I recently asked the other members of the King County Canvassing Board to comment on Dean Logan's deposition -- specificially on the admission that Logan and election staff knew about significant numbers of irregularities that they didn't disclose to the Canvassing Board, e.g. the unverified provisional ballots that went into the Accuvote. I asked both County Prosecutor Chief-of-Staff Dan Satterberg and County Councilman Dwight Pelz whether they would have done anything differently at certification time had they known about all of the irregularities that we know about now. In my mind, the best answer would be along the lines of "Of course I wouldn't vote to certify an election if the number of irreconcilable errors were greater than the margin of victory in any race. I would have demanded that the election staff go back and figure out what the hell happened".
These are not the answers I received. Dan Satterberg gave a more cautious "I think we all wish we knew then what we know now". The dialogue with Dwight Pelz, on the other hand, went something like this:
Q: In hindsight, had you known about these problems at certification time, would you have done anything differently as a member of the Canvassing Board?You have to ask youself why he wouldn't want to.A: No.
Q: Are you saying you would have certified the election even if you knew there were hundreds of invalid and/or irreconcilable ballots?
<long pause>
A: I'm not going to answer that question.
Hat tip: to reader DanC for the Photoshop work! (The original Marx Brothers still is here)
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 05, 2005 10:36 AM | Email ThisOn the advice of my attorney, I cannot answer on the grounds I may incriminate myself."
Posted by: Ken on May 5, 2005 10:56 AM"Yep-- that peanut butter smudge on the back of this absentee ballot is definitely a Gregoire vote!"
He answered the question, then realized the consequence of his response. Note of course, he didn't change his answer once realizing the consequence of his initial answer.
On that kids ballot they should have asked if they think honesty and integrity are required traits of government workers. Obviously the ballot writers (among others) don't think it is important enough to put on the ballot.
Posted by: Fred on May 5, 2005 11:16 AMIt's the job of Logan and his subordinates to bring information to the canvassing board when there are ballots of questionable validity in the boxes, so the board can decide how to resolve the discrepancy.
As for the provisional ballots that were unlawfully inserted into the ballot boxes via Accuvote machines, what to do about it was obvious. Perhaps that's why Logan's gang decided to conceal the problem from the canvassing board.
Posted by: Micajah on May 5, 2005 11:28 AMYep-- that peanut butter smudge on the back of this absentee ballot is definitely a Gregoire vote!
Smooth or chunky?
Still shocked they agreed to talk to you.
Posted by: Danny on May 5, 2005 12:25 PMMaybe slimmy deceitful crooked lying public servant is closer to the mark.
I do hate these people. Posted by: Real Men on May 5, 2005 12:40 PM
Satterberg certified the election. His first answer already says he would have certified it again, even if he had known about all of the errors that were greater than the margin of victory.
The second question made him reconsider his first answer, and it looks like he decided he might be in trouble. Time to clam up and look for a lawyer. What a disgrace.
I think those were Putz's...er, Pelz's answers Posted by: MikeF on May 5, 2005 02:16 PM
Stefan, I would not want to be against you in a debate. So I pity David Goldstein. You continue to manage to perform the impossible.
Cynical and others have praised your name on the a$$eshorse and they went nuts. Well Goldy goes nuts anywhere.
Go forth and continue to conquer.
Pudster
Posted by: Puddybud on May 5, 2005 06:42 PMGoldy has a superior inferiority complex (also known as a small man complex). His ego is one of his many faults.
Stefan checks his ego at the door and has a sense of humor.
Goldy is serious and actually believes most of his own BS!
Goldy's a celebrity.
So it's adios reality.
Goldy acts just like a fool
and LEFTISTS think he's cool
just cuz he's on a blog.
Bein' a celebrity.
Poor Mr. Pelz..
It's way too late in the game to start holding your tongue....
You should have remembered the tape recorder was ON while you were...ahem...*canvassing*....
Posted by: Mark Beyer on May 5, 2005 10:28 PM
And to emulate Will Rogers, "I cannot in good conscience vote for a party that has a jackass as a mascot."
Where do we get these guys? Were they dropped on their heads at birth? Stupid people should not be allowed to marry one another, that's all there is to it!
Posted by: Steven O'Dell on May 6, 2005 10:00 AMKing County would not be in such a snarl...
If Marx had been Groucho, instead of Karl!
"I am not a member of an orgainized political party. I'm a Democrat."
Posted by: StephenR from Houston on May 6, 2005 03:11 PM