Sound Politics: Post-Mortem

June 08, 2005

Post-Mortem

A round-up of post-mortem opinion on the election debacle and ineffectual court decision

* Today's P-I published one of the few sensible editorials it has published in the last two years, ironcially headlined "King County: Leading to excellence"

Can Dean Logan lead the King County elections department through the sweeping changes that are needed? That question has been posed in a new, more urgent way by the end of the disputed 2004 governor's election.

We don't have the answer. But we ask because we lack full confidence that either Logan or his boss, King County Executive Ron Sims, will seize leadership to end the repeated injustice of mishandled ballots.

The article also has a poll. "Should Dean Logan remain as King County elections director?" So far he's winning. Be sure to vote.

* Also in the P-I is an excellent op-ed from Julia Youngs: "Value added to election's legal challenge".

* The King County Journal says: "Our View: Rossi makes right call; reform still needed"

* In the Seattle Weakly, George Howland howls and whines: "A Fraudulent Finish"

Republican Dino Rossi should have apologized to Washington state. On Monday, June 6, after seven months of irresponsible rhetoric and fruitless litigation by his lawyers and spinmeisters, Rossi finally ended his bid for the governorship. He did not, however, take personal responsibility for his headline-grabbing, whiny, and expensive litigation

God forbid anybody should try to hold any Democrat administration accountable for repeated violations of election laws.

* Peter Callaghan of the Tacoma News Tribune: "Stop grinning, start sweating, Ron Sims"

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 08, 2005 10:48 AM | Email This

Comments

1. Gee, Stefan. The last I heard, you were encouraging people to unsubscribe from the PI. Now it's excellent?

You aren't result-oriented are you?

Posted by: Northern Coho on June 8, 2005 11:17 AM

2. Hey northern coho...get a clue next time. The PI slipped up and published a voice of reason. Come back when you have a well-reasoned thought. You have successfully made yourself out to be a fool. Perhaps you slipped up this time...not likely, though.

Posted by: Danny on June 8, 2005 11:29 AM

3. Coho,
A lot of spin and it isn't even lunch time yet. A more careful reading would show that Stefan is praising Julia Young and not the P-I. All Stefan is pointing out is that even the P-I lets quality commentary in on rare occaisions.

Posted by: SouthernRoots on June 8, 2005 11:29 AM

4. The words I saw on the post were "Today's P-I published one of the few sensible editorials it has published in the last two years"

It takes lib spin to think that says the PI is excellent. But lib spin always turns things around 180.

Posted by: fred on June 8, 2005 11:31 AM

5. The only truth in Howland's article was the title -- A Fraudulent Finish -- as applied to CG's "election" coin-flip election, not the court case. What a tool of the neo-socialist left he is! Even if the only purpose of the case was to air King County's dirty laundry (and there's no proof of that), it was well worth it!

Posted by: starboardhelm on June 8, 2005 11:31 AM

6. Actually, I think that a lot of liberals "get it". If the demos in power don't clean up their act (or at least go through the motions), it will be cleaned up for them. If I were a liberal editorialist, I'd be saying the exact same thing.

But when all of the dust settles, Sims will get his new building, and the newspapers will be congratulating him for fixing everything, and telling us all how wonderful, wonderful, wonderful everything is now. Just watch.

Posted by: Dogbert on June 8, 2005 12:04 PM

7. Why is it that our system has very few statesmen like Dino Rossi? Most politicians seem so partisan.

Instead of working together to come up with solutions to societal problems Dean, Reid, Berendt and people of their ilk seem only capable of attacking. They are unwilling to work with people that are different from them for the common good.

Election reform should not be a partisan undertaking. Every citizen regardless of their politics should be demanding a better system in KC. I would like to see more high minded people in politics that work for common sense solutions without resorting to childish name calling.

Posted by: Frank on June 8, 2005 12:21 PM

8. Danny, SouthernRoots, Fred:

What I really don't get is why someone like Coho thinks that he's actually scoring points with such a stupid remark. You get the feeling he or she is about twelve years old.

Posted by: Bostonian on June 8, 2005 12:26 PM

9. Remember the key to liberals. Relativism. The truth can be arranged as needed to benefit whatever their cause and need. The PI and Stefan's comments can be misconstrued as needed to justify irrational arguments.

This is the primary mode of the liberal mind. This is what makes it easy to justify taking from the rich to give to the poor. It's what allows them to view victim classes as distinct and deserving due to a carefully selected attribute, such as race, sexual orientation, etc.

There's no such thing as an objective rock of land to orient from on the high seas of the liberal mind. North is whatever direction they choose it to be that suits them for that day.

Posted by: Jeff B. on June 8, 2005 12:26 PM

10. It seems to me there are only two sides to the whole 2004 election and election contest.

1. Rossi was robbed of the Governor's mansion by King County Elections Commission.

2. Gregoire rightfully won the Gubernatorial contest.

The thing that I point out to my liberal friends is - IF Gregoire actually got the most votes and deserved to win, IF all those votes that KCEC found were legitimate, then KCEC STILL screwed the pooch on this one. Why?

If Gregoire received the most votes, then she SHOULD have received the most votes in the first two counts! In that case we, the citizens of the state, would not have to pay for the manual recount (if Rossi wanted one), because the state Republican party would have paid for it and after Gregoire came out on top we wouldn't have had pay them back. Futhermore, if this is the case, we wouldn't have had to pay for the whole elections contest.

So either way you slice it - KCEC either robbed Rossi of a victory, or it robbed millions of dollars from the citizens of Washington for unnecessary recounts and lawsuits!

Where's the outrage from the left?

Posted by: Larry on June 8, 2005 12:28 PM

11. Larry - don't you get it -- it is the M.O. of the left to waste all this time and energy and come up with nothing more than a buck pass -- look at all the obstructionist crap that the demos have been pulling off in the US senate for the last 5 years

Posted by: Bill on June 8, 2005 12:36 PM

12. Subscribing to the P-I gives them money. Reading their webpage costs them money.

Posted by: Jason on June 8, 2005 12:47 PM

13. Best of those cited in this post has to be Peter Callaghan of the Tacoma News Tribune. He nails Logan's ineptness, associates Ron Sims as the ultimate Manager in responsible, and then to my way of thinking eludes to possibility of Rossi taking on Sims for County Executive seat!!!

Dethrone King Ron!

Posted by: Elvis is the King County on June 8, 2005 12:51 PM

14. Update on the Dean Logan poll. 49% say he should go!

Posted by: Shannon C on June 8, 2005 12:54 PM

15. Elvis,

I agree with you. I just sent him an email thanking him and (surprisingly) the Tribune for their fairly neutral eds and articles all along. The Weakly article almost made me gag, however.

Posted by: appalled on June 8, 2005 12:57 PM

16. With all due respect to Mr. Irons who has already stepped forward in the KingCo Exec race, I believe that Dino should take this office. He would be the obvious person to take the helm and redirect the mess that KingCo has become over the years. I cannot imagine that the citizenry would not be behind him in this effort. It would seem to sit well with what I've heard of his stated ambitions and would represent an absolutely huge measure of justice and hope for the future.

I hope that behind the scenes, even as I type these words, such considerations are being pondered by those who can make it happen.

Posted by: MichaelC on June 8, 2005 01:20 PM

17. Logan is now losing - only 41% think he should retain his position.

OT - P.S. got my 912 initiative forms, ready to get some signatures :)

Posted by: Robyn on June 8, 2005 01:26 PM

18. Sorry, MichaelC, I can't see Dino as King County executive. He's meant for bigger things.

Shannon C, as of 1:35, the PI poll is down to 47.2% against Dean Logan. Come on, guys, get some more votes in.

Posted by: Shannon K on June 8, 2005 01:31 PM

19. When do the firings start for job performance incompetence? Should I wait?

Dust off those cutsey "mission statements" that I'm sure all elections officials have on their walls. They composed them at resort-like seminars on the taxpayers' dimes. Time for new meetings?

This will only change when we see more than an indifferent 50+ % voter participation/turnout at ALL elections--no matter how "small"---and when people stop re-electing (endorsing) these imcompetent twits. As for the accuracy of our votes, that remains to be seen...

Voters handed these people power--don't we care to monitor their use of it? It's like handing your teen car keys and forgetting about the implications. If we have 30 mins. to watch TV, we have 30 mins. to scan the web to see what our elected's are doing.

Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on June 8, 2005 01:40 PM

20. MichealC, I respectfully disagree. I believe Dino Rossi can win a bigger race - US Senate perhaps? Let’s “spend” Rossi in tougher fight & support David Irons, who has a great chance at beating Sims. Irons is currently on the King County Council. He has a lot of experience working with the various players at the county level and he has a lot of support from mayors in region as well. We need to stand behind him and not divide Republican support between 2 candidates. If we want to change King County and the rest of state, we need to be strategic.

Posted by: SweetNSassy on June 8, 2005 01:44 PM

21. Another Postscript - Reed Must Go

Reed's performance has demonstrated an appalling lack of fitness for public office.

He gave lip service to how bad the performance of KCE was, but was unwilling to take a stand and do something about it. He wouldn't even enforce the WACs issued by his office.

Even worse, he refused to discipline his sycophantic bootlicking assistant, Nick Handy, for the blatant partisanship and cover-your-ass mentality most clearly expressed in Handy's email to the county auditors.

Posted by: ewaggin on June 8, 2005 01:45 PM

22. Logan is closing the gap in the poll. I'm doing my best to keep him under, but if you could go and help by voting again, please do.

Posted by: JRR on June 8, 2005 01:46 PM

23. You got to love Ron Simms' idea of election reform...A bigger building to hide their errors in.....

Posted by: TrueSoldier on June 8, 2005 02:02 PM

24. Gee coho, you libs are still whining about Florida, Kathrine Harris and the US Supreme court. Why can't we sing along? There's more grievance with the CG election than people standing in line in Ohio. geez.

Posted by: PC on June 8, 2005 02:06 PM

25. I voted "No" on Dean Logan. But that was my 'provisional vote', I'm now going to make an 'absentee vote', after which I plan go to the polls again for my dear departed mother.

Posted by: Dave on June 8, 2005 02:25 PM

26. Shannon K - "Come on, guys, get some more votes in."

That's the spirit! If a little is good, a lot is better.

Posted by: Dogbert on June 8, 2005 02:37 PM

27. "Sorry, MichaelC, I can't see Dino as King County executive. He's meant for bigger things. "

ShannonK,

I dissagree.
We need Dino Rossi NOW. The King County Executive position is the second most powerful position in Washington State. It shouldn't be - but it is!

If Rossi took the KC Exec. position - and held it for 3 + years (as did Gary Locke - prior to his successful run for Governor) - he could effectively run for Governor in 2008.

Right now we have David Irons, Reagan Dunn, Steve Hammond, - available for prominent positions within the County....Without someone like Dino Rossi as Executive - no one can trust the election outcomes!

Posted by: Deborah on June 8, 2005 02:37 PM

28. Can we please play hard ball now?

Posted by: chardonnay on June 8, 2005 04:33 PM

29. I have an idea for the Washington state quarter:
Washington State- Where corruption is King (county). Just ask our queen

Posted by: Miriam on June 8, 2005 08:58 PM

30. The question is can Dino Rossi win the King County Executive race? I mean if he had carried King County in the governor race he would have won by a landslide.

I do agree that we need to get rid of Sims, but do we have a candidate that can get enough D's to give up on Sims and vote for him or her?

Posted by: Frank on June 9, 2005 12:02 AM

31. "The question is can Dino Rossi win the King County Executive race? I mean if he had carried King County in the governor race he would have won by a landslide."

Good point. Wasn't it Sam Reed, of all people, who suggested that Rossi run for KC executive? I don't know about you people, but to me, the last person Dino Rossi should listen to is Sam Reed. I mean, that scumbag stabbed Rossi in the back during the last election. Why would anyone in their right mind thing he has Rossi's interests at heart?

I sure don't. The last thing Rossi needs is to be labeled a two-time loser (even though he didn't really "lose" the governor's race, but was screwed out of it by people like Reed). Besides, I've read on this and other blogs that the Republicans already have a candidate lined up for this race (is it Irons?). Why would Rossi want to muddy the waters if the party is already lining up it's slate?

Posted by: Interested Observer on June 9, 2005 06:17 AM

32. Bullpatties. Dino absolutely did the right thing; I have zero doubt about that. Leave it to the cheaters and enablers to say that the guy who got wronged should apologize. But that's who they are.

This guy is just upset because Dino 'outed' KC elections (so did you, Stefan) and caused there to be more, not less. doubt about x-tine's 'win'.

Posted by: Michele on June 9, 2005 04:06 PM

33. I have considering how much thanks the registered, legal voters of Washington State actually owe to Dino Rossi and his campaign personnel for making sure we were informed.

If this entire matter had been swept under the rug, quickly and quietly, we would be none the wiser in future elections. We now know how corrupt and/or inept the voting system is and can be alert for the tomfollery of the left next time around!

Thanks to Dino Rossi for going the extra legal mile to make sure we all heard about this mess!!

Posted by: Faith on June 9, 2005 10:44 PM