Pageler Finds Voice On City Council

BUT HER chief opponent in the Sept. 14 primary says she has lost touch with her activist origins.

When Margaret Pageler joined the Seattle City Council in 1992, she was, ahem, a little rough around the edges. With owlish glasses, a prissy voice and a somewhat prickly demeanor, the former schoolteacher and progressive activist was very much the missionary's daughter, ready to save Seattle.

Today, she's no less fervent, but the 58-year-old incumbent has smoothed her crusty edges. Her glasses are smaller and her voice stronger, and her reputation has grown as a congenial yet independently minded member whose passions are directed toward efficiency: cutting waste, saving money, making things work.

Curt Firestone, who co-founded the Seattle Progressive Coalition and is the strongest of Pageler's three opponents in the Sept. 14 primary election, is a tie-dyed-in-the-wool lefty. The 58-year-old is former vice president of the Washington State Rainbow Coalition and a leader in the Green Party of Seattle.

His work in the trenches has earned him early support in this race, including endorsements from the King County Labor Council and Green Party.

Firestone criticizes Pageler for what he calls her shift to the political middle, away from her prior leadership with a progressive neighborhood group called Vision Seattle.

Whether Pageler has changed her politics or simply adopted a more effective approach is a matter of interpretation.

"She is not willing to play the game of politics as theater," says longtime friend Lucy Steers, former president of the League of Women Voters of Seattle. "She's worked hard and made a real difference, but she's not Charlie Chong."

Chong is an outspoken former city councilman who ran a populist campaign for mayor in 1997. He lost and is now seeking another council position.

Pageler is his polar opposite in style. She also differs from her opponents.

"Ten years ago, when Margaret Pageler ran for office, we were part of a community that supported her," Firestone said. "The Rainbow Coalition endorsed her, and I walked my precinct on behalf of her. After she got elected, she started moving away from the neighborhood, progressive roots she had run on."

Firestone points to Pageler's early support of the controversial Weed and Seed program, a federally funded program that directed police resources to high-crime areas.

It was baptism by fire for the new councilwoman. Pageler chaired the council's Public Safety Committee and oversaw the program's implementation.

"People who had had bad experiences, often with other police departments, read the language around the federal grant, and it sounded like it would impose a police state," she said. "They were angry and terrified."

Pageler directed the funding toward community-policing programs rather than jails and prosecutors, she said, contending it "dramatically reduced crime in Seattle's Central Area."

George Stewart, who was a Garfield Community Council representative on the Weed and Seed Citizen Advisory Committee, said the program helped cut crime "without the police coming in and cracking heads."

He credited Pageler with calming the situation by listening to "all the residents in the area."

"I really think Margaret is quite extraordinary," agreed Bob Watt, president of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and former deputy mayor under Norm Rice.

"She has a real sense of integrity. She is willing to listen, is a good and careful study, and makes thoughtful decisions. She's quite independent, in nobody's camp."

That might have something to do with Pageler's upbringing. She was raised in rural China, the daughter of missionary parents. She grew up in poor, isolated areas with no services, utilities or sanitation, amid upheaval and some violence.

The family stayed in China and Taiwan until she was in her late teens. It shaped her view of the world. Pageler is somewhat frugal - she didn't own a television until winning one last year in a Wallingford Chamber of Commerce raffle. And her politics veer to the practical: "I don't see myself as ideological but as somebody who tries to provide leadership by creating improvements for the greatest number of people for the long term."

She has savored being the chairwoman of the Utilities and Environmental Management Committee - where the rubber meets the road in local government by managing infrastructure, water conservation and utility rates.

A lawyer and former schoolteacher, Pageler seems to handle the minutiae well. She rolls up her sleeves and avoids the limelight.

"When I first met Margaret, she reminded me of Bella Abzug, with the hats; stocky, short heels; and her strong position on things," Steers said. "I think she's mellowed over the years."

Perhaps too much for some people.

Firestone said Pageler has drifted from her progressive support of social issues. He points to her support for the Nordstrom deal, in which the city agreed to pay an inflated price for a parking garage - about $23 million extra.

He also criticized her support for a series of "civility" ordinances championed by City Attorney Mark Sidran. The ordinances prohibit daytime sitting and lying on public sidewalks; ban park use by people who are drinking, urinating in public or camping; and control "nuisance" activities at nightclubs.

"If you are homeless, where is your back yard?" Firestone asked. "It's the park. I am actively calling for amendments to or revoking the Sidran ordinances. They really need careful review."

Firestone also condemned Pageler's past support of logging in the Cedar River Watershed. As chairwoman of the council's Utilities and Environmental Management Committee, Pageler helped put together a 50-year plan for the watershed. Originally, she supported logging to thin what she calls the "secondhand" forest but reversed her position in July and voted for a non-logging alternative.

"If she had changed her position earlier in the process, instead of months before the final vote, we would not have had to go through two years of community activism," Firestone said.

Firestone considers himself a strong environmentalist and opposes any logging in the watershed, in keeping with the position of the Green Party of Seattle.

"It's clear Curt has progressive and green-minded values that Margaret doesn't," said Robin Denburg of the Green Party of Seattle. "It's very disappointing to see how her voting record has changed over the years."

Because of her seniority on the council and her fund-raising muscle, The Stranger alternative weekly newspaper has dubbed her a "corporate lap dog."

"Hardly," responded Watt, with the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

But her campaign contributors include many well-connected and powerful people, including Ken and Michael Alhadeff, attorney Jenny Durkan and developer William Justen.

"She doesn't seem to focus her energy on putting resources into neighborhoods, especially in lower-economic communities," Firestone said.

In contrast, Firestone has a long history of union activism to empower lower-wage workers. Before moving to Seattle in 1986, he worked as a director and administrator of mental-health programs in California.

Now he is a self-employed income-tax consultant - he has a degree in business from San Francisco State University - and lives with his wife, Gwen McDonald, in a Leschi view home.

"He's very principled and has a very strong commitment to democratic change," said Metropolitan King County Councilman Larry Gossett, an honorary co-chairman of Firestone's campaign committee. "He really believes strongly in empowering people."

Two other, lesser-known candidates are also in the race:

-- Lee Carter, a former KIRO-TV and KING-TV reporter and communications consultant, is running on a single issue: to promote the election of "freeholders" to restructure local government.

-- Mike Rodosovich is a retired Seattle police sergeant who ran unsuccessfully for the council in 1989.

Linda Keene's phone message number is 206-464-2210. Her e-mail address is lkeene@seattletimes.com