Yes, it matters to me. I had a co-worker for 25 years and
we get together with others most months. During the Covid
school shut downs, his precious, good 17 year old grandson
thought he'd try what others were doing. He got a fentanyl
pill, and took it one night after all were in bed.
And there, and then, he died.

from
https://mynorthwest.com/3733995/rantz-seattle-mayors-top-staffer-slams-judge-for-creating-fentanyl-festival/

Rantz: Seattle Mayor’s top staffer slams judge for creating ‘fentanyl
festival’
Dec 4, 2022, 2:51 PM | Updated: 3:08 pm
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BY JASON RANTZ
The Jason Rantz Show, 3pm-6pm on KTTH
An influential member of Mayor Bruce Harrell’s inner circle excoriated a
judge for helping turn Seattle into a “fentanyl festival,” according to
an email exclusively obtained by the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) spokesperson
emailed three members of Harrell’s team to alert them to an “RV case
[that] involved fentanyl, heroin, crack, and a .22 caliber revolver near
the West Seattle bridge.” Seattle’s director of strategic initiatives,
Tim Burgess, was one of the email recipients.

But the judge went easy on the defendant. Burgess was not happy.

Rantz: Seattle councilmember defends gang graffiti as ‘unsolicited
creative expression’

Judge helps create Seattle’s ‘fentanyl festival’
Police worked with a confidential informant to allegedly buy narcotics
from the suspect, Thomas Hull (aka Butch), in his RV. After the
controlled drug buy, police obtained and executed a warrant to search
the RV.

Upon arrest, police say Hull carried a knife and 8.6 grams of suspected
fentanyl pills. In the RV, police say they found 13.4 grams of cocaine,
18.9 grams of crack cocaine, 20.4 grams of heroin, 21.5 grams of white
heroin and 72.3 grams of fentanyl pills. Additionally, police say they
found narcotics packaging materials, a scale, two handguns, and an “old
musket”.

The KCPAO spokesperson complained that the prosecutor argued for
$100,000 bail, citing the defendant’s “nine convictions for commercial
burglary.” But the first appearance judge was unmoved. She only set bail
at $10,000. The defendant posted bond and was released.

“Who was the first appearance judge?” Burgess asked in the September 29
email. “And people wonder why we have a fentanyl festival happening
across the city.”

The judge was King County Judge Kristin Shotwell, according to the
email. The spokesperson noted it was “unfortunate we lost that $100k
argument.”

An administration crippled by a fear of angering activists
Burgess’ email is yet another example of tough language leveled
privately, while the public messaging from the Mayor’s office remains
stymied by a fear of upsetting a small but vocal activist base.

Seattle’s crime and drug crises are worsening. But publicly, Mayor
Harrell is not addressing the issue with urgency. Instead, he tries to
walk a fine line between acknowledging a problem and engaging a strategy
that might anger activists who decry encampment and RV sweeps.

Broken-down RVs pose a clear health risk and are often fronts for drug
dealing. Still, activists have been successful in stopping sweeps.
They’ve allied with key councilmembers, like Teresa Mosqueda, Lisa
Herbold, Dan Strauss, and Kshama Sawant, to pressure the mayor to leave
encampments unharassed.

While Harrell occasionally offers comments at press conferences, he
holds back much of the biting criticism. Rather than directly criticize
those responsible for the crisis, like soft-on-crime judges who give
endless chances to degenerates, Harrell pivots to his “one Seattle”
approach to work as a united front.

But his approach is failing because city leaders are not united. His own
office staffers are even sometimes at odds.

One Seattle isn’t viable
It’s not just that the council gets in the way of a homeless strategy.
Council members actively undermine public safety measures.

The antagonistic council rejected the mayor’s public safety budget,
permanently defunding 80 Seattle police officers in an already
dangerously understaffed department. Harrell has set a goal of 1,400
officers. With under 900 deployable officers, a permanent cut of 80 cops
shows that the council is not on board with Harrell’s plan.

Even uncontroversial plans are met with resistance.

After announcing his strategy to clean up gang graffiti, Mosqueda pushed
back. She argued that gang members tagging businesses or city property
merely engage in “unsolicited creative expression.” She endorsed views
critical of the mayor’s plans.

Harrell’s only apparent allies on the council are the pro-police
democrats Sara Nelson and Alex Pedersen.

And while Harrell privately declares he’d like to clear more
encampments, some in his staff have gotten in the way. After a Comcast
location in North Seattle blasted loud music to get a nearby homeless
encampment to leave, rather than help clear the camp, the city pressured
Comcast to turn off the music.

Harrell should step up, but he won’t
If Harrell and his team said publically what they said privately, it
would no doubt anger the activist base. But the majority would support
him. And it might just shame some judges into doing their jobs, which
would help keep this city safe.

Instead, Harrell and his team stay quiet, too scared to ruffle feathers.
The mayor fears a left-wing challenger for when he runs for re-election.
He doesn’t seem to realize he will get a far-left challenger regardless
of how he governs.

Neither Burgess nor Harrell spokesperson Jamie Housen responded to
multiple requests for comments. The Burgess email cited in this piece
was obtained after Housen ignored requests for comment on a previous story.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3:00 p.m. –
6:00 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to
the podcast. Follow @JasonRantz on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Check back frequently for more news and analysis.