DOGE Comes to Washington: Ferguson and Harrell Embrace Trumpian Austerity and DOGE Worship

Just two dudes fighting for the wealthy few

The national #HandsOff protest drew thousands to Seattle Center last Saturday to roundly condemn President Donald Trump and his corpo crony Elon Musk for their hack job on social services, their unwavering allegiance to the ultra wealthy, and their general disgust with any marginalized community.  If the rally-goers have some time this week, I can think of two worthy targets closer to home. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, through policy and personality, have earned a similar finger-wag from PNW liberals.

Let’s start with Harrell, our hometown hero. Harrell’s racked up a series of minor scandals during his term as mayor. Separately, each of these scandals just make Harrell look like a jerk. But add them all up, and suddenly you can picture Harrell feeling more at home at a Republican men’s club than as a progressive champion for Seattle. 

In a now-viral quote, only worsened by the context of where it was said, Harrell lauded the likes of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel at the annual “State of Downtown” hosted by the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA), calling them, “some of the smartest innovators around”. Maybe it's just a bid to win back our tech overlords from the Republican Party, but when you look at Harrell’s policies and actions as a whole, the rightward shift becomes undeniable. 

From his texts with a millionaire donor in 2023 commiserating in their “disgust” of queer people as they conspired to destroy Denny Blaine, to his long time staffer facing accusation of repeated instances of sexual assault from multiple women, to his own niece coming forward and accusing Harrell of rampant misogyny, it becomes pretty clear why Harrell admires Thiel, or Mr. “I think women getting the right to vote was bad for democracy." Add in Harrell’s track record of using his position in government to stand up for employers accused of wage theft, and we honestly should all be wondering why Harrell is running for a second term instead of submitting his resume to DOGE.

Harrell’s resume of scandals alone might not be enough to land him that sweet DOGE gig, but his policies position him as a prime applicant.

In Seattle’s last budget cycle, Harrell raided JumpStart, a pot of money meant to support affordable housing projects, climate readiness projects and small businesses to backfill budget holes, pay for raises for the cops and ramp up his already relentless sweeps of homeless encampments. This compromise still led to cuts for food access, worker protections, eviction defense, rental assistance, tenant services, behavioral health services, and programs addressing gender-based violence.

Then there is the matter of his support for Prop 1B. Harrell went against the 64% of Seattlites by supporting a corporate-backed alternative to Prop 1A, a citizen initiative to tax the rich to fund permanently affordable social housing. Plastering his face on hundreds of thousands of mailers paid for by the chamber of commerce and other big business interests, Harrell said loud and clear that he would rather squeeze working people with skyrocketing rent and mortgage payments than tax his rich buddies. Taken all together, surely his record would at least land Harrell a first interview with his pals at DOGE. 

Harrell may not be the only Washington politician vying for a spot in the DOGE team though. Ferguson is stepping up to the plate in a big way to disappoint voters and win the hearts of team austerity in DC. 

While Ferguson may have been seen as a liberal icon for taking on Trump as AG in his first term, it's pretty clear those days are behind us. Before even assuming office, Ferguson went against the outgoing governor,majority of his own party, organized labor, and arguably the average Democrat voter, and denounced a budget that included new revenue, instead taking clear cues from Musk and the Republican party by calling for massive cuts to spending. 

It’s a slap in the face for Ferguson to pull out his v-card on progressive revenue when Washington state voters indicated overwhelming support for the capital gains tax on the same ballot Bob was elected on. 

Fergie’s positions have been so unabashedly conservative, that the Republican party of Washington, even though they lost seats in Congress this last election, look at him as basically one of their own.. Meanwhile, Democrats are mourning an apparent loss of the governor’s seat, one even calling him, “our first Republican governor in 40 years”. 

Of course, pushing an agenda of austerity alone wouldn't be enough to land Ferguson a position in DOGE, there would also have to be stories of promoting a hostile work environment. 

Fortunately, Ferguson is well on his way to demonstrating proficiency. Ferguson’s office is drowning in a waterfall of resignations, including his chief of staff. Seemingly muzzled comments about the treatment of women and a toxic workplace culture are circulating around Olympia.  

Now that I’ve got you all mad, here’s what we do.

Fortunately in Seattle, Harrell is up for re-election this year. We can vote this asshole out in November and put an actual progressive in office. Katie Wilson recently kicked off her campaign, already qualified for your democracy vouchers, and needs all the support she can get to challenge Big Business Bruce. Get involved in her campaign today.

If you’re interested in the nearly $80 billion budget that Ferguson and our legislature are playing tug-o-war with until April 27, you should head to Olympia on Wednesday, April 9. If Ferguson pulls his v-card on progressive revenue and triggers a special session, we’ll need to bring the same energy to Olympia that we’ve been seeing at Tesla lots all over the country. 

Powerful Democrats in Washington will continue to push austerity, blame Trump, and repaint a rainbow on the sidewalk to call it even. There’s a big scary enemy in D.C., he feels far away and all powerful, but (un)luckily for us, we’ve got dude bro corporate shills to defeat at home.

Jeff Paul is a public school educator, rank and file union member, and steering committee member of House Our Neighbors