I've obtained and posted the complete interim report of the Independent Task Force on Elections (the one reported on in today's newspaper articles and mentioned at the entry below)
In three parts:
The report
The complete survey results
Survey comments
My reaction and highlights --
the report downplays the severity of the criticism in the survey. Indeed, as the cover letter suggests, the task force members weren't expecting to release the survey and only did so in response to the Seattle Times public records request. The report also focuses on out-of-scope policy issues such as moving to all-mail voting (ignoring the meltdown in the mail ballot operation) and changing the State Constitution to allow felons to vote.
Highlights of the survey:
-- Only 12 out of 33 (36%) think the Elections section operations have improved since January 2002 (around the time when Sims forced Bob Bruce into retirement), while 17 (52%) think things have gotten worse.
-- Fewer than half (16 out of 33) would feel comfortable reporting violations of election rules or other significant problems to the appropriate agency
-- Only 7 out of 33 (21%) are proud to be an employee of the Elections section.
My favorite line from the survey comments:
"I am so disgusted at the conduct of our supposed leadership, I want to puke"
Not a pretty picture for Dean Logan or Ron Sims.
I'm not surprised by this survey; it simply quantifies what we already knew.So why has he let this problem fester for years, papering over it with ridiculous happy talk -- "Report on 2004 election shows King County elections performed well". Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 18, 2005 10:41 AM | Email This
Yes, we stole the election. With the help of the Rand Corporation and reverse vampires we were able to carefully screen all ballots in the state, know exactly how they were marked, and then through an incredibly complicated formula decided whether in King County to destroy a Republican ballot, make sure it was lost, or stuff a pro-Gregoire ballot into the mix.
The most brilliant part of the plan, and it was Goldy that came up with this, was having a list of the names of felons that we could quickly fake votes in favor of Gregoire with. I mean, they're felons. If they say they never voted, who will believe them? The clincher, though, and credit here goes to GBS, is to make sure we put in four votes for Rossi and one for Bennet so if anyone was to question it, we could show them those five. You have to admire such cunning.
I think it was dj who thought we should then hide a couple hundred good Gregoire ballots so if things got close on a recount, we could leak that they were not counted and get someone outside our cabal to demand they were counted. And we pulled all of this off while there were thousand of GOP lawyers and poll watchers watching every step of the way.
And of course it was my idea to mess up the books just enough that people like ss minnow would focus at the obvious mistakes and not worry about actually proving anything. As great as our other machinations? no, but it did its part. Think of the hours ss minnow spent with his spreadsheets when if he had just picked up the phone and called around, the whole thing falls apart. I am sorry, Stefan. I am truly sorry.
Sadly, I don't know all the details. How we were able to slip money to Dale Foreman so that he would sink his argument by making claims about fraud when he knew there was no evidence was beyond our little cell. Making sure that Judge John "Stalin" Bridges was elected and in place in Chelan took years of planning. Of course the piece d' resistance was making sure that the GOP forum shopped to Chelan County. If they had filed in King County and received a judge that wasn't in our pocket, it all would have fallen apart.
Then again, Kirby Wilbur has always been a part of the cabal, and it was he himself who suggested making sure the King County GOP make a bigger mistake, percentage wise, in their ballot count. I thought it would be impossible to do with less than 500 votes, but he found a way, he found a way. Genius, absolute genius.
But, of course, it is costing us a ton to keep Rob McKenna and Norm Maleng in our pocket. Do you know what it costs to bribe a federal prosecutor? We are not talking chump change here. We are talking Hallaburton dollars people.
And this was just the first time we have tried. Mistakes were made. We did all of this cheating, but no one thought about making sure that Deborah Senn would win. We were fools! Fools I say! We had everything, but all we can show for it is winning the Governor’s election by 133 votes. It should have been so much more! We should have fixed this election like Bush fixed intelligence. But who am I kidding; George W. Bush is just at a different level from our little operation.
But enough! Enough I say. The lies, the cheating, the fraud must stop. I might be the first, but I call on all of the left to join me and come clean! Say Hallelujah and let go of your sin.
By the way, for those of you interested in joining our little cabal and helping us fix the next election, along with destroying the family, aborting all fetuses, imposing communism upon everyone (but, of course, only after raising taxes through the roof), and letting all criminals go free, or just wonder how we are able to do all of this, we meet on Thursdays at 8:30p at the Denny's on Mercer. Give the secret pass word, "Can you hook me up like Rush Limbaugh," and order the veal. We will be more than happy to have you.
Thank you for letting me clear my soul of my sins. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a soul like me...,
why they waste money on this?
Posted by: righton on June 18, 2005 11:58 AMMr. Hunnekens constantly plays with his "blackberry?"
These were just a few comments that were really funny. The rest were obviously biased as to who these respondents like or dislike. One comment bothered me especially. That these employees have filled out surveys like this before. And nothing was really done to improve on the valid complaints.
I feel one of the most important reforms King County can do is put in an elected auditor.
Posted by: cc on June 18, 2005 12:09 PMJDB, thank you for your comments as well as some very thought provoking arguments that I will roll around in my mind. I also appreciate your understanding that we are often much closer together in many issues then we realize. I feel the key to all the arguments is in how we say, and what we say to our counter opponent of thought. Because of this line of thinking I have to disagree with you on the points you make about Stefan. Because Stefan and I have similar thoughts and ideals and I would naturally disagree with you for the most part so I will limit my comments to two statements.
1) Stefan has provided a public forum for a following that is attracted to open and engaged debate without the trash and anger that Goldie has created on ha.org . This conversation and the way we are conducting it here on sp. is proof of that. The moral banner of his blog says more about Stefan and its followers then Stefan gets credit for. The Republican Party has been accused with being a party of white Christians only. I think you will find like kind Christian people on this site that represent people with high moral concerns representing all the parties. In spite of your supposed anger at Stefan you should give him credit for a site that you are welcomed to even though you dislike his view and the stance he takes in his opinions.
2) Stefan worked endless hours digging through KCE paper to raise concerns and issues for the honest people on both sides in the 2004 election. Yes you are right he wants to win, but I think he wants to win when we should. He has made many posts showing areas of weakness within our party and has not been afraid to point out our errors we need to correct if we want to win and lead with honor and respect.
I want to thank you as well for the opportunity to share our different ideals and views and I agree whole heartily that we are much closer in thought then we show when debating our opinions. But I also know that in some key areas of values of life, morals and leadership we tent to throw up the dukes and stop trying to work to resolve though fair and open communication.
May God bless us and ours and may we come back together as a nation and continue to receive his blessing as we have the past few hundred years.
Oh, and by the way, he is just one of the "highly trained professionals" that Sam Reed has mentored.
Posted by: jaybo on June 18, 2005 02:27 PMWhatever you do, folks, DON'T miss the survey comments section. It's positively devastating; some choice tidbits:
"I witnessed a rapid decline in...integrity, morality, honesty...."
"Making co-workers actually WORK instead of sleeping all day would help, too.."
"Mr. Huennekens should never have been hired...(he) can't conduct any kind of a meeting. We can all tell when he either is bored or doesn't comprehend something by his constant playing with his Blackberry."
"..I was placed on administrative leave well before the general Election because I would not shut up about our lack of preparation. I was not brought back until after the final certification of the hand recount in January. Dean Logan had me sitting home drawing full pay and doing nothing for it because I told my supervisor to tell Garth, Bill and Dean that I would go public if we went into the general as ill-prepared as we were at the end of September 2004. I watched the whole fiasco as an outsider who was ordered to have no contact with anyone in the department whatsoever."
OH...MY....GOODNESS. Cover-up alert!
And here's a real cute one from someone who doesn't 'get it': "I'm tired of dealing with psychotic republicans who have huge persecution complexes". You know, I feel REAL sorry for you, dear. Here's my solution: THEN COUNT THEIR BALLOTS NEXT TIME INSTEAD OF MAILING THEIR BALLOTS TOO LATE, LOSING THEIR MAIL BALLOT ENVELOPES AND LOSING/THROWING AWAY THEIR VOTES AT THE POLLS. Then Tyler Farmer, Jeffery Possinger, Lt.Brian Suits, Wendy, Todd and Lance Corporal Kenneth Stansbury, lksimstrailgrammy's son, and scores of others WON'T NEED TO FEEL THAT WAY!
Posted by: Michele on June 18, 2005 04:02 PMI am not defending anything Sims or the KC Elections department has done; that would be, well difficult to do with a straight face. Yet, as to your contention the buck stops with the head honcho, as a spiteful midlevel guy full of cynicism, I ask you where in the last twenty years has that been true?
Posted by: CandrewB on June 18, 2005 04:56 PMI'll tell you why: It'll make it that much easier for the dems in Olympia to push the bills through. Why? 'Cause they have the data from an "independent" group.
Posted by: steve_dog on June 18, 2005 07:06 PMAmazing.......This must explain why Gregoire felt the need to give the workers in her staff andother quarter of million in wage hikes. I guess there was a shortage of walls in her department.
Maybe they should hire more 40k people who come equipped with an actual personality and a brain to boot!
Posted by: GS on June 18, 2005 08:30 PM... ummm .. because changing it would not enable him to manipulate elections?
Posted by: BananaLand(aka Iguana) on June 18, 2005 09:31 PMWho brought Mr. Rumsfeld into this?
(Sorry, couldn't resist.)
Posted by: Bruce on June 18, 2005 09:42 PM"I'm not surprised...it...quantifies what...we already knew..." O.K.--put him in the role of a defective prescription drug company VP or consumer product VP--apply the same quote--I would love the press conference--
(Sims) "Yes--we know it's a defective product, but it had the marketing placement 'any bank would envy.'"
reporter) "Sir--your product is crap. The public suffered. It is not reliable."
(Sims--now visibly offended) "Excuse me...excuse me...home training!"
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on June 18, 2005 10:08 PM
We should all take the lessons we have learned from the 2004 General Election and apply them to another, just as important, election.
I just saw our Mariners beat the Mets. On my way out the door it occured to me, that while Safeco Field maintains much better ballot security than King Co. Elections, if we all join together, with our new found knowledge, we can ensure the American League All-Star Team consist of all Seattle Mariners.
Major League Baseball didn't know who it is messing with when they decided to allow fans to vote. They may not be aware that the Mariners play in King County and if anyone knows how to fix a vote, it's us.
So join my cause. I personally voted a dozen times tonight. Another 3 or 4 games, I might equal the average Democrat poll workers Novermber output. You can too.
AS GOD AS MY WITNESS, WIKI GONZALEZ WILL BE STARTING IN THE MID-SUMMER CLASSIC!!!
Posted by: T.J. on June 18, 2005 10:49 PMOr I expect we could promote him into Gregoire's administration where he could get a 10k to 20k raise like the rest of her cabinet, and do nothing but dream up new tax and spend ideas to "Screw the Citizens of this state!
Posted by: GS on June 19, 2005 12:08 AM... ummm .. because changing it would not enable him to manipulate elections?"
Iguana has it in a nutshell!
Posted by: Deborah on June 19, 2005 12:31 AMComing up from out of the depths for a moment...
Michele, may I suggest downloading these programs and running them?
Ad-aware, Spybot, search and destroy, and Mozilla Firefox.
The first two are spyware detectors and removers, while Firefox is a REALLY great alternative to Internet Explorer. They should help you fix the problem. (I don't know if you have these or not, but they fixed my problems.)
As for Sims, I think he has finally met his match. Hell, if Irons was really smart, he could dig up old footage from last year when Ron was trying to run for governor. I seem to remember Ron ran WAAAAAAAAY left of She Who I Shall NOT Name.
Domo.
Posted by: Left Behind by the New Democratic Party on June 19, 2005 02:38 AMYou are a child after his own heart.
Good job.
Posted by: Amused by liberal morons on June 19, 2005 09:40 AMWe have already gone a long way in cleaning up the mess, by pointing out what the mess is. Now a little action would be nice to clean up the mess.
Posted by: GS on June 19, 2005 10:07 AMMichelle, I clicked on the links in your previous posts (I am now aware that you did not create them) then I ran a Spybot scan on my computer and the following showed up: "minibug" and "bootweb lite." Just so you know.
All spyware/virus makers should go to jail.
End of OT
Neophyte: Thanks, Neo
Posted by: Michele on June 19, 2005 04:50 PMOn the other hand, none of you ever really believed that, did you? (That's a rhetorical question, Michele.)
Posted by: Northern Coho on June 19, 2005 11:40 PM“Nixon had nary an ounce of shame. He resigned because he didn't have the votes in Congress to survive impeachment.”
Once again, you place your personal enmity well ahead of reason. Your errant understanding of history spoils an otherwise reasoned and thoughtful understanding of political realities. I don’t like Bill Clinton for many reasons, but I won’t waste time lying about him – and I certainly won’t underestimate him or blind myself to realities through an extraneous hostility to the person. Richard Nixon was a lot of things but shamelessness was certainly not one of them. That is an invention of the vitriol of the left just as Hitlerian attributions are currently foisted upon G.W. Bush. This vitriol is the single most effective superficial tool Republicans have against Democrats. While Democrats blindly hate, Republicans lead, and Republicans win.
If Nixon had conducted operations in the White House in the manner that Bill Clinton did – votes in Congress over impeachment wouldn’t have been an issue, because it would never have gotten that far. In the Clinton White House obfuscation, double dealing and flim-flam was the order of the day. Clinton (especially Hillary) could aptly teach a course called “besting Machiavelli at his own game.” Conversely, had Clinton simply admitted screwing Monica, despite all of the other lies and deceitfulness, all would have been forgiven. Instead he stuffed his arrogant lying finger in our faces on a point where we all (the sane ones of us) knew he was lying.
If you really believe what you say, you might simply read and compare “Final Days” by Carl Bernstein and “Blind Ambition” by John Dean to “Legacy” by Rich Lowry and “All Too Human” by George Stephanopoulos. If you conclude after reading these that Richard Nixon was not the Machiavellian inferior of Bill Clinton whose Quaker shame alone brought his position to ruin, you are just blind, deaf, and too dumb for your own good. Hillary worked in detail on the impeachment and prosecution of Nixon and compiled a careful deliberate account of everything used to weaken him his defense. The Clintons used this as a basis upon which to cover themselves from discovery of all of their criminal activities.
Also read “Nixon Agonistes” by Gary Wills, “The Nixon Presidency: Power and Politics in Turbulent Times” by Michael A. Genovese, “Unlimited Access” by Gary Aldrich, and “Year of the Rat” by Timperlake and Triplette.
Then tell yourself that Nixon had “nary an ounce of shame,” especially compared to Bill and Hillary Clinton.