By JTNews Staff, other
King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez has ruled that Initiative 97, which would compel the City of Seattle’s retirement board to divest from some companies who do business with Israel, exceeds the scope of initiative power, and as a result, will not appear on the November ballot.
“The funds in question are pension funds, not city funds. They belong to workers who will need them to retire,” Gonzalez said. “Given that, [I-97] is beyond the scope of the initiative process.”
The initiative, which signature gatherers had been telling residents was a measure to divest from Iraq, had mobilized several Jewish organizations and was opposed by the mayor and most city council members.
“This legal victory was possible only because our community came together and united behind the common purpose of defeating I-97,” said Richard Fruchter, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, one of the leading groups in the initiative’s opposition, in a statement. “Along with leaders in the Jewish community, many Jewish organizations, and political leaders, including Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, we demonstrated what is possible when we work together to solve problems.”
Opponents of the measure had filed suit earlier in the summer in an attempt to have the initiative overturned before it reached voters in November. Signature gatherers, some of them paid, had been working to obtain 18,000 signatures by a Sept. 27 deadline.