Nonprofit Quarterly is concerned about a sudden surge of corporate spending in the Seattle Mayor’s race, wit Amazon leading the big funders, presumably in a bid to keep taxes and wages low.

“With nonprofits promoting increased civic engagement among their members and the public, the prospect of Amazon’s civic engagement in the Seattle mayoral race must raise some eyebrows.

“This week, it was revealed that the marketing behemoth was a contributor to a political action committee (PAC) supporting Jenny Durkan against Cary Moon in the race for the Seattle mayor’s office. The article, “Seattle mayor’s race picks up $590K in late-money surge,” reveals how ten big name corporations, including Comcast, the Washington Association of Realtors, AT&T, Expedia, Starbucks, and Boeing donated at least $10,000 each to the Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE), which is the political action arm of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. The Seattle Times calls out Amazon in particular for “adding $100,000 on October 12th to the $250,000 it gave in July.”

“In the Times article, a spokesperson for the Moon campaign suggests that some of the companies supporting the CASE PAC have in the past opposed taxes on the incomes of wealthy households, increasing minimum wages for workers, and the creation of a publicly owned broadband service for Seattle. In response to the CASE PAC, Moon has vowed to use her inherited resources to maintain her campaign.

“What can a nonprofit with a mission of civic engagement to do in the face of massive campaign spending in a local election by national corporations? For years, community-based organizations have followed Saul Alinsky’s first rule: “Power is derived from two main sources—money and people. ‘Have-Nots’ must build power from flesh and blood.” In many cities, business interests have figured out that huge amounts of money in a local election can scare off the best opponents, co-opt the grassroots, and dominate the messaging. The result is a crisis of civic engagement that looks like voter apathy, but is actually voter disengagement.“

That last paragraph caught my eye. We face the same issues in our struggle to prevent the privatization of public education.

Big corporations that use their money to cut wages and services sacrifice civic duty and community. Those who undermine workers and public institutions are bad citizens.

We must build power from “flesh and blood.”

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