A report from this week's shindig of the state's election officials
King County - where the largest number of mishandled ballots was found and alleged felons voted - was the brunt of a few lighthearted jabs. But the county's director of elections, Dean Logan, received a standing ovation just before noon after Grays Harbor County Auditor Vern Spotz praised him "for courageous action in the face of both hostile and friendly fire."I'd be more inclined to give Dean Logan a standing ovation for courage, had he shown enough courage to admit to the public the truth about all of the failures of his department surrounding the November election. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 13, 2005 04:52 PM | Email This
She said the "silver lining" is that conference participants could focus on taking ownership of what happened as they work on implementing new policies. "We strive for perfection," she said. "We're never going to be perfect."
Election officials had fun with their situations, too. They created red, white and blue buttons, some inscribed with "Wake me when the 2004 General Election is over!" Another button talked of "surviving" the election.
This is no laughing matter and they should all be ashamed of themselves. They are "training" at our expense, poking fun of this situation.
Dean Logan is no soldier and Vern Spotz was wrong to say it.
What can you expect from a bunch of idiots?
I still say, bring in the FEDS and bring them in SOON. These auditors and election officials can wear their red, white and blue buttons in the unemployment line.
YOu're right, cc. But I'm afraid that er're on our own, and that we'll have to fix this ourselves.
I'm all for fixing the problem, or, at the least, defanging it.
Posted by: alphabet soup on May 13, 2005 08:19 PMWhen the going gets rough, quite often, the top dogs circle the wagons and hold meetings with only friendly parties and congratulate themselves for a job well done.
The only thing that can tell the real story are the objective third party metrics that are outside of the organization. By any real standard, King County did a very poor job of managing the election and they deserve most of the criticism they have received.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 13, 2005 09:40 PMSaw lots of this in the corporate world. Screw up, blame others & have a restructuring. Waltz away with your hefty golden parachute/severance/buy-out or pension. No pound of flesh exacted. Stars on the Wash. boardwalk: former Tacoma manager; ex-Stevens Hospital boss & a host of others. "We will do better?" Try letting your surgeon say that to you as you are rolled on the table. Voting operations aren't surgery.
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on May 13, 2005 10:17 PM
I think that with the 'instant age' we live in, these people & (Hil & Billy) think we won't REMEMBER past their last appearance in the news.
Posted by: arky on May 14, 2005 04:58 AMIn his ensuing address Al Gore praised Bill Clinton as the “Greatest President in History,” and
they all feigned sick smiles and mockingly applauded by tapping the tips of their fingers. Talk about a bunch of sicophantic twirps!
LIBERALS HAVE NO SHAME. It is the most comical part of their pathology.
There is only to be amused by their pretenses– works for me!
.
Logan is a pitiful figure that takes advantage of the woman's emotions. They were all wow'ed by his RCW knowledge and seemed to ignore the fact that Logan is a shi*ty manager. Also heard that he privately blamed Sims again for a lack of resources. (remember, Logan blamed the lack of resources early on....then the very next day took back his comment and praised Sims and the Council).
Also McCarthy and other Auditors that all had major screw-ups were quick to come to Logan's defense. I WONDER WHY??? They are cicling the wagons AGAIN and want to lower the expectation bar to try and make themselves appear competent.
Interesting, huh??
The republicans have been very quiet of late. Let's hope that is a good sign and is something other than being paralyzed like the deer in the headlights. They had better be ready to come to the trial with both barrels blazing cause it will take a lot of firepower to vault them over that bar - on the other hand the bar is set so high that the Supremes will have a tough time not going with Judge Bridge's verdict.
Posted by: KS on May 14, 2005 09:23 PMOur female auditor here in Whitman County jumped right to his defense. She not only wanted to sign "the letter," she wanted to buy an advertisement to make sure it didn't get changed.
Remember Whitman County had 783 "mishandled" provosional ballots.
The worst part of it is, she lied recently when interviewed by the newspaper. She said they had not checked signatures on provisional ballots in years.
The former election supervisor for Whitman County, who retired 3 years ago, went on the record and said that was a blatant lie. She also said Coker’s comments were an insult to previous auditors and elections staffers.
That just came out in this week's paper. We will see if there is any backlash.
Posted by: cc on May 14, 2005 09:32 PMDean Logan is no soldier and Vern SPATZ was wrong to say it.
Posted by: cc on May 14, 2005 11:22 PM