Armen Yousoufian, whose ongoing legal battle with King County over Ron Sims' violations of the Public Disclosure Act has already lasted eight years and has cost county taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in staff time, fines and (Yousoufian's) attorney fees because of Sims' incompetence and/or unlawful acts, has yet another court date this month.
UPDATE: I realize the above wording might have been a little confusing. I emphasize my praise for Armen for holding Ron Sims and his administration accountable for releasing public documents in a timely fashion. The escalating costs are entirely the result of Sims' repeated failures to comply with the law and to shirk responsibility for his failures.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 11, 2005 11:05 PM | Email ThisThe people of Seattle/KC canNOT be this stupid, can they? I feel like that duck on the Aflac commercial with Yogi Berra...the duck just shakes his head and walks away dizzy.
Posted by: Danny on July 11, 2005 11:21 PMMr. Yousoufian, you do realize how vital your history with King County will be this fall with regard to the KC Exec election? Most people in King County remember little bits and pieces of your fight against Sims from years ago. Now is the time to bring everyone up to date!
Wow! I just took a peek at your site! It's amazing how your history of legal action against Sims and KC in the stadium fight - and the *rigged studies* they used for the Stadium - are so very close to the recent *rigged* DOT impact statements KC used for the Quadrant Homes community project in Kirkland! There is definitely a pattern of corruption and falsified building impact statements directly linked to King County and Ron Sims! This should be investigated under RICO. I wonder how many other King County *projects*, *policies*, *ordinances*, etc....were launched from this same corruption?
This is big! How on earth could Ron Sims think he could hide this??
Posted by: Deborah on July 12, 2005 01:25 AMSims believes that he can brazen it through. The concern I have is what judge they draw, and what legal legerdemain can be played out to defeat enforcement of Yousoufian’s claims. The very fact that this whole thing seems so out of proportion causes many to believe it must just be "one of those things." The fact is, Sims is simply corrupt – what can you expect from a liberal democrat. Whatever happens, if WE give them half a chance, this thing will get played down.
Mr. Yousoufian is a true hero and outstanding citizen. Most people would have given up long ago and that is what Sims was counting on. His steadfast insistence on lawful behavior from Sims will go a long way toward ridding us of this dishonest rat in the coming elections. This raises more of the same quesrtions and suspicions many of us had about the methods used to make decisions on major civic projects in our county. The economic scale of Sims' corruption may indeed be revealed as staggering.
Mr. Yousoufian,
Thanks very much for your courage and tenacity, my prayers are with you.
Thanks for your comments. A few responses:
First, the "cooked" traffic studies involving Quadrant's Redmond Ridge/Trilogy developments are indeed one more example of what is going on in King County. And the King County employees who blew the whistle on it were retaliated against! This matter was the subject of several posts at my www.Yousoufian.blogspot.com - one of which is 5 posts back right now and contains links to two earlier posts and the website of the group fighting the project. They are the ones who revealed the truth about the traffic studies, the whistleblowers at King County who tried to do something about it, and what was done to them.
Second, we are pleased with the judge assigned our case. We've already had one hearing before him to set the dates for the hearing and the parameters of what this proceeding will involve and have every reason to believe he will be fair.
Third, ever since the revelations of "rigged" studies that I saw unfolding before my eyes, beginning in 1997 in my case, I could see the same pattern repeatedly with Brightwater, Sound Transit, the proposed wastewater treatment plant next to Paul Allen's golf course in Redmond, the land acquisition on Harbor Island, Tent City 4, etc. The pattern is that there is some agenda that has to be hidden, rigged studies are ordered up from an industry of compliant consultants who will produce an analysis to justify the desired result, a spun cover story is ginned up by publicly paid for spokespeople and pr firms, and much of the public swallows it.
Even now, with the next court date coming up, I am again receiving emails vilifying me for costing the public money for Sims' defense, my legal fees, and the potential of significant fines. I am being discredited by some for "enriching" myself at public expense with no regard for the (literally) thousands of hours (I estimate I've averaged 10 hours a week for over 8 years) I have spent on this case trying to bring to light such things as that the demolition of the Kingdome has cost this region approximately $300 million a year in lost economic activity associated with the events that only the Kingdome could accommodate. If I had spent that time engaging in more of the real estate and business deals I've earned my living at for over 30 years, I'd probably be ahead, and the public would be behind. It appears some would prefer it that way. Not to mention that these people ignore how much Paul Allen has been enriched by the use of "made as instructed" studies that influenced the vote that authorized his getting a publicly funded stadium. Part of my efforts have been to "unwind" that deal, and return those dollars to the public.
The issue in this upcoming election between Sims and Irons is whether enough of the public will finally notice what has been going on, and vote to do something to change it.
Posted by: Armen Yousoufian on July 12, 2005 08:09 AMYour 'works the same for both parties' doesn't cut it with me unless you can provide some specifics which parallel this issue.
Posted by: jimg on July 12, 2005 11:53 AMI would have been very discouraged. Keep it up. The bravery of David against the arrogance of Goliath. May your aim be true! (whirring sound of sling with pebble) Even water cuts through rock to form crevasses and rivers. Nature knows. Obviously you do too! Truth is like the tide--hard to harness. Hard to ignore.
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on July 12, 2005 09:02 PM