the county prosecutor’s office before a judge decides if the allegations rise to the level of a recall.
According to the Washington state Constitution, an elected official can be recalled if that politician, "has committed some act or acts of malfeasance or misfeasance while in office, or who has violated his oath of office."
The recall complaint against Sawant was filed by Capitol Hill resident Ernie Lou. He told KOMO News he believes Sawant has lost touch with her district and its constituents.
Sawant has gone through the courts to get the recall efforts halted, but judges have agreed to allow the recall process to proceed. A Superior Court judge had found that four complaints cited in the recall petition against Sawant did rise to the level of malfeasance, including that:
Sawant misused city resources in promoting a ballot initiative earlier this year regarding passage of a new tax on some of the city's largest employers.
Sawant participated in a march to Mayor Jenny
Summer of LoveDurkan
...Democrat Maress of Seattle, who allowed a chunk of the downtown of her city to be turned into an autonomous combat zone...’s house last month, causing a breach that could have compromised the mayor's personal safety. Because of Durkan's previous work as a federal attorney, her home address is not widely known for security concerns.
Sawant delegated hiring and firing decisions of her office staff to her outside political groups identified as the National Executive Committee and Seattle Executive Committee of the Socialist Alternative.
After a loss in Superior court in October, Sawant appealed to the State Supreme Court, which published its ruling Thursday morning.