By now it's firmly established that King County Elections officials (1) violated state laws by failing to properly account for their absentee ballots, and (2) conspired to falsify ballot records in order to conceal this problem from the canvassing board prior to certification.
The Democrats will argue that this was simply a matter of sloppy accounting with no evidence that it changed the outcome of the election. In fact, it points to a conscious effort to throw the election to Christine Gregoire --
One of the Republican arguments is that there were 875 more absentee ballots tabulated than there were absentee voters. I haven't seen the analysis they'll present as evidence, but I arrive at the same number by taking the figure of 873 that I came up with on April 7 and adding the 2 subsequently discovered uncounted absentee ballots.
Now, let's suppose that Bill Huennekens publicly admitted the gaps in the absentee ballot accounting and other discrepancies prior to certification: The canvassing board would have been obligated to order that the absentee ballots be recanvassed, even if it meant a manual recount of the absentee ballot envelopes. Indeed, that would have had to be done as part of the manual recount, with partisan observers recounting all of the envelopes as others were recounting all of the ballots. Similar efforts would have been conducted to manually recanvass poll books and provisional ballots. After all, other errors were corrected by recanvassing certain ballots during the recounts. The "Larry Phillips" no-signature ballots were recanvassed, adding 566 mostly Gregoire votes to the tally. If they could do that, they should have also manually recanvassed any other known discrepancies, such as the surplus of hundreds more ballots than voters. They would have had to correct, or at least report, these errors.
If the numbers of ballots still equalled the sum of the absentee ballot envelopes, provisional envelopes and poll book signatures, then fine. If it were disclosed that there were still hundreds more ballots than there were voter signatures, then the post-election political dynamic would have been very different. The legislature could not have gotten away with simply certifying Gregoire's "129 vote victory" without some other remedy.
By recanvassing some ballots while concealing discrepancies with other ballots, Bill Huennekens and whoever else knew about the discrepancies consciously threw the election to Christine Gregoire.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 21, 2005 10:56 AM | Email ThisExcuse me while I puke.
Everybody knows, except the kool aid drinking liberal moonbats, that the King County Democrat machine was doing everything in its power to give the election to Gregoire. Call a spade a spade. They're crooks and they stole this election from Rossi.
John
I think it's perfectly possible that KC Elections officials just couldn't bear the thought that their incompetence and lack of interest in clean elections might keep the governor's race from being certified (and would therefore be exposed). So they just didn't think about it. They went forward with what they had, falsified a document or two in hopes that no one would look too closely, and trusted to luck.
Posted by: ScottM on May 21, 2005 11:21 AMOne thing I found missing from the Way deposition is any questioning regarding the atmosphere in whicc the decisions were made. I cannot believe that these people were not aware of the intense scrutiny they were under in such a close vote. They HAD to know that the fact that they could not accurately acocunt for the total number of absentee ballots received would be a serious problem in an election separated by 42 and then 129 votes.
What I want to know is were Way and Fell under any pressure to produce a "clean" report? Information like that changes the whole tone of the issue. It's one thing to present a report with the only "availbale data you have". It's quite another thing to have pressure from above to "avoid any hint of discrepency or error" in the report.
Maybe this isn't the appropraite trial to be investigating it, but it seems very germaine to me to be asking Nicole Way whether she felt any pressure to hide discrepencies. That will have a much greater impact on the conspiracy charge than the lesser sin of "just putting down what we could count".
Posted by: Eyago on May 21, 2005 11:37 AMand how convenient that they didn't count Brian Suits' and Jeffrey Possinger's ballots. But at least Larry Phillips' ballot got counted. That's all that really matters, of course.
Corruption.
Posted by: Michele on May 21, 2005 11:39 AMWe know the MSM reporters rarely print the truth about this election. If we want to change that we need to take it on ourselves to get the word out to everyone. Let's barrage all the MSM sources with "Articles", not editorial pieces. Hit every publication you can think of; local, state, national, and newswires. You want results, write to everyone. Let's take the bread and butter out of the mouths of the reporters if they won't report it. Find one of our blog hosts to publicly archive the articles, post updates on submission dates and who you submitted to.
When I mean write to everyone, write to everyone on their level:
Business mags=loss of business due to election mess
Hotel/motel mags=loss of business and tourism due to election mess
etc
add in statistics of broken campaign promises, taxes hurting businesses and household, disproportionate txation (sin taxes), etc
Lets use their rules and media against them
58% only because the rest have forgotten about it or never felt the pinch from losing their votes or disenfranchisement
Posted by: Mark Beyer on May 21, 2005 11:44 AMThose 'news' papers faced a situation where every recount, while Rossi led the poll, saw new batches of Gregoire ballots suddenly surfacing from the King County swamps. But the papers deferred to their allies in the County Democratic machine, and did nothing to shine any lights where they needed shining the most - that is, from the standpoint of voters wanting scrupulously clean elections.
The worst 'error' of the MSM was in not anticipating the grim determination and resources employed by Sound Politics, which by detailed analysis exposed the flaws in the ballot accounting. The MSM compounded that error by ignoring the egregious failures of King County personnel and the canvassing board to take the measures mandated by the RCWs and WACs to insure a proper accounting. Then they threw their readers some small bones about the felon vote, and how silly the Republicans were to criticize such noble aspirations on the part of the innocent felons.
Times and P-I, can you say 'blew it wholesale'?
It's plausibly deniable that they intended to do anything wrong, but in the process the outcome certainly favored their own political leanings, and that of the County Executive Sims who ultimately appointed Logan as well.
More importantly, and *NOTE* this is a KEY POINT, once they knew Gregoire had taken the lead in the third hand recount, they did not have to do anything other than stop counting. They did not have to specifically find more votes for Gregoire, or less votes for Rossi. All they had to do was certify the results as they stood. And, this is exactly what they did.
This is why RCW 29A.60;200 specifically requires the Director of Elections (Logan and his subordinates) to VERIFY the results. Not simply pass them on, but verify them as a true and accurate representation of the ballots cast. They knew full well that the results were not accurate.
I expect to see some investigations. If nothing else, it is now absolute that BillHuennekens violated RCW 29A.60.200.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 21, 2005 12:32 PMThe State Republican party needs to develop a backbone for future endeavors or else the Dems will stay in control, so that message needs to be hammered home to the Republicans.
Stefan's analysis is spot on - conspiracy to commit fraud - what for ? To keep Rossi from winning - duh ! In light of this clear and convincing evidence, Judge Bridges will likely do the right thing, but will the Supremes uphold the right thing in the appeals process ? One indicator of how seriously they are taking this is will be how many judges recuse themselves from this appeal - if noone does, that can be taken as business as usual and it will be time to needle MKay and his boss, Alberto Gonzales, USAG for a Federal investigation.
Posted by: KS on May 21, 2005 12:33 PMThat amazing thing is that they would use the argument these were excusable "mistakes."
Democrats were leading the charge to tighten up rules regarding the financial accounting of publically traded companies. Moreover, they vastly increased the penalties for falsifying accounting statements - AND MADE THE TOP GUY RESPONSIBLE. The guy or gal is not responsible for ACCURATE accounting statements. "Mistakes" are not an excuse and jail time will result if accounting statements are not accurate.
So, what message does it send if our own state government thinks that mistakes are exceptable? Especially when those "mistakes" were so obviously intentional mistakes that were repeatedly made to favor one side.
Gregoire is a fraud and people should have jail time for what transpired. If no jail time, at least they should all be fired and the election should be thrown out.
In the meantime, the "laws" signed by Gregoire should not be considered laws. This is not rule of law, but rule by totalitarians.
Posted by: DeadManVoting (aka Iguana) on May 21, 2005 01:18 PMAnd that's why we are going to use Initiative 912 to repeal the laws that the illegitimate monster signed.
It's plausibly deniable that they intended to do anything wrong, but in the process the outcome certainly favored their own political leanings, .....
More importantly, and *NOTE* this is a KEY POINT, once they knew Gregoire had taken the lead in the third hand recount, they did not have to do anything other than stop counting. .....
---------------------------------------------
... and, I would add: Stop reconciling; and then as Stefan already said conciously and deliberately falsify offical ballot records.
At this point I suggest that the exact intent of Way, Fell, et. al. at the time they did what they admitted doing is (or at least should be) mostly irrelevant, from the point of view of the ongoing election contest (although probably not from the perspective of charges they may still personally face for violating election RCWs and WACs); i.e.:
Right now I don't care so much WHY they did it:
THEY DID IT; and we KNOW that from their own sworn-under-oath depositions (will STILL more likely to come).
Even if there was no old-style 'Chicago' form of election fraud involving the active stuffing of ballot boxes, the sum total of felon and illegal voters, ballotless-voters, voterless-ballots, and now more clear and convincing evidence of deliberate and widespread KCE malfesance:
We the voters were DEFRAUDED OF A FAIR ELECTION !!
If you can't win an election contest based on all of the above, what would an election have to look like before you COULD win ??..
On to the Supremes in a couple weeks, I hope.
Methow Ken
Posted by: Methow Ken on May 21, 2005 01:35 PMgive them a fair trial, and then hang (figuratively speaking) them!
Posted by: otto on May 21, 2005 01:58 PMI'm not willing to go so far--yet. I think KC's lawbreaking did swing the election to Gregoire; I'm just not sure that was the intent.
I think Jeff B. is on to it. "...once they knew Gregoire had taken the lead in the third hand recount, they did not have to do anything other than stop counting."
Fraud does not have to be just purposely throwing away Rossi ballots or inserting voterless Gregoire ballots (I'm not sure if the MSM will even consider this as fraud), but it could be simply fixing errors that benefit you, but not fixing errors that don't. Call it a more passive fraud.
Posted by: VA on May 21, 2005 02:09 PMHis post on the DIMS system is excellent. If you don't understand exactly what DIMS does, you will after reading his post. And, you will understand more about why Nicole Way is simply a liar who is fully complicit in this scam of omission that King County Elections has pulled on all Washingtonians.
Bottom line is that accounting for ballots, or apples, or dollars, etc. is a very basic and simple process that anyone above the age of 7 should be able to master. To know how many you have, you have to know how many you started with, and how many of each category you end up with. Anyone who is in the elections counting business at one of the higher levels of management who does not have this process fully mastered and with the accompanying mastery of their counting and accounting equipment, should be fired. And if they abuse their position by then knowingly or even unknowingly presenting results as accurate, they are guilty of fraud, or criminal negligence.
These people need to be prosecuted before all Washingtonians as a display of what we will not tolerate in our public officials.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 21, 2005 02:10 PMIt's like giving your accountant incorrect tax information, not telling them this, then blaming that accountant when the IRS comes knocking.
Posted by: Mike H on May 21, 2005 02:36 PMAnd as far as "any-bank-would-envy" Sims remember that not only is he playing with your votes but with your MONEY! You want a revote? Just frame it right. Look at all the tax and fee increases and work it out as being directly tied to who is in office (CG) and the machine that put her there. People are already starting to add this up but might need a little help the MSM isn't giving them. HEY PEOPLE! THEY STOLE THE ELECTION SO THEY COULD STEAL YOUR MONEY!!
Posted by: Victor on May 21, 2005 02:48 PMFRAUD, FRAUD, FRAUD, FRAUD
After Rossi won the two machine recounts and Chris G was ahead in the manual recount with the King County numbers the way they were, NOBODY IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WANTED TO INVESTIGATE ANY DISCREPENCY FOR FEAR THAT ANY CHANGES WOULD MAKE ROSSI THE WINNER.
Therefore, the no problems-lets finalize this winning set of number mentality and damn the truth these funny numbers are good enough for the canvassing board.
That is more than sloppy number counting that is a major error of possitive omission and FRAUD.
Posted by: Bob on May 21, 2005 02:49 PMSam's point was that it was user error for the computer difficulties. The computer system was having difficulties because the county was feeding it such shoddy info. Garbage in, garbage out.
Now, if he wouldn't be so mealy-mouthed and just call it fraud.
Posted by: Mike H on May 21, 2005 03:30 PMFirst, Nicle Way identified the problem, according to her deposition, well before the election and pushed it up the chain of command. Now, I don't know what the "atmosphere" is at the elections office, but often an employee that shows TOO MUCH initiative can find his/herself in the dog house. So, it may NOT be Nicole's fault that the problem persisted into the election.
Second, as others have stated, a good paper trail and hand system can easily cover a deficient computer system, ESPECIALLY since it was already identified that the computer system was not giving them the data they needed. The Excel spreadsheet would have done just fine if they had chosen to make an effort.
On another note:
It's one thing to suspect that they hid the errors or cherry-picked which ones to fix, unfortunately, it's quite another to prove it. Right now, without testamony suggesting coercion by the bosses or witnesses coming clean about actions and decisions, no "fix" can be proved. We are stuck with Way being in over her head with respect to managing the data, Fell and Bill H. (I'm too lazy to spell his name), with gross incompetence in not immediatly installing procedures to deal with the KNOWN computer deficiencies, and for all three: conspiracy to produce, and the production of, fruadulent absentee ballot reconcilliation reports. The first might result in demotion or repremand. The second SHOULD result in termination. The third might result in criminal idictment, but probably won't. For at least Fell, and Bill H. it should result in termination. I am as yet unconvinced that Way deserves criminal prosecution or termination. She probably had insufficient authority to affect any of the actions necessary to result in the KC failures. However, my guess is that she will be sacrificed to protect others.
The Republicans have got away too long with spreading mis-truths about this election. If no one else will call them to the mat, then I will. I am sick and tired of the PR effort that goes against the evidence presented. Notice how even Chris RANTS (Vance) has even changed his tune as it gets close to the election. Back in March, he stated the case was a slam dunk. Now, he has toned down those statements because he realizes it is a difficult road they face in court. Republicans must first demonstrate that their statistical argument is valid (not an easy task given past court cases in Washington state and a weak tie between general population and felon voters), or they have to demonstrate that fraud occurred. Why many here think the past week demonstrates fraud, it doesn't by the legal sense. It should be an interesting week. My guess is both sides will not get what they want.
Someone ask me if we will be voting in November. I told him no. Mainly because I think this will continue to drag out in courts for at least another year. My best guess is that it CG may eventually be forced to give up the office to Brad Owen, but an election will be at the earliest in 2006. All Rossi has done is ruin the state for the next two years while this whole matter is tied up in courts. Now that is real leadership (NOT). My recommendation is abandon the effort after this week and live to fight another day. Right now, Rossi will not win another statewide election because of the turnmoil he has created. To be fair, I don't believe CG will win another race either. If there is a governors race in 2006, it will have at least one new candidate. That's my prediction.
Posted by: tc on May 21, 2005 03:41 PMSo we are to turn our backs while the rats infest the world..NOT. You are wrong on all accounts. Time to kick some butt.
Posted by: Osiris on May 21, 2005 03:58 PMThat, my friends, is no coincidence and I dare anyone to tell me otherwise.
Thank you, Stefan, for bringing that one to light back when. It bears constant repeating.
Posted by: Michele on May 21, 2005 04:02 PMSpeaking of leadership, if CG had any, she would have stepped aside when it became obvious that the vote was tainted. That she didn't, and now might be forced from office, will reflect more poorly on her than on Rossi.
Posted by: Janet S on May 21, 2005 04:03 PMThe 566 ballots were canvassed and REJECTED. Judge Lum's decision allowed them to be RE-canvassed.
One of the things I respect (among many) about Dino is that he is not in the abandonment mode, even though the Dems would love to see that. Sure, just fold up and go away..NOT
Posted by: Susu on May 21, 2005 04:13 PMThis election indicates the same ethical breakdown in our representitive government and it's time for those responsible to be cleansed from the political arena--I'm talking Sims, Pelz, and Logan as well as the beneficiary Gregoire. Tampering and conspiring to tamper with elections is criminal and unethical behavior. If we don't see similar ethics controls to Sarbanes-Oxley placed on the government processes with EMERGENCY legislation, then democracy in this state is a sham. We know what the founding fathers told us to do when we see a disconnect with the will of the people (that is the reason for 2nd amendment)--hopefully it can be averted with peaceful, honorable, quick and decisive unity by those who are in power to resolve.
Posted by: Elvis is the King County on May 21, 2005 04:40 PMSecond, I need facts on what the Republicans have backed off on. Otherwise its hot air your spinning.
Third, You've been on here way too long to not know the truths the Republicans have talked about and used have been discovered initially or in parrallel here on this blog. Facts, no half truths, not mis-truths. Each independently verified by numerous people. You want a retraction on this, show me where I am wrong. If you can't your wrong.
Fourth, popularity, Rossi has it, Gregoire doesn't. Right now they could even have Locke back and Rossi would win by a landslide.
BTW
Thanks for admitting it looks like another election by 2006, I realize that it is hard for anyone to admit they are wrong and I respect you for it.
Oh My God!
Even the trolls now accept the truth about election fraud! They have already resigned themselves to an election nullification and Gregoire's political demise!
Could it be???
Posted by: Deborah on May 21, 2005 05:19 PMHowever, Rossi can and will win another statewide election because despite tc’s absurd claim, a majority of the people recognize the obvious fact that the Democrats caused the election problems, and they know now more than ever how badly we need a real Governor – not a dishonest semi-sane liberal socialist hack.
Despite the substantial merits of our case, as Republicans we need to be prepared to fight the good fight, lose in court, and fight yet again politically. OJ was guilty as hell, but degenerates won the day. This is no OJ trial but the democrats have technical points on their side, and the truth is hard to establish. Stay frosty; this is just another battle in the war for justice, and the battles will never end. I will be pleasantly surprised if justice is done next week, but I don't hang my hopes on it.
Posted by: Amused by liberals on May 21, 2005 06:24 PMbtw, horses.. is really dull tonight
Posted by: righton on May 21, 2005 06:35 PMNow that the corrupt policies of and the incompetence of KCE has been shown to the public, all the leftists can come up with is to attack Rossi.
The lack of integrity of the Democratic Party, Fraudoire, and KCE caused this problem, and it looks more and more intentional everyday.
The leftists see their power slipping away; desperation and despair are setting in.
If you want to see who is really ruining this state, look to the tax muggers in Olympia.
Their goal is to kill free enterprise, and they are doing a good job of it.
So what else is new?
BTW - Chris Vance stepped out of his diplomatic character on - I think - the Mike Siegel show and said something about the overcounted precincts; the ones with more ballots than voters, all being within a 5 mile radius of the Lenin statue. Interesting way of putting it.
Posted by: Dogbert on May 21, 2005 07:08 PMAny decent, honorable person with the welfare of the Republic at heart should be grateful to Rossi for sticking with this effort, even if he doesn't think Rossi should win.
Posted by: ScottM on May 21, 2005 07:18 PMAs for HA, it's not even worth the entertianment over there. Goldy is just a lot of bluster and badly in need of strokes to his fragile ego.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 21, 2005 07:24 PMI love smelling the 'dawn of a new era'....it's a smell of GOP victory!
God bless Dino, the Blogfather, and all who believe in a just cause....i.e fighting back when logic says libs are trying once again to shaft us.
Posted by: MB on May 21, 2005 07:35 PMSome Republicans I know were not happy when Rossi first decided to sue. Because they could find no information from the MSM (and that's all we got here in Whitman County). I was not comfortable with a lawsuit until I stumbled upon Sound Politics and other blogs. Now that the MSM has reported on some of this and the trial is proceeding, because obviously the judge found enough evidence of something fishy, these friends of mine are very impressed how Dino Rossi has handled himself. I have even heard from several democrat friends they would not vote for Gregoire in a re-vote. They believe she should not have taken office in the first place under this cloud of suspicion.
The only people that don't believe there should be a re-vote, have had their heads in the sand for the last 6 months.
This is not rhetoric or "mis-truth" coming from this blog.
We all loose no matter what the outcome of the trial.
More than half this state has lost all confidence in the election process.
The only way we can restore any confidence is taking this to court, wait for the outcome and go from there.
I hate confrontation. But I will glady confront anyone who tries to disenfranchise my vote just because they know they can.
We owe Stefan and the other contributors on Sound Politics a huge debt of gratitude. We would be totally in the dark here on the east side of the state.
Posted by: cc on May 21, 2005 08:01 PM'We would be totally in the dark here on the east side of the state'
I say Amen to that as far as the southwest part of the state goes. We get not much newspaper coverage and most talk radio down here covers Oregon politics. A huge bundle of thanks to SP!!
Posted by: Susu on May 21, 2005 08:12 PMThe only "local" cable news we have "way over here" is NWCN. They really got belligerent during the war and I stopped watching them.
If this election does get overturned, it will be in large because of the contributors of this fine blog.
Posted by: cc on May 21, 2005 08:32 PM…I don’t believe that CG actually committed fraud herself, so the “fraudaire”/”fruadulator” stuff is a little too close to hyperbole. Yet clearly both leaders and minions by the boxcar full should be revamping their resumes and certain of them should be fitted for orange jumpsuits. And clearly CG has no integrity, lies to suit her purpose, never stopped a buck, and is as pink as they come. Yet that is not the same as committing fraud. It may prove out that she could have said something that would have prevented it, and may have added to the cover-up…but that is not the same as committing the act of fraud.
The Ron, Dean, and Bill show….well that’s another matter entirely...
The Seattle Times should be embarrassed by that absurd story line AND especially story content!
What a pitiful last ditch effort before the trial begins to try to help out the failing Dems!
I can't believe they actually printed and seem proud of the unscientific methods they used to come up with this insane revelation! I am embarrassed for them! Check this out!:
How we did it
The Times spent nearly three months examining the Republicans' list of alleged felon voters. The Democrats released their list only recently and without court-case numbers, making it impossible to do a similar investigation.
(Right here - their so-called investigation should have ended! They can't possibly make an analysis or comparison of felon voting lists WITHOUT THE DEMOCRATS LIST!!Duh!)
The Times obtained from the GOP a list of 1,135 names and thousands of pages of supporting court documents. The size of the list fluctuated as the party amended it for its court case.
Reporters compared the list with three state databases: a list of convicted felons from the Washington State Patrol, and two Department of Corrections lists — one of convictions and the other of felons whose voting rights had been restored.
Because those databases were incomplete, the Times used a computer to randomly select 300 names from the Republican list for more thorough research. That sample later was trimmed to 289 as the Republicans dropped names from their original list. Their list as of Friday morning contained 946 names.
For the sample, reporters then:
• Visited 13 counties and reviewed court files to verify felony convictions and ensure that voting rights had not been restored.
• Used three national databases, court files and other public records to search for phone numbers, addresses, signatures, birth dates or Social Security numbers of the people on the list to determine if the alleged felon was the same person as the voter the Republicans had named. This step revealed some cases of mistaken identity.
• Got copies of polling-place record books and absentee-ballot envelopes to compare the signatures of the voters against those of the felons.
• Interviewed 49 felon voters, by telephone or in person, and verified that they belonged on the list. Four others who were interviewed had had their voting rights restored.
This story was reported by Cheryl Phillips, Justin Mayo, Emily Heffter, Jonathan Martin, Mike Carter and Nick Perry, and written by Heffter. Researcher Miyoko Wolf and reporter David Heath also contributed.
Sigh.....All this story will do is cause a flood of viewers into the Sound Politics blog tomorrow morning to get the truth.....
Posted by: Deborah on May 22, 2005 01:36 AMAfter reading the 63 page petitioner's brief, I am very hopeful.
May justice be done!
Toss out felon vote, Gregoire still wins...
I personally don't know just how valid the arguments are in the Time story but if its in any small way valid, will this hurt Rossi and the Repubs even if the Repubs can factually refute the Times assessment?
Posted by: russ on May 22, 2005 08:26 AMThis view of the spices in her natural habitat, (surounded by /supported by the 'liars in training') is brought to by the unquestionably professional investigative reporting of our own Stefan Shakansky!
With the starting of the trial you will witness irratic and adversarial behavior, which is common in this spices (i.e. Bill 'I did not have SEX with that woman' Clinton).
Sit back and watch the SHOW!!
Posted by: arky on May 22, 2005 08:32 AMThe Seattle Times aricle is simply their opinion based on admittedly less than scientific evidence. Plus they are simply addressing one small part of the Election Contest. Say the R's only pick up half the 129 vote difference with felons. That then leaves only 65 more with everything else. Frankly, I still think the felon issue may get us there...but it will be close. And close is the point.
Like Arky said, "Sit back and watch the SHOW!"
Posted by: Mr. Cynical on May 22, 2005 08:38 AMThe whole voting system is like a lake. It's contaminated with a high fecal count. Close it. Clean up. Get a new crew. Start fresh. Don't divert us with the felon thing.
There are countless other 'irregularities' that make this whole fiasco a flawed election that needs a remedy. Just like camped-out concert goers, we are awaiting the court transcripts like giggly roadies. Where is that news guy asking me how long I camped out?!
"Let's roll." (bless that hero's heart)
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on May 22, 2005 08:54 AMI for one found the comments as put out by the Seattle Times by State Elections Director Nick Handy in the Saturday edition more than a bit ludicrous...
The Northwest Pinko & Parasite Panderer's Herald is sure doing a lot of work making like a cheer leader for Gregoire:
Who but a socialist would think passing of even more taxes in a state of over taxed citizens as a good thing?
Posted by: russ on May 22, 2005 08:57 AMSomething about passing the largest gas-tax hike in state history when crude and fuel prices are near record highs, strikes me as politically tone-deaf. Or daft. All I can do is watch in shock and awe.
Posted by: Dogbert on May 22, 2005 09:22 AMStrikes me as damned stupid considering how such a large percentage of goods and services (those little items that keep people employed) need fuel to work efficiently...
Maybe Gregoire considers full employment some sort of, "sin" that should be taxed...
The new & improved fuel tax is all the more amazing if the info at The State of Washington's Taxes is at all valid...
Posted by: russ on May 22, 2005 10:56 AMIs there any mention of the possible link between this 'practice' and the excess of ballots over registered voters? Seems like an obvious link to me.
Also the large number of 'homless' ie nameless and untrackable voters which used the election office as their address. Wasnt this like 500 or so people? seems like another great way to utilize those blank take home ballots to me.