The Political Empowerment Skill Building Program given by South Seattle Community College has been offering students the opportunity to interact and hear from experts and practitioners about their knowledge and experiences in politics and public services, as we reported here:

http://www.westseattleherald.com/2010/06/03/features/political-empowerm…

On Thursday night, June 3, students heard 10-minute presentations by panelists before breaking up into groups to focus on assigned bills they would try to pass in a mock forum. The panelists then circulated and answered questions within the smaller groups. One week later, the class concluded as students who had broken up into four groups presented, and made their case for the passing of, new bills in front of members of a mock press conference.

Press conference panelists included State Senator Joe McDermott, Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell, The PubliCola Blog's news editor Erica C. Barnett, and West Seattle reporter and photographer, Steve Shay, who was asked to return after his June 3 participation in the class. Observers included Mark Mitsui who is the current Vice President for Student Services at SSCC, to become new president of North Seattle Community College July 1. Also present were Velma Veloria, Alice Coil and Laura Matson of SSCC. Veloria is a former Washington State Legislator from Seattle's 11th District.

The exercise, and four bills involved the following:

1) Students posed Seattle City Council members to boycott the purchase of Arizona products and services and discourage tourism there to protest that state's new immigration law.

2) Students posed as board members of Seattle Public Schools issue a statement to support the passing of HB 3026, a new law that bans discrimination in public schools based on race, creed, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, veteran or military status, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability.

3) Students pose as a group of State House Representatives who want to introduce state income tax to fund public services and education, particularly by increasing taxes on the wealthiest three-percent of citizens.

4) Students posed as City Councilmembers offering a bill to recycle and ban Styrofoam products, targeting fast food to-go containers.

After the groups presented, the "press conference" panelists ask challenging questions for the Q&A, and then critiqued the presentations. All four panelists gave high marks while offering constructive criticism.

Barnett said they responded well to tough questions but warned that in an actual press conference they may have been asked questions not related to their topic, for example an embarrassing personal incident from their past that might throw them off topic.

To play devil's advocate, Shay asked group-3 why the State House is now raising sales taxes in Washington on cigarettes, beer, candy and cola while the group's stated goal was to lower the taxes of middle and lower income residents. The group restated their premise, to tax the wealthy. Later, Harrell said he thought Shay's question was fair, and that sometimes "It is better to throw your hands up and say, 'Yes, there are some contradictions here, but we need to move forward on our proposal for these reasons.' Otherwise you may come across as insincere and people will pick up on that right away."

McDermott questioned the third group on whether they determined a couple's income based on the couple being married partners only. They did some quick research with their notes during their presentation and determined same-sex partners qualified legally as a couple. After the Arizona immigration presentation, McDermott challenged the entire classroom asking them, "How many here are right now carrying legal documents to prove their U.S. citizenship?" Some hands went up, until he pointed out that a drivers license does not qualify.

"In Arizona you need to carry your birth certificate, or passport…unless your mother loses it," he said, hinting at a personal incident.