In response to the “Seattle is Dying” documentary by Eric Johnson, a group of prominent nonprofits have engaged the services of a public relations firm to spread a message that runs counter to Johnson’s film and misleads the public, according to an article from City Journal.
In the article, writer Christopher F. Rufo notes that leaked documents identify those groups and the public relations firm. Those nonprofits include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Campion Advocacy Fund, the Raikes Foundation and the Ballmer Group.
The Seattle Times did identify the backers of the campaign, but did not reveal that public relations firm Pyramid Communications worked with the city and mayor on the campaign commissioned by Pyramid Communications.
Pyramid Communications, hired by these groups, created the #SeattleForAll campaign, which circulated a number of claims that Rufo calls misleading, including that "1-in-4 people experiencing homelessness in our community struggle with drug or alcohol abuse, and that ’[62 percent of Seattle voters believe] we are not spending enough to address homelessness.”
Rufo unpacks these and other messages circulated by the #SeattleForAll campaign and the media, noting that the King County lawsuit against Purdue Pharma admits that the majority of “the homeless population is addicted to or uses opioids.”
He also notes that in polling, Pyramid presents the question of Seattle’s spending on homelessness in a less-than-neutral way, which he says affects results. He writes that when the question compares the city’s spending to other communities, the support for the question rises to 62 percent, but when the question is phrased in a neutral way, support drops to 7 percent.
Rufo says that the city’s management of public information prevents honest debate.
“The #SeattleForAll campaign is destined to fail," Rufo writes. "The more that majority opinion gets muzzled, the stronger the eventual backlash will be. 'Seattle Is Dying' spoke to the anger of hundreds of thousands of residents whose voices haven’t been heard. City leaders would be wise to give the PR efforts a rest and do some listening. The residents of Seattle are demanding change.”
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