Tech Giant Amazon Feels Threatened by Tax for Eviction Prevention Fund
The book I had a mind to read, was put up leaning against the wall: I first mounted to the upper step of the ladder, and turning my face towards the book, began at the top of the page, and so walking to the right and left about eight or ten paces, according to the length of the lines, till I had gotten a little below the level of mine eyes, and then descending gradually till I came to the bottom: after which I mounted again, and began the other page in the same manner, and so turned over the leaf, which I could easily do with both my hands, for it was as thick and stiff as a pasteboard, and in the largest folios not above eighteen or twenty feet long.
Part 2, Gullivers Travels,
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift is perhaps one of the greatest writers in the english language; all I have to write is the words Gulliver’s Travels and you’ll instantly think of the shipwrecked Gulliver among the tiny Lilliputians. However, few of you will think of the giants, the Brobdingnagians who inhabit the next part of his travels in part 2 of the book. There is a really wonderful scene, quoted above, when Gulliver has a ladder built to read a Brobdingnagian book. He reads the page by walking from left to right on some scaffolding then stepping down to read the next line. The bizarre letter about evictions and SB 5600 from our own Brobdingnagian Amazon wasn’t as hard to read, and it would be as funny if it wasn’t so disruptive of the process.
Let me reprise what happened in the last 48 hours. Delicate negotiations between representatives of people who own and operate rental property and those who represent tenants were underway with participation from legislators of both parties. Suddenly a letter, just a word document, sent as an attachment in an email arrives signed by 10 big companies in the Puget Sound including Amazon. Why would Amazon send a word document with no signatures as an attachment to the Governor and Legislature at just this moment? And if you read the letter, it parrots almost word for word the talking points of the tenant advocates.
The letter’s provenance was instantly doubted by legislators. Why would the largest corporation in the world, send such a shoddy letter to the legislature? It looked like a prank intended as satire of the whole process. After all, isn’t Amazon the cause of homelessness? Wasn’t that what we battled about during the “head tax” debate? It was just silly that Amazon would barge in like the Kool Aid Man right at that moment to blow up the negotiations and dispense socialist Kool Aid to tired out negotiators. Oh Yeah!
But the letter emerged, in part, because a reporter, Jake Goldsmith-Street, was working on a story for the Seattle Times. Was the letter real or just a joke? Was it both? The Seattle Times took it very seriously, but ignored doubts about the source of the letter and to take comments that I sent about our questions about its authenticity. The story that resulted, Eviction Reforms Get Boost From Seattle Tech Giants, made the story all too real.
Turns out that Goldsmith-Street never verified the signers of the letter by so much as calling them. He based his whole story and the headline on the goofy, amateurish document people thought was a joke. But it was real. But the reporter never bothered to ask why Amazon cared about this.
By the time the story ran, I had blasted the letter to Amazon’s Olympia lobbyist. Then yesterday morning he responded this way:
Roger:
I have spoken with my client regarding both of your emails.
Please be advised that Amazon does not have a position on SB 5600, has not engaged in this bill in any way, and at this time does not plan to take a position on the measure.
Mr. Zapolsky signed the letter regarding SB 5600 as a private citizen, as did many of the signatories who also live and work in Seattle.
Again, Amazon is not engaged in this legislation. I would encourage you to focus your attention on lobbying the bill directly.
Many Thanks, Denny
Later, I heard from Funko’s lawyer saying,
Sorry if there was any confusion. I signed that letter individually. I know my company name was used . . . I didn’t think it would cost as much confusion . . . I would suggest that you talked to David Zapolsky at Amazon.
As the day wore on yesterday, it became less and less clear who wrote the letter and who really supported it. Was this really supported by Amazon or not? A Geekwire reporter was confused too, saying she talked to a source at Amazon who said that, yes, they really meant to wade into a pint size argument in a backwater capital of their global empire.
As I described it to a colleague, it’s as if Zeus himself appeared at a bar fight somewhere in Spain during the Trojan War. The combatants would surely stop and wonder, “What the heck is he doing here?” Everyone in Olympia wondered the same thing.
By the end of the day yesterday, legislation to tax Amazon to fund our Eviction Prevention Fund was already being considered and drafted. I got a call from an irritated legislator at the end of the day telling me he was going to talk to the Amazon lobbyists. The legislator said the Amazon people got a call “threatening Amazon” from someone. He told them,”I said, yep, that was Roger.”
So that’s how yesterday went. Big shot attorney, David Zapolsky, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Prior to joining Amazon.com, a partner at the Seattle offices of Dorsey & Whitney and Bogle & Gates and moving to Seattle from New York City in 1994, serving as an Assistant District Attorney in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and later practiced law at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and he received his undergraduate degree in music from Columbia University and a J.D. with honors from the University of California, Berkeley wrote a letter on Microsoft Word, and got some other wealthy, big shots to say, “Yes,” and hit send.
He seems to really likes Senate Bill 5600. My suggestion to Mr. Zapolsky is to call up his colleagues and suggest that, maybe, they kick in the $2,000,000 that we suggested for the fund. That would be really nice. I hope that doesn’t sound threatening. I didn’t realize giants were so easy to scare.
Dedicated to Jonathan Swift, himself a giant.
Ubi sæva Indignatio
Ulterius
Cor lacerare nequit.
Abi Viator
Et imitare, si poteris,
Strenuum pro virili
Libertatis Vindicatorem.
Featured Image: A satirical print depicting George III as The King of Brobdingnag and Napoleon Bonaparte as Gulliver (1803), Metropolitan Museum of Art
