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Tom Weeks

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Tom Weeks
Member of the Seattle City Council
from Position 6
In office
January 1, 1990 – August 2, 1996
Preceded byVirginia Galle
Succeeded byCharlie Chong
Personal details
BornSeattle, WA
Political partyDemocratic
Residence(s)Seattle, WA
Alma mater

Harvard University (MA,PhD)

Tom Weeks is a former Seattle City Council member from 1990 until he resigned in 1996.

Early life and education

Weeks was born and raised in West Seattle.[1] He is a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School graduate program, where he was also a teacher's assistant.[1] Before his running for city council, he owned a conflict-negotiation consulting business.[2]

Seattle city council

Elections

In 1989, Weeks ran for Seattle city council for Position 6 against incumbent Virginia Galle.[3] In the September primary election, he and Galle advanced to the general with 30% and 43% of the vote, respectively.[4] Galle accused Weeks of padding his resume when he claimed he taught at Harvard, "He talks about teaching when he means teaching assistant."[1] Weeks defended his experience, saying he did teach courses until Harvard released a statement saying he was not on the faculty and did not teach complete five-month courses.[1] Weeks said Galle was too much of an outsider and ineffective at coalition building.[1][2] In the general election, Weeks defeated Gale, 55% to 45%, and he outspent her on a 2-1 ratio.[5][6][7]

Weeks ran for reelection in 1993 and faced seven challengers.[8] In the September primary, Weeks came in first with over 63% of the vote, with businesswoman Pam Roats coming in second with 16%.[8][9] Weeks ran on his record and his overwhelming win in the primary, while Roats attacked him over a $10,000 ethics complaint against Weeks' from the Ethics and Elections Commission.[9] In the general election, Weeks defeated Roats, 65% to 35%.[5]

Tenure

During his tenure, Weeks was chair of the Housing and Human Services, Finance, and Personnel and Labor Policy Committees.[7] As chair of the Finance committee, he oversaw the merger of the community development and human services departments, and, separately, the melding of the comptroller's and treasurer's offices.[9] Weeks was active in the budget process and used savings for increased "...investment(s) in human capital and human services as crime prevention.[9][10]

In 1993, a city employee lodged an ethics complaint against Weeks for mailing a newsletter at city expense to 35,000 households.[11] He denied that he broke any laws, but there was a perspective that he had, saying "The perception here was almost as important as the facts." [12] Weeks repaid the city $10,256.19 over three installments.[9][12][13]

Weeks announced he would resign from the council, effective August 2, 1996, to take a job as Seattle School District's director of human resources.[7][14]

Post-council

After working at the Seattle School District, Weeks became chairman of the board of the Seattle Monorail Project.[15][16] Voters rejected the Monorail project initiative, on a 2–1 margin due financial problems.[16] Project leaders, including Weeks, resigned after the vote.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Balter, Joni (October 23, 1989). "SLINGING, SLUGGING BUILD IN GALLE-WEEKS RACE". The Seattle Times. newsbank.com. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Balter, Joni (August 3, 1989). "GALLE'S CHALLENGERS SAY SHE'S `OUTSIDER' - INCUMBENT'S TRIES TO CAP INITIATIVE COULD HELP HER". The Seattle Times. newsbank.com. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  3. ^ "CANDIDATES FILE FOR OFFICES". The Seattle Times. newsbank.com. July 29, 1989. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  4. ^ "ELECTION RESULTS". The Seattle Times. newsbank.com. September 20, 1989. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  5. ^ a b "General and Special Elections". Seattle Municipal Archives. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  6. ^ Balter, Joni; Hatch, Walter (November 8, 1989). "BREAKING TRADITION - WEEKS TRIUMPHS; 2 INCUMBENTS ON THE RUN". The Seattle Times. newsbank.com. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c "Tom Weeks Subject Files, 1989-1996". Archive West. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Lilly, Dick (September 15, 1993). "IMPRESSIVE SHOWING BY WEEKS; OPPONENT LIKES CHANCES IN NOV". The Seattle Times. newsbank.com. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e Angelos, Constantine (October 20, 1993). "ROATS IN UPHILL BATTLE FOR COUNCIL SEAT - WITH BIGGEST CHUNK OF PRIMARY VOTE, INCUMBENT WEEKS LOOKS TOUGH TO BEAT". The Seattle Times. newsbank.com. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  10. ^ Lilly, Dick (November 14, 1992). "BUDGET AGREEMENT MINIMIZES CUTS, INVESTS IN YOUTH". The Seattle Times. newsbank.com. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  11. ^ Lilly, Dick (February 18, 1993). "COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST WEEKS OVER NEWSLETTER - CITY WORKER CLAIMS VIOLATION OF ETHICS, ELECTION LAW". The Seattle Times. newsbank.com. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  12. ^ a b Birkland, David (March 18, 1993). "CITY COUNCILMAN TO REPAY $10,000 COST OF NEWSLETTER". The Seattle Times. newsbank.com. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  13. ^ "Seattle City Council -- `Truth Squad' Ignoring Roats-Weeks Campaign". The Seattle Times. October 29, 1993. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  14. ^ Lewis, Peter (July 10, 1996). "New Challenges Await Tom Weeks In School District". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  15. ^ a b Staff (July 4, 2005). "Monorail leaders resign". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
  16. ^ a b Staff (November 13, 2005). "Monorail mess: He's moving on". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
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