Secretary of State Sam Reed has appointed an election reform advisory board:
An Advisory Board charged with distributing federal funds to Washington counties to pay for election reforms will meet this week.Members of the board appointed by the Secretary:
# Thad Duvall – Douglass County AuditorDoes it take more chutzpah to (a) appoint Dean Logan to a committee on election reform, or (b) appoint the Ochoa brothers to a committee on reforming drug laws?
# Kris Swanson – Cowlitz County Auditor
# Dean Logan – King County Director of Records, Elections and Licensing
# Nick Handy – Representing the Office of the Secretary of State
# Doug Cocheran – Former Yakima County Auditor – Member at large
hat tip: Scott, the "Drunken Republican", whose commentary suggests he's more sober than he gives himself credit for.
UPDATE: Some suggest that it is inappropriate to equate an election official like Dean Logan with convicted drug dealers like the Ochoa brothers. Fair enough, I have never heard it alleged that Dean Logan was a drug dealer, even though as recently as a year ago a convicted drug dealer had been performing important services for King County Elections, and according to sources, there is at least one convicted drug dealer still employed in a position of responsibility in the King County Elections office. A more fair question might be this one: Does it take more chutzpah to (a) appoint Dean Logan to a committee on election reform, or (b) appoint Andrew Fastow to a committee on corporate accounting reform? [My apologies to the Ochoa brothers for the earlier comparison with Dean Logan]
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 23, 2005 10:27 AM | Email ThisNext they will be wanting performance audits paid for and hired by the individual departments. I like TIm Eyeman's performance audit initiative much better.
Posted by: GS on January 23, 2005 10:49 AMDoes it take more chutzpah to (a) appoint Dean Logan to a committee on election reform, or (b) appoint the Ochoa brothers to a committee on reforming drug laws?
Channeling Groucho again, I see. 8>)
It's a good question though. I'd say it's a tossup.
Posted by: Boonie on January 23, 2005 11:06 AMMacDonald and transportation, Reed and elections, Gregoire and taxes, McAuliffe and tolls, education spending, viaducts, Sound Transit, Monorail, ....
Post election on top of the Legislative nonsense, and the vote. Enough to depress someone, really.
Be back in a short.
Steve
Posted by: Patches Pal on January 23, 2005 11:28 AMSorry to be so anal, but this is my first scoop, and I'm not giving up the credit without a fight.
Posted by: ScottM on January 23, 2005 11:47 AMThe problem here is the "timeline" for justice.
Too much, too soon is not a good strategy.
I prefer seeing a steady stream like we are seeing, right up to the CourtHouse.
Remember Victor, the revote isn't necessarily tomorrow.
I've seen no polls than indicate Gregoire is picking up steam. If anything, this constant flow of information about illegal acts and groos incompetence in KingCo is worse for her....kind of like the Chinese Water Torture treatment.
I know people that have put a lot into this and continue to do so. I don't see any of them panicking...in fact most have never been more encouraged.
So Victor--rather than panic, spend your time helping instead. Call the R Headquarters and see what you can do. Perhaps you can help sort thru data in your County?? Many hands make for light work.
Posted by: Mr. Cynical on January 23, 2005 12:47 PMAt worst, this is the fox guarding the hen house.
This is Reed's chance to redeem himself. Appoint a strong panel to reform eletions and loudly and continuously insist on rigorous reforms that are more than what the weak-knee Democrat controlled legislature are currently supporting.
If Reed fails in this task, then it will definitely be time to rally all voters to oust him from his post. Afterall, what the heck is a Secretary of State elected to office for.....?
Posted by: Jeff B. on January 23, 2005 12:55 PMBut it seems to me that CG is desperately trying to secure any future votes she can, any way she can, while following her leftist agenda. Which is business as usual for CG and the Democratic Party.
Posted by: JG on January 23, 2005 01:18 PMI hope this does not diminish the quest for the truth by the bloggers, talk radio and the Rossi campaign, because this panel will not come up with effective remedies and you can take that to the bank !
Posted by: KS on January 23, 2005 01:51 PMNow why doesn't Sam Reed get it??
Posted by: Michele S on January 23, 2005 01:58 PMSomeone posted here at SP recently that Reed was pursuing a crafty strategy by certifying CG as the winner. The reasoning was that if Reed, being a Republican, had refused to certify, the MSM and the Dems would have indelibly painted him as a partisan hack. By certifying (so the theory went), Reed survived to fight another day. Then he would wait patiently, allowing the Dems to gather the rope to hang themselves with, until such time as he could strike a decisive blow.
I can't say that I buy this argument, but it would be nice if Reed was such a brilliant tactician.
Because if he is, the obvious explanation for his appointment of Logan to the commission is to put Logan in the spotlight. Then, when blunders and mismanagement by KC Elections are brought out in court in the election contest, Logan's fall would be all the harder.
But the only political operative that savvy is Karl Rove, and Reed is no K-, uh, hey - wait a minute! Has anyone ever actually seen Reed and Rove together in person?
Posted by: ewaggin on January 23, 2005 03:42 PMNo problem Shark. We're all hip to your style.
appoint Andrew Fastow to a committee on corporate accounting reform?
Right on, Shark. We all know drug dealers are intrinsically incapable of seeing the errors of their ways and should never be entrusted with civil service. I'm comforted to know you think the same about white collar criminals and corporate governance. How much did you lose on Enron?
[My apologies to the Ochoa brothers for the earlier comparison with Dean Logan]
Ooooooh. You got Logan good, Shark.
Posted by: John on January 23, 2005 07:06 PM"'My apologies to the Ochoa brothers for the earlier comparison with Dean Logan]'
"Ooooooh. You got Logan good, Shark."
Don't worry, John, your drug dealer will probably still be available after Rossi is rightfully elected...though your job with the Governor is likely to be in jeopardy...
If we go backwards a little in this election...There was a post that mentioned an election worker in a county (not King) making a statement that they purposely held back in reporting their vote count totals because of the King County funny business....Most of the other counties did INDEED delay their reporting of daily tallies until after King County.
I remember reading the times listed for each county, when they would be reporting new totals. Most of them were after the time or date of King County. I saw that other counties were staggering the reports of their totals. This is huge!
If all of the other Counties in the State made an orchestrated effort to delay reporting their vote totals until after King County....Who initiated it?
(By the way...I believe it was this effort to stagger the county totals that caused King County to have to resort to the bizarre ballot finds over the course of the 3 counts....KC had no idea how much stuffing was needed to win.)
During the first vote count, KC saw what was happening with the other counties delaying their tallies. They knew they wouldn't be able to get an accurate idea of how many votes were needed for Gregoire to win - unless they stalled their final vote count. So they claimed they had found 10,000+ ballots 2 days before certification in the original vote count. This wasn't enough! They didn't crunch the numbers accurately and Rossi won.
Then, during the machine recount, the countys again staggered their reporting.....KC panicked began *finding* ballots everywhere (see Brians timeline)! It still wasn't enough - and Rossi won again.
During the hand recount, KC had a pretty good idea of what they needed to win. They somehow managed to get enough ballots during the hand recunt to give Gregoire a 10 point lead - but they (the Dems) were also pressing the courts to allow them to add previously rejected provisional ballots - which ultimately gave Gregoire the 129 vote lead at the end.
OK...back to the staggering of the other county totals......How was this arranged? Who arranged it? Where are these county elections workers now -with this contest? If it were arranged by Reed - he certainly wouldn't pick Logan for this new election reform board....
Something big was happening before this election due to the rest of the states lack of trust in King County....An agreement among the other counties to stagger the reporting in an effort to trip up KC's fraud?
Posted by: Deborah on January 23, 2005 11:11 PMI thought you R's prided yourselves on "not doing nuance"? Too bad you're so afflicted with sophistication. That might put you on the margins within your party.
My drug dealer? You mean Walgreen's, Rite Aid or Longs? I hope so. If an R or D's kid needs anti-biotic for their ear infection it'd be a shame if they suffered or died.
My job with Governor Gregoire? Damn, smeg, I don't have one.
How is it you know so much about me? Are you privy to some clairvoyance drug? It sure ain't workin' bud because I neither use drugs beyond a cold rememdy nor am I employed by either the State or a political party. Better get your money back.
Posted by: John on January 26, 2005 03:21 PM