Readers of a certain age might recall the old r&b chestnut, "Give Me Just a Little More Time," by the Chairmen of the Board. Seems the electeds on the board of Washington's largest county are singing that tune, now that they face almost certain downsizing thanks to a fall voter initiative.

This local news digest from today's Seattle Times has more - scroll down to the item immediately after that regarding corrupted chicken pot pies (no kidding).

The King County Council is trying to delay from 2005 to 2007 the implementation of Inititative 18, which if approved, would downsize their body from 13 to 9 members. This has prompted a lawsuit from backers, including controversial Washington state tax-cut initiative king and paid consultant Tim Eyman.

Eyman is every Puget Sound liberal's favorite whipping boy; a shameless self-promoter and gadly. Critics argue he doesn't propose solutions, just pushes scorched-earth tax cuts that silly, stupid voters are often too foolish to resist. But he's actually a symptom of detached, arrogant governance he didn't create.

For instance, the state legislature - despite making appropriate noises - still hasn't passed a comprehensive performace audits bill, to begin weeding out more programs that don't yield sufficient bang for the buck.

And on I-18, Eyman and his cohorts are dead on the money: King County has been continually shrinking because of local annexations. The shrinking of the council is long overdue, and one day, a regional elected council of Seattle-area counties might supplant the King, Pierce, Snohomish - and perhaps Kitsap - county bodies.

It's revealing that King County Council spokesman Frank Abe explains the proposed two-year delay of 1-18's expected implementation thusly:

...the changes were "simply trying to make this measure work by creating a reasonable timeline for implementation."

In other words, let's please give each of the soon-to-be-pink-slipped council members - who make a hefty $100,848 each - time to appropriate some other government sinecure.