Former Costco CEO among top donors trying to sway Seattle voters

Former Costco CEO and Issaquah resident Jim Sinegal is the biggest-name donor trying to influence voters in Seattle’s City Council races.

So far, Sinegal’s made two separate $10,000 gifts to two "Independent Expenditure Committees," or political action committees (PACs), which are being funded by 18 big donors heading into the Aug. 1 primary.

Under Seattle’s system of public election financing, called Democracy Vouchers, participating candidates must promise to only take small, individual donations of a few hundred dollars.

PACs, however, are free to raise and spend whatever they want on political advertising. And since Democracy Vouchers went into effect in Seattle in 2017, more PAC dollars have, in turn, flooded into Seattle politics.

One of the two PACs Sinegal is backing calls itself the University Neighbors Committee. So far, it’s raised around $80,000 to support candidate Maritza Rivera, a former City Council staffer who currently directs Seattle’s Department of Arts & Culture.