Tom Weeks | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Seattle City Council from Position 6 | |
| In office January 1, 1990 –August 2, 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Virginia Galle |
| Succeeded by | Charlie Chong |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Seattle,WA |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence(s) | Seattle,WA |
| Alma mater | |
Tom Weeks is a former Seattle City Council member from 1990 until he resigned in 1996.
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]
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]
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]
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]
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