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New WTO report blames Schell
Citizens panel recommends procedures, says mayor abdicated 'his primary responsibility'
Friday, August 25, 2000
KERY MURAKAMI
Over hors d'oeuvres in Geneva during the summer of 1998, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky whispered the big news to Port of Seattle official Don Lorenz:
President Clinton wanted to hold the next meeting of the World Trade Organization in the United States, and what a great thing it would be, she said, if it were to be held in the gateway to the Pacific Rim -- Seattle.
How that conversation in a lakefront home in Switzerland ended up leaving Seattle with a tear gas-stained reputation and $9 million in unpaid bills in the wake of last year's WTO conference became a little clearer yesterday.
After spending six months reviewing about 20,000 pages of documents and interviewing 14 people, from Mayor Paul Schell to WTO protesters, a Seattle City Council panel yesterday laid ultimate blame in Schell's lap.
It wasn't a surprise.
As reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer last week, the panel faulted Schell for failing to take adequate steps to protect taxpayers as controversy over the conference mounted.
The panel, which examined the city's preparations for the conference, concluded that Schell "abdicated his primary responsibility as steward and advocate for the overall interests of the citizens of Seattle."
Schell has repeatedly said he accepts full blame for the errors of his administration and for the actions of his police department.
How the panel's assessment and his acceptance of blame will affect his probable re-election bid next year, however, will rest on a single question: What should he have done when WTO boosters came looking for city support in the fall of 1998?
Schell couldn't be reached for comment last night. But one of his top advisers on the conference, Cliff Traisman, the city's head lobbyist, said: "Forty cities were vying for the conference and, at the time, it was considered a plum."
As the council review panel wrote in its report, "There are clear financial and other incentives to the city to host the conference. In this case there was talk of the conference generation (of) $11 million to retailers, hotels and restaurants (plus revenues of) $622,160 to state government and $246,00 to local government. There were also valuable trade and international business contacts at stake."
But the panel notes in its 68-page report that Schell -- as mayor for all, and not for trade interests -- should have demanded the federal government and corporate leaders pay for any unanticipated costs so that city taxpayers wouldn't be saddled with the bill.
Schell didn't do that.
An army of protesters bent on disrupting the conference caused police and security costs to spiral.
While Schell has been roundly criticized for failing to ask for financial gurantees, had he done so it would have meant the WTO would have gone to another
city.
"If they'd made that demand, and it would have been a very reasonable demand from their point of view, the conference would have been held in Honolulu," said John Diefenderfer, a State Department official who was in charge of the selection process.
Schell and his aides now acknowledge they should have taken that risk. But at the time, Traisman said, everyone from business leaders to the state's congressional delegation wanted the conference here.
All things considered, "With what happened to this city, we should have risked losing the conference," said Councilman Jim Compton, who is leading the council's review of various aspects of the conference.
The 1990 Goodwill Games also seemed like a no-brainer for Seattle, the citizen panel noted. Yet Mayor Charles Royer and the City Council demanded up-front written agreements that organizers would cover any unanticipated security costs.
The council even threatened to deny permits for rowing competitions unless the promoters agreed to pony up.
Goodwill Games organizers relented, but one of the organizers objected, saying, "I don't like having a shotgun pointed at our heads on this date, so I find this disappointing."
That organizer was Paul Schell, the panel pointed out.
The implication: Schell wasn't concerned about taxpayers in 1990, and wasn't thinking about them when the WTO came knocking.
Schell contends he's learned from his mistake, and earlier this year showed that he was willing to lose a major international conference to protect taxpayers.
In February, the U.S. Commerce Department demanded the city and the state pay any unanticipated costs associated with hosting the Asian Development Bank Conference scheduled for Seattle next year. When they refused, Commerce dumped Seattle.
Will Seattle voters give Schell credit for that next year, or will they only remember the WTO?
It's too soon to tell. And there's another shoe poised to drop.
A third panel studying the events during the conference is to release its final report on Sept. 7.
In another assessment of the conference by Seattle police, the department said police were hampered by a city ordinance that bars collection of intelligence on Seattle residents. But the panel found ample evidence that newspaper articles and postings on protest group Web sites should have prompted police to expect trouble.
Assistant Chief Ed Joiner -- who led the city's preparations -- has said he couldn't tell if threats to disrupt the conference were just rhetoric. He has said he assumed major riots couldn't happen in usually laid-back Seattle.
But beyond complacency, the panel found a lack of money played a role in the city's errors. Lacking assurances from the federal government and from WTO sponsors, police were hindered in asking other departments to send help as the number of protesters grew. They noted that about two months before the conference, Tacoma Police Chief James Hairston withdrew an offer of motorcycle officers "due to SPD's inability to guarantee reimbursements."
Unwilling or unable to pay for more officers, police had to scale back plans that would have allowed them to respond to protests without using tear gas and force.
Yesterday's report was prepared by a group selected by the City Council: Angela Toussaint, executive director of the Civic Foundation; Norma Kelsey, president of the Office & Professional Employees International Union, Local 8; Sister Kathleen Pruitt, Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace; Carl Livingston, a Seattle Central Community College political science professor; Clark Pickett, a Pike-Pine neighborhood activist; and City Councilman Nick Licata.
Recommendations of the citizens panel examining city conference preparations:
P-I reporter Kery Murakami can be reached at 206-448-8029 or kerymurakami@seattle-pi.com
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Panel recommendations
Recommendations by the Seattle City Council citizens panel reviewing the WTO conference invitation to Seattle:
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