Today's P-I report on Ron Sims latest dog-and-pony efforts to "fix" the elections office should only undermine confidence further -- "Consultant to recruit team to repair elections system"
The man charged with finding the turnaround team is Jim Reid, chief of staff of the Sims-appointed citizen task force that issued a scathing report on the elections system July 27. It recommended, among other things, hiring a "SWAT team" of management turnaround experts to overhaul the department before the fall 2006 elections.I met with Jim Reid when he was doing research for the task force. His staff contacted me (among other interested citizens) to solicit public input. Reid seemed like a decent enough guy, asked reasonable questions and showed interest in the issues I presented to him. Unfortunately, the task force ignored most of my strongest recommendations for further research (my message being "don't just take my word about this, investigate it yourself"). The task force then went on, as we know, to issue a not-so-scathing, Sims-serving set of recommendations that were mostly tepid, irrelevant and/or counter-productive. Needless to say, I'm as yet unconvinced that Reid would be sufficiently independent to lead the turnaround effort in the right direction.
The article also quotes Ron Sims' chief-of-staff Kurt Triplett:
The system, he said, "needs to be transparent, redundant, making sure it's easy to understand and everything is documented.As I just e-mailed Neil Modie who wrote the article: "Next time a King County official promises transparency in the elections office, you might want to ask them when they intend to satsify all of the various public records requests that they've been stonewalling for months." Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 12, 2005 10:26 AM | Email This
Logan still in charge! No changes will happen, even after spending $500,000.
Posted by: Chris on August 12, 2005 10:37 AMYou keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means...
Posted by: Snake on August 12, 2005 11:49 AMThey still think they can pull the wool over people's eyes, but the times they are a-changin' (particularly since SoundPolitics came on the scene....)
Posted by: Michele on August 12, 2005 12:25 PMJust mandate all sr. elections officials wear transparent undies and pants some Monday morning---OR--immediately institute that in the 'system'which they call 'transparent.' (Jimmie to provide the barf bags.)
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on August 12, 2005 01:27 PMAs usual, these stinky diapers keep trying to give us what they think we should have, and totally ignore what we keep telling them we want.
Posted by: dl on August 12, 2005 02:18 PMWashingtonians need to stand up to these fraudulent "studies" and "commissions" as strongly as they do against election fraud itself. These bogus "commissions" are the inevitable afterbirth of election fraud, and they serve no purpose other than to legitimize fraudulently elected officials and make it appear as if somebody is "doing something. It's all a sham, people.
Posted by: Interested Observer on August 12, 2005 05:00 PMIt's an 'I don't give a shyt' attitude from a spoiled kid. The little brat kid you'd like to twist his ear and whisper some "home training" during a tantrum. Remember John Kerry? Didn't his late Mom say: "Intergity, Integrity, Integrity?"
Libs love the move on thing. Except when the honesty and integrity rules apply to all. you can spot them--these are the whiny players in 'Monopoly' who always want to modify the rules when THEY land on YOUR hotel-loaded properties!!
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on August 12, 2005 06:29 PMI think Sims just enjoys burning our money.
Posted by: Joe on August 12, 2005 10:00 PM