Downtown Bellevue Protest and Counter Protest Argue Over Kemper Freeman-Backed Campaign Mailing

Dozens of people turned out at the intersection of NE Eighth Street and Bellevue Way on Wednesday evening—some to protest what they called dirty politics by a group backed by Bellevue developer Kemper Freeman, and others in a counter-demonstration claiming that the first group represented Seattle interests.

At issue were mailings sent out last week and this week critical of city council candidate John Stokes who is pitted against Aaron Laing for the seat that will be vacated by departing councilman Grant Degginger.

Stokes was on hand at Wednesday's demonstration as well, telling protestors that Bellevue is a leader in the region and as such should push for change.

He said that if Laing, who has outraised and outspent all the other city council candidates, is elected, then would be outnumbered by an even greater majority.

Anti-Stokes mailings have also been sent out by the Eastside Leadership Council, a PAC that has received $25,000 in donations from Kemper Holdings LLC, as well as $22,000 each from George Rowley of Issaquah and Robert Wallace of Bellevue, according to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.

“If they take this seat, they’ll have a 5-2 majority, which will mean pushing back light rail,” Stokes said. “We don’t need to stagnate and quit planning for the future.”

Bellevue resident Becky Lewis said she organized the protest against Freeman because she was disturbed by an attack advertisement she received in the mail last weekend that she said “tarred and feathered” Stokes, painting him in a very negative light and amounting to dirty politics.

While that protest was staged in front of Bellevue Place, which is a Kemper Holdings development, the other three corners of the intersection were occupied by participants in a counter protest expressing support for Freeman and decrying what it called meddling in Bellevue’s business by a political action group called Fuse that has headquarters in Seattle.

“We’re here to point out that the ads were funded by the Eastside Leadership Council, which is funded in part by Kemper Freeman,” said Becky Lewis, a Bellevue resident who is also a member of Fuse. “We do not want Kemper to buy the election.”

Lewis said she reached out to Fuse to help spread the word about the protest she planned. Roughly 20 people, including two organizers from Fuse’s Seattle office, stood in front of Bellevue Place.

Margot Blacker, who served on Bellevue’s City Council from 1990-98 was protesting with Lewis, echoing her sentiment that the negative campaign was at the heart of the protest.

“I just have never seen smear tactics like this before,” she said. “It’s saddening to a lot of people to see this come to Bellevue.”

Meanwhile, a number of the counter protesters were affiliated with Building a Better Bellevue, a group comprised of largely south Bellevue residents, said Joe Rosmann, who helped organize that group, which included roughly 50 people. Rosmann said Building a Better Bellevue supports many of the same things Fuse does, but departs on the issue of whether high density transportation is the solution to the area’s traffic problems.

Many of the counter protesters said the anti-Freeman demonstrators were a group of Seattle protesters and held signs telling Seattle to stay out of Bellevue’s affairs.

“The bottom line is it’s people from Seattle coming over telling us how to run Bellevue,” said Bellevue resident Bob Brunjes, adding that in the 31 years he’s lived here he has watched developers such as Freeman building a vibrant downtown.

Others said that while they supported light rail, they agreed with some of Freeman's objections to its location.

In front of Bellevue Place however, most of the demonstrators identified themselves as Eastside residents, from Bellevue and surrounding communities such as Redmond, Issaquah, Mercer Island and Sammamish. Fuse organizers said they did not invite any Seattle members of the group to the rally because it’s an Eastside issue.

One woman, Kelsey Getz, said she lives in Seattle but she works in Bellevue, at , and spends an hour and a half riding the bus to and from work.

-- Additional reporting by Venice Buhain and the Bellevue Patch archives