Why did Amazon spend $1.5m in Seattle's local elections?

This statement is ironic since Sawant ceded her vote to an unregistered, non-reporting political party called "Socialist Alternative." Amazon may have influence on Sawant's opponent (or may not - most of the money was spent through unrelated PACs, not as contributions), but Sawant has an organization actually controlling her vote outright.

Worse, the fact that a national party had binding control of her vote was secret until a journalist discovered it

https://sccinsight.com/2019/01/07/sa-sawant/ summarizes it well:

> You may be asking, “Is this really different from the way the Democratic or Republican Party works?” It is substantially different in two important ways:

> 1. While members of a political party in a given legislative body self-organize to form a caucus to maximize the impact of their votes, neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party are themselves a caucus and they don’t dictate how elected officials will vote. Further, Democratic and Republican elected officials don’t pledge their accountability to the caucus or the party (if they did, there would be no need for a Democratic or Republican Whip), and some frequently split from their party’s caucus on particular issues important to their constituents. The parties also don’t run the offices of elected officials and hire and fire their staff. Voters expect their elected officials to be accountable to constituents, not to a private organization (political party or otherwise), and to make their own decisions.

> 2. The Democratic and Republican Parties are registered at both the federal and state level as political parties. As such, they disclose their leadership and make regular financial disclosures. Also, anyone can join the Republican or Democratic Party; there is no required financial contribution, and no interview required in which one’s ideology is tested before being accepted as a party member. None of that is true for Socialist Alternative.