At last Thursday’s City Council Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee meeting, Council President Sara Nelson introduced a bill that would regulate political consultants in Seattle’s ethics code. It’s up for more discussion and a possible vote at 2 pm today.

If passed, the legislation would require consultants who are contracted by a city official for a candidate or ballot measure campaign to register with the Seattle Ethics and Election Commission, disclose their work publicly, and, most significantly, ban them from working on a campaign and with the city at the same time. It would also enforce a one-year “cooling off period” barring a political consultant who worked on a campaign from taking a consulting contract with the city for a year.

At face value, the bill

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