Though others may have casually used the term before I came along, I take credit for officially coining the term Seattle Mafia. I’ve easily done more than anyone to publicize it through my whistle-blowing days as a teacher, a variety of political websites and seven bids for public office (1999-2011).
You’ll have plenty of time to study my resume, which is all over the Internet (though I suppose you could begin here). Right now let’s talk about the Seattle Mafia.
Who REALLY Runs Seattle?
In fact, let’s begin with Exhibit A, an article titled “Who REALLY Runs Seattle?” (Mark Worth, Seattle Weekly, Nov. 11, 1998).
Your first homework assignment is to get a copy of that article. Don’t bother with the link above, because the media whores at the Seattle Weekly have worked hard to hide that article, which is actually a series of articles, along with brief bios of various Seattle Mafiosi.
You can see for yourself that just one article, with no bios, is online. If you go to the Seattle Weekly’s home page and type “Who REALLY Runs Seattle” into the search engine near the top of the page, you won’t get any hits.
After I first linked to that classic article from this website, the Weekly’s crew moved it to a new URL. Notice the date they list on the article – Oct. 9, 2006. That’s bullshit; the article was originally published on Nov. 11, 1998.
So what that means is you’re going to have to go to a local library, find that issue of the Seattle Weekly on microfiche and copy the entire article.
It’s really important that you do this, partly because too many people spend all their time sitting on their butts. Political activism means getting on your hands and knees and doing some of your own research.
I also want to get as many copies of this article into people’s hands as possible, because it really was and is a bombshell. Finally, if you go to the trouble of visiting a library, tracking down this article and copying it, then you won’t easily forget this article (or this website).
The next time you’re discussing local politics with someone, you’ll suddenly say, “Hey, I just remembered this amazing website that urged me to go to a library and get a copy of some article about the ‘Seattle Mafia,’ so I said ‘What the Hell,’ and I got it, and it was a pretty amazing article.”
Of course, you don’t have do it right this minute. You can continue with my Introduction to the Seattle Mafia.
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