Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 5, May 2003

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POLITICALLY SPEAKING

Challengers line up for Nicastro

By JAMES BUSH

There's never a dull moment with Judy Nicastro.

That's the Seattle City Council first-termer's greatest political asset. It's also the Achilles heel that could exile her from City Hall this November. Fremont resident Nicastro has already drawn a trio of challengers seeking to exploit her sometimes erratic voting record and fondness for off-the-cuff comments.

The New Jersey native and former University of Washington student body president rode the issue of rent control into public office at a time (1999) when Seattle's economy was surging and rents were spiraling upward.

Nicastro is only too happy to tick off her accomplishments in the rental housing arena. She sponsored a bill to move landlord retaliation cases from criminal to civil court, thus lowering the burden of proof for aggrieved tenants. "Also, that legislation gave [Seattle] tenants the right to organize for the first time ever," she says.

She worked to increase funding for one-time cash subsidies protecting economically distressed renters from eviction. And, when tenants complained that building owners were slow to make tenant relocation payments, she pushed successfully to have the city write the checks, then send landlords the bill.

In a city with a tradition of bland officeholders, the fiery Nicastro is a rare political character. She's outspoken and eager to fire verbal salvos at political opponents. When she wants to be, Nicastro can be quite a charmer and she has the best laugh in Seattle politics.

But she's also been a magnet for criticisms of the City Council's loopy liberalism, including the failed 2000 bid to ban performing animal acts from City-owned venues that she co-sponsored. She's been mocked for proposing to install a webcam (immediately nicknamed "Judycam") in her office and for considering a 2001 mayoral run after only two years as a public official. She's sparred repeatedly with Mayor Greg Nickels and the city's powerful labor unions. And Nicastro seriously alienated low-income housing developers by casting the single vote against placing last year's Housing Levy on the ballot.

Nicastro calls her vote a protest against the inclusion of homeowner assistance for families earning up to $62,300 in a levy that should serve poor, disabled, and elderly renters. "There comes a point where a policy has gone in the wrong direction and you have to take a stand," she says. Although she's been blasted for repeating these criticisms during the campaign, "as a public official I believe I'm supposed to answer the questions," she says.

Her three challengers are quick to exploit Nicastro's image woes.

Kollin Min, an attorney and former Olympia aide, says he voted for Nicastro in 1999, but has been disappointed with her record. "I just see such a gap between the issues she ran on four years ago and her performance once in office," says the Green Lake resident. "Her focus on the Judycam thing it just doesn't seem to me like there's a real seriousness of purpose."

"I just have not seen nearly enough results," says Darryl Smith, a Columbia City activist and Realtor. He says he disagrees with Nicastro's Housing Levy criticisms, arguing that many first-time homebuyers need help. "The types of people I used to be able to serve (as a Realtor), I can't anymore," he says. "If we do nothing, we will become San Franscico in 10 years, where nobody can afford to live and everybody takes two or three buses or trains to work."

Robert Rosencrantz, an apartment building owner and King County Housing Authority employee, unexpectedly took the high road in his comments to The Seattle Sun, despite having already earned a reputation as Nicastro's most vocal campaign trail critic. But it's not hard to see a veiled criticism of the incumbent in his claim that he has "a long history of setting priorities, sticking to them, and getting things done."

Nicastro's opponents bring their own strengths and weaknesses to the campaign. Smith is eloquent and thoughtful, but a relative unknown. Rosencrantz has an interesting list of supporters, but has received many contributions from developers and landlords, which could polarize the race to Nicastro's benefit. And Min has already been anointed as the political establishment's best bet to displace Judy a designation that draws donations but bestows baggage.

Nicastro has also hurt her own cause with some recent indecisiveness she was the only Council member still undecided during the key committee vote to oust City Light Superintendent Gary Zarker.

A cautious Judy Nicastro? It's just wrong.

But, with election season fast approaching, she's showing her old combativeness.

"I'm not a rubber stamp for anybody," she says. "I don't work for the mayor. I don't work for labor. I don't work for the affordable housing community. I work for the people."