The Stranger reports that King County Executive Ron Sims could easily be tossed out of office if the right challenger steps up to the plate:
One possible Democratic challenger is former state legislator and ex-supreme court justice Phil Talmadge, who acknowledges he is contemplating a run. He adds that polling done on his behalf shows Sims is vulnerable, with only 40 percent of county residents currently saying Sims should be reelected.It shouldn't be all that hard to find a stronger candidate than Ron Sims. At a minimum, all they would need is the ability to calculate percentages and to have "good home training". Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 24, 2005 02:55 PM | Email This
"It shouldn't be all that hard to find a stronger candidate "
The eating of one's young is a favorite pastime in the lower regions.
Posted by: Ken Muller on February 24, 2005 03:03 PMAnd to boot, CG in a pre election time article on the prospects of Ron Sims losing his current seat praised his service and made a comment that she would find him a spot in her government.
Those land stealing tax happy thugs are at the core of the democratic stronghold in King County. They have redefined what representation means and are now wanting to get rid of the initiatative process so people have no say to what they do. They don't go down just because the public throws them out. They are like cats with nine lives.
Posted by: GS on February 24, 2005 03:42 PMI would volunteer for him.
Posted by: South County on February 24, 2005 04:07 PMHeck...that's hardly worse than Bush polled (44%) in December 2003.
Carla@preemptivekarma
Posted by: carla on February 24, 2005 04:58 PMIf Simms has 40% I'd say we have good reason to call him toast.
Thanks Carla!
If Simms weathers the internal storms he will then face a real ****storm in November. I wonder though if the Republicans can field a moderate enough candidate to defeat him.
Independents like me are watching and waiting.
Posted by: DeadWood on February 24, 2005 05:29 PMIt is important to keep up a full court press on Mr. Home Training in hopes of handing him a defeat in the election.
Do not let your friends, family, and neighbors forget what Sims represents and how detrimental he is to the present and future of King County.
He has been at the helm for some of the biggest Hall of Shame screw ups/abuses in county history.
On top of that, with the way our election system is currently set up you can go ahead and spot Sims 4,000 "mistakes" and "human error" votes before anyone even goes to the polls.
With that said I think David Irons would be a huge improvement! I think whoever runs has to have the opposite approach to government. The size, scope and spending attitudes need to be changed.
Posted by: Joe on February 24, 2005 06:02 PMThere is a large and growing movement in this state to secede from King County! Some are even talking about seceding from the state and creating a new state! It's pretty obvious Sims is toast!
After watching the other prominent state Democrats actions during this election contest,....I cannot think of a single available Democrat (that I could stomach) to fill Sims position as KC Exec!
What I rarely, if ever, learn is the specific political loyalty of the individual. If my experience is any indicator, I'd say that many folks in power are toast.
Posted by: dkpcowboy on February 24, 2005 06:57 PMThat was a nationwide poll. We're talking about Washington State...where the GOP isn't exactly swimming in support. :)
carla@preemptivekarmadotcom
Thats the easy part with Sims, play the tape johnny.....Excuse me, excuse me, gentlemen, I expect some good home training.
Who ever the candidate message is everything. It helped Dino against miss big name.
Point being that they are not at all representative of the average Democrat in King County.
Average Dems have heard Sims remarks. They've heard the gaffs, the monorail endorsments, etc. They know that Sims lost his bid for the governor which may end up costing Gregoire the governorship, and always counts against future elections bids. And they know that Sims is at the helm of the KC Elections Titanic. Everyone in KC will have stored all of this very high profile bad publicity information away for the next election.
I agree with Stefan, Sims is toast. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Posted by: Jeff B. on February 24, 2005 09:04 PMAlso I agree with many of you that believe it is time to split off a District of Seattle soon. To that end there is a meeting this Saturday out in the unincorporated King County area of Maple Valley (where Sims and the democrats stole 50% - 65% of everyones property, for all those interested. People have had it with this absolute stealing of their land rights and are taking actions to deal with it. To that end it should be a lively and fun get together. This is a meeting for anyone interested in participating on the Cedar county succession movement. It will take place at the Maple Valley Library at 2:00 pm Saturday, Feb 26.
See you there!
Posted by: GS on February 24, 2005 09:17 PM"Buh Bye, Sims!"
Posted by: Shaun on February 24, 2005 09:21 PM
I'd like to see him use this Home Training insult in the hood! He would quickly learn all about *Homeys* and *Homeboys*!
"Good Home training" almost sounds incestuous! ACK!
Posted by: Deborah on February 25, 2005 12:55 AMIt may be a showdown between Sims and Talmadge, under Top Two, as the GOP will once again hand-pick a candidate to run, and tell others to stay out of the primary. Haven't they learned that is not the way to go, the past couple years. In 2000 for Governor, Carlson only had a competition between a retiring State Senator from Moses Lake. I do not call that competition. Contreras did not have much competition in 2001, and Nethercutt was not even close for Senate this year! Carol Cassady was trounced worse than she was in 2002 for the 7th Congressional District.(The Rigged Partisan Primary allowed for the elimination of the Libertarian Party in that race. Votes that would have gone to the Libertarian, went to McDermott)
I would like to see King County, being a charter county, challenge state law, and abolish the primary for all city and county races, and adopt Instant Runoff Voting. Problem is, as Vancouver learned, Charter Cities and Counties still have to hold a party. I would like to seen Grays Harbor County, where an ardent proponent(non-politician) of IRV hails from, be first, but they are not a charter county.
Posted by: MASSTRANSITFAN on February 25, 2005 12:58 AMHopefully more than might be indicated in the local news story (TNT) this past week.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/story/4623525p-4294032c.html
"Tacoman Art Wang, who served in the House with Fisher and is now the state’s chief administrative law judge, recalled [Ruth] Fisher’s sly sense of humor. “Ride the damn bus” declared a bumper sticker on Fisher’s car. “The irony is, I don’t think I ever saw her ride one,” Wang said.
When I drive my dad to his dialysis appointments, I use his vehicle, a Chrysler Town and Country converted for Wheelchair use. He used to be able to transfer very easily, did not need a roll aboard, but now he does.
As for IRV, we still need it, it is not just the 2000 election, the election we just had proved we need it today. It worked in San Francisco, as most of the City Supervisor(council) races up for election, had a first round where the winner did not have a total majority. Under California Law previously, a Runoff within 30 days would have been required for a local election. By using IRV, those races were settled by re-distributing votes among the voters next preferences. This saved millions of dollars, encouraged a high turnout, as the December Runoffs traditionally have less turnout, and candidates did not have to raise more money to win in a runoff. Imagine if we could fold the Primary into the General Election, at least $6 million dollars saved statewide.
Posted by: MASSTRANSITFAN on February 25, 2005 02:36 PMAlso in May, their are two reasons why as an American Citizen and Washington State Resident, I will be watching the BC Provincial Election closely, they are one step away from making the disaster of 2001 in their provincial election right. First all 79 Districts will be up for re-election(Perhaps the NDP could makes some gains if people have a problem with Campbell's Liberals, as well as Campbell the Drunk running the Province. He got caught with a DUI in Hawaii while on Vacation), and their is also a refferendum to go to Single-Transferable Vote, which is basically IRV in a multi-seat district. This, if passed, will ensure that no party that wins only 57.5% of the vote will win 97% of the seats. If adopted, it will not be used until the next provincial election, scheduled for May 2009.
Other reforms in our Election Process came from other countries. Secret Ballots from Australia, and Initiative and Refferenda came from Switzerland.
Posted by: MASSTRANSITFAN on February 25, 2005 03:16 PM