October 6th was an eventful, though mixed, evening for resolutions opposing Brian Heywood’s icky bigoted initiatives.
Sammamish Caves to Far-Right Agitator
Submitted by an Anonymous LGBTQ+ activist (because folks have to sadly protect themselves from far-right fanatics.)
The Sammamish City Council, held a public hearing to support the resolution to oppose the position to the passage of initiatives 001 and 638 at its meeting on October 6. About 15 supporters of a resolution to oppose showed up to speak, which included educators, a child development specialist, faith leaders, parents, and allies, mostly long time residents. About seven speakers opposed the resolution, including controversial far right podcaster Brandi Kruse, who commented that what the CC is doing is ‘performative’ and ‘election interference’. She also called herself ‘a member of the press, reporter, who forms her opinion on accurate information’ then proceeded to say “I-638 isn’t a ban…all kids can continue to participate in sports. They just have to participate in sports that matches their biology.” (Per a September 28, 2026 article in the Stranger, Kruse and two others are ‘suing the state legislature’s Capitol Correspondents Association and the Washington House of Representatives Clerk’s Office for not allowing them press passes. The association had been providing advice to the Washington House of Representatives Clerk’s Office when it reviewed press pass applications. But the House Democrats required clerk-approved press passes—approvals that the trio hadn’t been able to get because of their activity in partisan politics.’
Despite this strong showing of support to oppose, the Deputy Mayor, Debbie Treen, seconded by her husband and CC member, Kent Treen, made a motion to ‘postpone the vote indefinitely’. This motion was supported also by CC Mayor Josh Amato and member Michael Boyer. Opposing the motion to delay was CC members Amy Lan, Roisin O’Farrell, and Pam Stuart. Deputy Mayor Treen stated as one of her reason for her motion “This action moves the CC well outside its governing lane. When we adopt a formal position on statewide ballot measures, especially a citizen initiative, we shift from governing and policy to campaigning and partisanship. That is not the role of a nonpartisan municipal council.”
CC member Pam Stuart clearly stated that “We have an obligation as a city to take this {opposing initiative} up. Public safety is important. 001 will create conflict with HIPAA and WA state privacy law”, which will cost taxpayers more to deal with the legal problems this will create. She also passionately said ‘These initiatives create serious public safety issues for our most vulnerable. And, I don’t know when protecting our most vulnerable became partisan.” She continued “Mayor Amoto you signed a proclamation saying that we would advocate for these students, advocate for these kids. Did we mean it? Because if we’re not going to take a stand here; I’m going to ask that we recall all of those proclamations.”
You can watch the proceedings here. Go to 1:11:35 for the public hearing start.
Summary:
Opposing a vote to support No Hate (boo): Deputy Mayor Debbie Treen, CMs Kent Treen and Michael Boyer, Mayor Josh Amato
Supporting a vote on No Hate (yay!): CC members Amy Lan, Roisin O’Farrell, and Pam Stuart
(i.e., against opposing 001/638 – Boo!). were in support of a resolution opposing 001/638 (yay!).
Edmonds Stumbles, Hiding Behind “Procedure”
Scott Menzies, Fortify! WA
UPDATE 10/14/26: President Pro Tem Jenna Nand and Councilmember Chris Eck informed organizers that the Council had agendized a resolution for their Oct 27th meeting.
Original post:
After impassioned public comment, a strong mobilization, and no opposition, CM Jenna Nand appropriately proposed amending the agenda to vote on JUST AGENDIZING the resolution for action at the next meeting. Councilmembers Chris Eck and Susan Paine supported her motion. The rest (CMs Chen, Barnett, Olsen, and President Dotsch) rejected it, with some trying to hide behind “procedural” grounds. Mayor Rosen was silent, even skipping his “Mayor’s Comments” at the end of the meeting.
A very powerful audience comment came from a man who was raised as a conservative Christian, who has a trans-son. “Going through the process of listening to them talk about what they were going through, the thing that sticks with me, is that he said to me ‘You’re making this about you. This isn’t about you, This is about me. this is about my life and this is about who I want to be and I feel like I am.’ I sit with that to this day. It’s not about me, it’s not about us. it’s about the kids that are going through this.”
Of note, CM Will Chen, along with CMs Jenna Nand and and Chris Eck, is listed as an endorser on the No Hate in WA State Website. So if he is serious about his “procedural” objections, I expect that he will quickly determine how to agendize the resolution in the “correct” procedural way.
Does Edmonds need a bit of waking up?
Organizers will be returning on Oct 13th to further demand that Mayor Rosen agendize the resolution and allow the Council to take action and show us who they really are.
Summary:
Opposed agendizing a resolution(boo): CMs Chen, Barnett, Olsen, and President Dotsch.
Supported agendizing No Hate (yay!): Councilmembers Jenna Nand, Chris Eck, and Susan Paine.
Silent, having taken no action himself: Mayor Rosen
Bothell helps rescue the evening by passing resolutions opposing 001/636
Submitted by Evan Wipf, Snohomish County DSA
Bothell, WA – On Tuesday, October 6, 2026, the Bothell City Council met to consider taking a position on initiatives IL26-001 and IL26-638. (This followed action at Council’s September 8 meeting, where Council Member Amanda Dodd moved to bring the initiatives up for discussion. Deputy Mayor Jenne Alderks and Council Member Rami Al-Kabra concurred with Dodd, making up the three required CMs needed to agendize the discussion). On October 6, Mayor Mason Thompson was absent and excused, so the meeting was chaired by DM Alderks. CM Brittany Miles attended virtually, the other members were present in person.
There was not a large crowd at the meeting. Five citizens, a mix of Bothell residents and representatives from local advocacy groups, spoke urging council to oppose both initiatives. There were no speakers in favor of the initiatives, and nobody in the audience gave the impression of being initiative supporters. After hearing the public comments and brief discussion, council moved to a vote on the staff-prepared resolutions opposing the initiatives (Council did not vote on the other staff-prepared resolutions supporting the initiatives). DM Alderks and CMs Al-Kabra, Anguluri, Curd, and Dodd voted yes. CM Miles voted no.
After the vote Council Members offered remarks. CM Miles explained her “no” vote by stating that she believed that Council should only take action on matters directly impacting the functioning of Bothell as a municipality, saying that she didn’t feel that the concerns raised about the two ballot initiatives rose in level of importance to that standard. DM Alderks directly countered that argument. She strongly defended the exemption granted in state law allowing Councils to weigh in on ballot initiatives. She further stated that for Council to take a neutral position implied acquiescence to the intent of these initiatives and ran against previous actions taken by Council to defend human rights in Bothell, including explicitly the rights of non-binary and transgender people. CMs Al-Kabra, Curd, and Dodd made remarks in the same vein. All CMs expressed their appreciation for the public testimony given, with CM Dodd stating that she received many messages from Bothell citizens urging her to get this discussion on the agenda.
It is probably worth noting that although the Fortify! WA model resolution had been made available to Council, the four resolutions prepared by staff for the Council to use (two for each initiative, one in support and one in opposition) were generic and legalistic, with no language at all expressing Council’s views on the initiatives beyond “we oppose” or “we support”.
Summary:
Voted against resolution opposing 001/638 (boo): CM Miles.
Voted for resolution opposing 001/638 (Yay!): DM Alderks and CMs Al-Kabra, Anguluri, Curd, and Dodd.
Olympia Helps Save the Evening with a Pass
Olympia helped save the evening by making it two passes to two rejections, passing two resolutions, one each opposing 001 and 638.
Summary:
Voted to pass resolutions opposing 001/638: Unanimous
Voted against passing a resolutions opposing 001/638: None
Absent: Mayor Pro Tem Yến Huỳnh, CM Dani Madrone