In 1989, Weeks ran for Seattle city council for Position 6 against incumbent Virginia Galle.[3] In the September primary election, he and Galle advanced to the general with 30% and 43% of the vote, respectively.[4] Galle accused Weeks of padding his resume when he claimed he taught at Harvard, "He talks about teaching when he means teaching assistant."[1] Weeks defended his experience, saying he did teach courses until Harvard released a statement saying he was not on the faculty and did not teach complete five-month courses.[1] Weeks said Galle was too much of an outsider and ineffective at coalition building.[1][2] In the general election, Weeks defeated Gale, 55% to 45%, and he outspent her on a 2-1 ratio.[5][6][7]
Weeks ran for reelection in 1993 and faced seven challengers.[8] In the September primary, Weeks came in first with over 63% of the vote, with businesswoman Pam Roats coming in second with 16%.[8][9] Weeks ran on his record and his overwhelming win in the primary, while Roats attacked him over a $10,000 ethics complaint against Weeks' from the Ethics and Elections Commission.[9] In the general election, Weeks defeated Roats, 65% to 35%.[5]
During his tenure, Weeks was chair of the Housing and Human Services, Finance, and Personnel and Labor Policy Committees.[7] As chair of the Finance committee, he oversaw the merger of the community development and human services departments, and, separately, the melding of the comptroller's and treasurer's offices.[9] Weeks was active in the budget process and used savings for increased "...investment(s) in human capital and human services as crime prevention.[9][10]
In 1993, a city employee lodged an ethics complaint against Weeks for mailing a newsletter at city expense to 35,000 households.[11] He denied that he broke any laws, but there was a perspective that he had, saying "The perception here was almost as important as the facts."[12] Weeks repaid the city $10,256.19 over three installments.[9][12][13]
Weeks announced he would resign from the council, effective August 2, 1996, to take a job as Seattle School District's director of human resources.[7][14]
