With the loss of our basketball team, the efforts of Save Our Sonics have been directed toward the future return of the NBA to Seattle and having our Sonics back on the court. We need elected officials with the leadership and vision to be proactive in efforts to solve our arena problem and work with the NBA and local ownership interests to bring a team back to our city. Using the type of private investment outlined in the Ballmer group's proposal, we can boost our local economy, create jobs and bring the Sonics back to a revitalized Seattle Center

Save Our Sonics leadership has been actively reaching out to candidates for these offices to determine who would best serve the regions interest on this issue. We have invited all candidates for Seattle Mayor, City Council and King County Executive to submit statements to our membership. These statements appear on our website, unedited, for all candidates who responded to our request.

As a former Sonics player James understands the NBA well and has connections in the community, as well as the league, that will be essential in our efforts to restore Sonics Basketball in the region. Of all the candidates for Mayor he has the best chance of unseating Mayor Nickels.

We invited all Mayors candidates to submit statements to our membership. Mayor Nickels declined to send a statement. Below are the unedited statements from the candidates that did submit them starting off with our recomended candidate, James Donaldson

We all know that Mayor Greg Nickels is the reason the Seattle Sonics left town. We all know that Mayor Greg Nickels left Seattle holding the bag - an empty bag, an empty Arena, empty seats, and $32 million dollars that were emptied when Nickels couldn't convince anyone to turn the Key.

But basketball, Key Arena, and tens of thousands of empty-hearted fans aren't the only losses to Seattle. We've lost the respect of the region and the state. We've lost thousands of jobs. We've lost tens of thousands of hours stuck in traffic because of political gridlock. We've lost young people killed in gang violence and thousands of students dropping out of school. We've lost our priorities. It would take scores of emails to tally up the losses Seattle has suffered through under Greg Nickels.

A new mayor can make a change. But only one man can make BIG CHANGE. James Donaldson. He's someone who is looking out for the little guy, someone who won't give out a $40,000 executive bonus during a major recession. Someone who has the intelligence to not just plow through the bureaucracy, but the snow-covered streets. Someone who will cut costs and clean house.

IT'S TIME THE FANS WON THE GAME. It's time for each of us to get out of our seats and take to the court - and the street - and get James Donaldson elected.

I worked tirelessly to keep the Sonics in Seattle. I worked with city and state elected officials. I lobbied in Olympia for a funding package to keep them in Seattle.
When the Sonics left Seattle, a piece of Seattle went missing.
Greg Nickels did not do his part to save our basketball team or upgrade KeyArena, and losing the Sonics was one of the things that motivated me to run for Mayor. We should have been able to keep the Sonics in Seattle, but we didn't.

As Mayor, I will work hard to bring professional basketball back to Seattle. A new Mayor with a different style, and a passion for basketball, can work with the NBA and other key leaders to have professional basketball in Seattle.
I am the best person to beat Mayor Nickels and bring basketball back to Seattle.

The Sonics were a Seattle asset and a part of our community. I don't support the high-stakes game that the NBA allowed, where Oklahoma City was able to lure our team away, but the city had a role to play too. Seattle needed help from the state, and as everyone knows - there are no open doors for Nickels in Olympia. Even in dealing with the fallout and trial, Nickels was blasted by papers for being "contradictory," "embarrassing" and for taking a settlement that was "not a good deal for citizens."

As mayor, I would ensure that the state and our city worked together on important issues. We need to remodel Key Arena. We need to regain Seattle Center's status a great community gathering spot. And we need a new Seattle mayor. With your support, we can work to bring NBA basketball back to Seattle, and bring new leadership to city government.

I attended about 8 games a year during the last 3 years the Sonics were in town. Even when the team was not doing well, it was a great place to go with friends and see others from the community. I especially like watching proud parents showing off their kids who are back from college or are in town for the holidays. The ability to strengthen a community is almost priceless. I'm happy to know that some Sonics players have decided to make their homes in Seattle - Nick Collison. Please check out other ways I intend to build partnerships within our great city and send me feedback.

I would love to work with you all to make NBA in Seattle a reality and an excellent asset for our community. I would love your vote.
Thank you.

We invited all Executive candidates to submit statements to our membership. Below are the unedited statements from the candidates that did submit them starting off with our recomended candidate, Fred Jarrett

I remain committed to securing an NBA team. We are a world class region and must be recognized as such. Sports and the arts capture attention for the region and attention creates opportunity for our businesses, and quality jobs for our neighbors and friends. I look forward to exploring creative approaches to make the NBA a part of our community again.

I have been more than willing to work on creative legislation to give Seattle the ability to collect $30 million from Bennett, et.al. in Oklahoma City. As I've said more than once in the press "I would do this for the sport of it." Again, we have been unable to come to an agreement on legislation that meets the needs of the city and that can pass the legislature. This was a difficult year in Olympia, and most financial legislation not related to the state budget failed. I am willing to continue to explore the issue with the Legislature should a team become available.

I believe the King County Executive, Mayor of Seattle and Governor did not do all that was possible to keep the team here. Well, that's all over and done, so where's the new team? I'm not even a fan and yet tens of thousands others are and they deserve to have a team here in Washington. Its good for business and good for the whole public. Getting a new NBA team here will be one of my primary issues and I will do whatever I can to fulfill that desire. For many people taking the Sonics away was like cutting out a piece of their heart. It's time to mend the broken. Its time to return Professional Basketball to Seattle! I intend to do everything in my power to have it happen.

With the backing of tens of thousands it can be done!!!

We invited all Seattle City Council candidates to submit statements to our membership. Below are the unedited statements from the candidates that did submit them.

We must get our team back! I have been discussing the Sonics issue with people for years focused around 41 years of family entertainment, employment opportunity, revenue for our city and region, neighborhood business vitality, tourism and many related benefits, support for our City's largest public space, and immeasurable national/regional identity for Seattle.

A friend was honored with being the first operator of the 24-second clock for many years, and I have consistently supported the team since attending the first games in '67-'68 as a student. We would get $3 general admission tickets and friend Bill, from the scorer's table, would signal us what seats down front were not being used, moving down at the half. Later on I would become a season ticket holder, as I remain today with a priority number under 100. I have been in the stands for our one championship and most other great Sonics victories.

Nick Licata took great pride in sending the team away. He poisoned the debate with his dismissal of the Sonics' cultural value for our city. As a council member, I will not apply some personal litmus test in representing all of us the way Licata has in the past and will in the future; a trait not endorsed by true leadership. We should not have to choose either the Symphony or the Sonics- we need both. We are diverse in our connections, and celebrating them is a council member's uncompromised responsibility. As an avid arts supporter as well, I served on the Intiman Theatre board for 10 years and have easily related to playwright Noel Coward and Michael Jordan simultaneously-amazing!

As I have described since entering the race in March, Licata kicked out a 41-year-old business and now claims to have secured the Storm and a profitable Key Arena as if to prove his point. Well, like many of his claims, they are baseless and pander to a few who look for and embrace any excuse. The Sonics left a hole in the City's Seattle Center and Key Arena budget, and to claim otherwise is typical political double speak-if Clay Bennett paid off my $45M mortgage or yours, we too would be able to make a profit. Folks, be wary of this standard political speak.

Instead of finding excuses and reasons to cast away the Sonics, I would have taken the lead in immediately securing the next local ownership group. Matt Griffin, Steve Ballmer and others could have stepped in earlier if only the city had been a 'partner' with Schultz, and I would have helped facilitate such an assist. In addition, I would have presented a strong and united front in Olympia, not supporting a $100M investment in the Key, but promoting a responsible investment package that would garner collective support in the legislature.

We must pick up the ball once again and aggressively bring the rock to the hoop! Interest in this issue still strongly smolders, and we must find new opportunities to unite our city once again behind a strong franchise and a smart investment. Tourism taxes are paying off the Safeco and Qwest bonds and should be considered among other investment options in supporting a 21st Century venue and our Sonics. And unlike Licata, I am not afraid of making an appropriate public-private partnership deal to advance the debate, invest wisely with shared benefits, and help us fill the Seattle Center with cheers, families, jobs, revenue, vitality and pride.

Thanks for considering my candidacy. Unlike Nick Licata and Jesse Israel, I bring over 30 years of actually getting things done in our city as an architect, business owner, neighborhood leader and dad. I have served my city and you for decades in many capacities and unlike my opponents, I am not locked in as a politician-I am a Seattleite and Sonics fan promising delivery of a fresh collaborative voice, dynamic experienced leadership and comprehensive future vision for our City; a real change for Position 6.
Thanks, now "Let's Get Ready to Rumble!"

I look forward to helping bring mens professional basketball back to Seattle and continue a strong 41 year history. Finding a venue for the Sonics will require help from Olympia. But the case in Olympia is made easier if the leadership in Seattle is more hospitable to having an NBA team here. As we retire the debt early from Qwest and Safeco fields, there is an opportunity to ensure that this existing revenue stream from hotel, rental car and restaurant taxes is leveraged against private investment to create thriving new tourist attractions in Seattle including a Key Arena, Seattle Center and the Convention Center -- improvements that drive economic development and jobs. Seattle Center is where basketball belongs in Seattle. And it is even more attractive now that the "Mercer mess" will be cleaned-up.

I am running for this seat because I believe that we can do better. Nick stands between us and that vision of a better Seattle. He too often opts for standing alone to fight the process rather than working to solve the problem. It's time for people to see that an effective, well-run government can be a force of positive change not just a source of delay and waste.

A poll I recently commissioned brought back great news. Despite running against a 12 year incumbent, nearly 70% of voters are undecided. This is a wide open race. Although there is another candidate running for position 6, the poll shows that I am within the margin of error of Nick and better situated to win in the general election.

Some of my endorsements include: Washington Conservation Voters, Cascade Bicycle Club, Alki Foundation (of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce), Seattle Firefighters Local 27, Seattle Police Officers Guild, King County Realtors, Rental Housing Association, Building Trades Council, AGC, Union of Painters and Allied Trades, 34th District Democrats, King County Young Democrats, National Women's Political Caucus, West Seattle Democratic Women, Allied Arts, Friends of Seattle. I'm also proud to have the support of Brian Robinson, Troy Finlayson and others who fought hard to keep the Sonics in Seattle.

I can bring a winning coalition of voters to my campaign in the general election - seniors, women, business leaders, and young people. We CAN have a strong new, pragmatic, effective council in the fall; but I need your help.

Please vote Jessie Israel for position 6 before August 18th.

I voted yes on the City's 2009 legislative agenda, which included the following:

"We request the legislature's authorization of a less- than-1% revenue-neutral shift of the existing hotel/motel tax, to be directed toward Seattle Center tourism improvements." (This is the current convention center hotel-motel tax)

I also felt that the proposal brought forward by Steve Balmer for a $300M renewal of Key Arena, with $150M from private sources was well thought out and looked like a feasible funding plan. I would seriously consider it and work with others to make it happen.

I am willing to support efforts to bring the NBA back to Seattle within this context.

While serving on the Council I would work to bring a NBA team back to Seattle. In order to do this we will have to refurbish the Key Arena. The arena has demonstrated time and again an ability to serve the community in a way that would warrant the investment. It would:

1. 1. Draw the attention of a new NBA team and better support our Seattle Storm
2. 2. Enable greater use as for other cultural events such as entertainment shows and musical concerts.
3. 3. Could be refurbished in such a way to better prepare it to serve as an Emergency Disaster Shelter.

There are a number of means by which to make Key Arena an attractive venue for the Sonics & Storm without making the taxpayers foot the bill. This may mean a transfer of development rights or a leaseback arrangement in exchange for a capital investment to improve the building.
I have many years experience structuring and negotiating deals similar to what it will take to bring the Sonics back to Seattle. If elected to the Council I will seek responsibility for doing just that and will ask to be held accountable for producing results.

My thought process was that whichever had a better dollar return on investment (ROI) for taxpayer dollars -- NBA or touring events -- would be what I would favor. During the campaign, it was pointed out to me there are significant differences in the "intangibles" between the two. Such intangibles are why we do things like 1% for the arts and give up public land for the sculpture park.

I also had a great, long chat with Storm co-owner Anne Levinson about Key Arena. Anne has, incidentally, endorsed my campaign.

So here is my position on Key Arena and bringing the NBA back to Seattle: With the proper contract with team ownership AND the NBA, I can see reworking Key Arena for the NBA even if the ROI for an NBA team is *somewhat* worse than the ROI for touring events. Important contract points for me will be the length of the contract, who handles construction cost overruns, a long-term contract for event management/booking with an experienced event firm for off-days, ownership assets & experience sufficient to field a competitive team, and a committment to show a meaningful number of games on basic cable TV to help rebuild public excitement for the team.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my views with your group.

Steve Ballmer and is group came oh so close to saving the team for this city. Some stronger governmental leadership could have done the rest. Let's hope that we get another chance. I would be proud to lead the charge.