Reforms emerging as legacy of WTO

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Reforms emerging as legacy of WTO

First proposals made to change city policy

Friday, June 30, 2000

By KERY MURAKAMI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Some reforms are beginning to emerge from the tear gas and anger of last fall's World Trade Organization conference.

A Seattle City Council citizens panel yesterday made the first proposals to change city policy to ensure that future conferences don't follow in the WTO's footsteps.

It also recommended the city take some sort of action against Seattle Port Commissioner Pat Davis, who led the drive to bring the WTO here.

After reviewing how the WTO was invited to Seattle, the panel charged that private interests, particularly Davis' Washington Council on International Trade, invited the conference here and then left the city to pay a $9 million bill.

"They threw a big party and left us with the bill," said Councilwoman Jan Drago, who served on the committee.

City officials generally consider it their duty to try to attract major conferences here, but the panel recommended creation of a formal process to determine whether to allow groups to bring events to the city if they have "the potential for a major impact" on the city's budget."

Bob Rohan, an attorney who chaired the panel, said hearings like those held when the city was considering an Olympic bid would have created a debate about whether Seattle really wanted the WTO here.

Still in question is the point where a conference is considered large enough to prompt city review. The panel made no recommendation, and Councilman Jim Compton, chairman of the council's WTO Accountability Committee, said the city does not intend to make it difficult to hold any conference in the city.

The council created the committee in the wake of the WTO controversy. The committee then organized three independent citizen panels to look at how the WTO got here, the city's preparations for the conference and the city's actions during the conference.

Though the other panels are not expected to finish their work until August, Compton yesterday unveiled 11 other changes in city policy the council might consider. They include requiring police badges to be clearly visible and reassessing use of pepper spray and tear gas.

In addition, the panel recommended that the city ensure it's never again left holding the tab. It recommended joining forces with cities nationwide to demand federal help in paying for international conferences in the United States. Though the Clinton administration selected Seattle to host the conference, the city has been unable so far to get federal reimbursement for some costs.

In addition to policy recommendations, the panel singled out Davis for blame -- alleging she was so anxious for Seattle to outbid 40 other cities for the conference that she seemed to promise local governments would bankroll the conference.

In Seattle's formal bid for the conference, she wrote that the Seattle Host Organization -- which included Mayor Paul Schell, Gov. Gary Locke, and King County Executive Ron Sims -- "will cover whatever the final costs are."

However, the report concluded that Davis never checked with any of the governments before pledging their money. Instead, Davis told Schell's office that the city would not have to pay anything.

Davis, though, said federal officials knew she was in no position to make such a commitment.

She also said the host organization intended in good faith to cover the city's police costs. But the group was unable to raise the $1.5 million it promised, and costs rose when the city was beset by protesters.

Nevertheless, the panel said Davis misrepresented the city's position to the federal government. And in a third recommendation, the panel said the council should either pass a written censure of Davis or ban the city from doing business with Davis for the Washington Council on International Trade "for a period of time."

Drago, however, said the city does not do business with Davis or her organization unless it's trying to bring an international conference to town -- "and there's no way an international conference is coming to town for a while." She declined to say whether she thought the city should censure Davis.

P-I reporter Kery Murakami can be reached at 206-448-8029 or kerymurakami@seattle-pi.com