August 17, 2005
Ron Sims re-election strategy

Ron Sims re-election strategy is now becoming apparent.

The centerpiece is to turn the county elections office into a de facto subsidiary of the re-election campaign organization.

Specifically, that entails putting the non-team player (= honest) employees on administrative leave, and filling their chairs with Sims loyalists from other agencies who are really good at papering over their incompetence and malfeasance if nothing else. It also entails stonewalling citizens on public records requests. I'm not the only one who is being stonewalled. The King County Republican Party sent a records request to Dean Logan on July 20th asking for information on the thousands of multiply registered voters, a number of whom are known to have voted more than once and never been prosecuted. Logan replied on August 2nd, promising to release most if not all of the documents within 10 days and to provide an estimated delivery date for the remaining documents by August 11th. Guess what? None of the requested documents have been produced, nor has the delivery date for the other documents been offered. After all, why should Ron Sims undermine his own re-election campaign by releasing any evidence of malfeasance and incompetence in his own agencies when there's a team of lawyers on the public payroll at the Prosecutor's Office who will abet his evasion of the Public Disclosure Act at no cost to Sims.

The county might as well change the name of the King County Records, Elections and Licensing Services Division to the King County Ron Sims Re-election Services Division.

(Contest: who will be the first to find all of the changes between the spoof web page and the real one?)

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 17, 2005 04:57 PM | Email This
Comments
1. Sadly, one has to wonder why all this grunt and footwork investigation is being done by the County Republican Party and Sound Politics - ancient history teaches us that this used to be the venue of the City papers, to muck rake out the corruption.

Which is why I don't often tune into the P-U or Seattle un-Times - they no longer provide this community service.

Posted by: FreeRangeAuthor on August 17, 2005 05:29 PM
2. No problem... King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng will be keeping an eye on this and will, I am sure, be just as agressive as he always has been when it comes to election fraud.

Posted by: Huey on August 17, 2005 06:18 PM
3. You mean like the double registration of Sadikifu Akina-James aka Sadikifu Akinajames aka Director of King County Community Services Division?

Posted by: ccw1220 on August 17, 2005 06:32 PM
4. Another Sims tactic is to get one of his lackeys to tip off the lib bloggers about his opponents, including David Irons.

Posted by: Sailor Republica on August 17, 2005 06:49 PM
5. It's CREEP all over again: Committee to Re-Elect the Potentate. Now all we need is Bob Woodward... oh, wait we've got the Shark!

Posted by: Regret on August 17, 2005 07:01 PM
6. Why shouldn't the Stalinist handbook on election reform be in use in a city with a statue of Lenin?

Makes perfect sense to me.

Posted by: JCM on August 17, 2005 07:54 PM
7. Stefan said: "(Contest: who will be the first to find all of the changes between the spoof web page and the real one?)"

That's a trick question right? Because they look exactly the same to me!!

Posted by: Don in Yakima on August 17, 2005 08:00 PM
8. This is truly frightening.

Some good news for the state tho. I heard today, Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney, Steve Tucker, is going to challenge the voter registrations of 79 registered voters in Spokane who are convicted felons.

It's a start.

Posted by: cc on August 17, 2005 08:21 PM
9. Since the Seattle media goes a long with Sims corruption, very little happens. After all, if you want to control the state, you have to make sure the Seattle political establishment gets elected.

Posted by: BananaLand (aka Iguana) on August 17, 2005 08:33 PM
10. Hey guys!! This post only has 8 comments. I mentioned this the other night. This is a huge blow to Stephan's ego. He spent a lot of time writing this post in his $800,000 home in Green Lake. And a lot of time designing that clever little web page. Most of us have jobs, and work and stuff, but this is Stephan's life and you must join me in validating it. If these election related comment threads continue to subside, I fear for what might happen with this man. Even if you don't have a lot to say, post something for christ sake. At least let him know you are there. Please do your part.

Posted by: come on on August 17, 2005 08:35 PM
11. Stefan, you know I've been here a long time, and have been very respectful. My advice to you? Dump the spoof page. It's beneath you and detracts from your message. It also invites all sorts of unnecessary problems.

FWIW

Keep up the good work. It is appreciated.

Regards,
Dan

Posted by: Dan on August 17, 2005 08:48 PM
12. The disturbing thing is that His Majesty just took a summer vacation a few weeks back. Normally, when you're in a dead heat in the polls with an election coming up in a few months, you campaign like there's no tomorrow (because for your political career, if you don't, there won't be). But King Ron seems pretty relaxed for a guy with re-elect numbers in the low 30's. Makes you wonder if he thinks he's got an ace up his sleeve. Or maybe just the right folks counting the ballots.

Posted by: TB on August 17, 2005 08:49 PM
13. I'm with Don -- aside from the correction to the military ballot mailing headline and the corrected link from the candidates button and the page title -- I see no difference.

Maybe you should be working for the County in their web development office. (and don't take the come on too personal -- after all he doesn't even know how to spell your name, even though it's at the top of the page...)

Posted by: markf on August 17, 2005 08:52 PM
14. The fix is in, part 2. Will it ever end?

Posted by: righton on August 17, 2005 09:02 PM
15. come on,

How about me? I live in a nice house. Am I some kind of sleeze cause I work hard, but take time to read blogs to understand what the MSM is not telling us?

What do you say to Joel Connelly? He's a big fat ass with a big house too. Do think he should stop doing what he's doing? Is reading his work a validation? Or is it just a way to get our rocks off laughing at such drivel.

come on, you know that our election system is corrupt. I was upset about the last election results, because our process is screwed up. If you are a citizen and if you really have a job, other than pan-handling/bumvertising, you'd be upset too. You'd also want to know why your "elected" officials are not correcting the flawed system. Why are they covering up for incompetence? Why are they lying? Why are they moving to socialism? These are questions you should be asking yourself and others.

Then again, hit the pipe and hang out with your buds in Fremont or Capital Hill, believing that you deserve to have a nice house on Green Lake too.

Posted by: Dengle on August 17, 2005 09:39 PM
16. It's incredible! But Stefan is right!

Ron Sims is using his failed history of election reforms and his *new and not improved at all* hand picked turnaround team as his platform for his campaign this fall!

He is actually giving the public the perception of "I know, with regard to elections, I have not been on the ball. But this time - I will demand that it all be fixed. I am the king.....oops..OK..Maybe not ALL be fixed..but I want the public's perception to be that I'm really...REALLY going to do something this time....(Even though I won't - because to fix the election would mean to lose outright..and now that I'm so good at fraud..it would be a pity to simply stop...So..I will have my buddy Mr. Triplett...announce scathing new charges against some poor employees in the election department..and the public will percieve that I've finally done somehing..just before the election.......I'm brilliant!")

Mr. Sims is such an idiot if he believes his 11th hour election bandaids are going to turn public opinion.....

Posted by: Deborah on August 17, 2005 09:41 PM
17. Outrageous. Sue the crooks

Posted by: Michele on August 17, 2005 09:57 PM
18. Come on,

Obviously you don't know how to code a web page. Sharks spoof took him 2 minutes on a bad day. Look at the KCE page save the page with all the graphics, view source, copy, past into your html editor of choice, make a couple quick edits viola! Spoof complete.

I am like Dongle, live in a decent house but find the time to read and educate myself on the issues.

Posted by: JCM on August 17, 2005 10:01 PM
19. comeon, you seem to have problems with people's homes and like talking about them. Okay, how much is YOUR home worth? Can't wait to hear....
and did you know that John Kerry is practically a billionaire?? Does that bother you? An $800k house would be like shoe money to him. I assume you were railing against him for living in tony, upper-class Beacon Hill in Boston and that bothered you so much that you didn't vote for him....right??? I'm looking forward to hearing about your complaints about John Kerry's humungous wealth....go ahead....we're all waiting....

Oh, and Howard DEAN (think DEAN WITTER) grew up with live-in household help in an 'old-money', upper-class family. I'm sure you just HATE that, too????? Can't wait to hear....since it bothers you so much.....so who DID you vote for in '04?????

Posted by: Realist on August 17, 2005 10:06 PM
20. comeon, Bill and Hillary spent well more than ONE MILLION DOLLARS on their home in NY. Are you voting for Hillary in '08? If so, why??? If you do, you are a hypocrite. Maybe you better vote down the ballot for one of those 'Workers' World Party " people. Maybe they have net worths of 20 bucks or so, and that would make you happy.

Posted by: Michele on August 17, 2005 10:09 PM
21. When did the value of someone’s home determine their value as a person.

Stefan contributes more to the truth about the sleazy facts of the king county gang then the trolls can deal with. Now they try to attack him over the value of his house. Where were the trolls when the stories of Logan’s wages shocked both the D's and R's. Makes you wonder what these guy's will be when they get big.

Posted by: 4pawz on August 17, 2005 10:43 PM
22. Sharky:

What a wonderfully cogent and revealing post. Looks to me like Sims took this strategy right out of the "Bush the lesser playbook" since he used exactly the same tactics and it worked.

Posted by: Unkl Witz on August 17, 2005 11:02 PM
23. Apparently - the *troll script of the day* is to try to appear to be an unknown yet faithful reader of this blog...then to ridicule Stefan as though they were long lost buddies...
Check this out from another post in the blog:

Posted by TedR....(aka coffeemonkey100@hotmail.com)

" Stefan, as a sympathetic reader of this blog I was surprised to read your Ad Hominem attack on Larry Phillips. Sheesh, who he resembles has nothing to do with who he is. He may have problems, I don't doubt that, but that kind of personal attack does nothing for your argument and really only stoops to the level commonly seen on the other side."

Then this one from this post:

Posted by Dan (with a url as his email to strait-talk.com)

"Stefan, you know I've been here a long time, and have been very respectful. My advice to you? Dump the spoof page. It's beneath you and detracts from your message. It also invites all sorts of unnecessary problems. FWIW

Keep up the good work. It is appreciated.
Regards,
Dan"

The trolls are actually trying to shame Stefan for his sense of humor and his unwaivering committment to exposing the problems with Ron Sims and King County!

Interesting.....This tactic is like a last ditch effort! If this is all they've got......they are soooo lost..

TedR? Dan?
We don't know you..and I'm pretty sure Stefan doesn't know you...so enough with the attempted familiarity on the blog. You don't belong here...you are trolls.

Change yet another script...

Posted by: Deborah on August 17, 2005 11:43 PM
24. I'm feeling so depressed, King County is becoming USSR county, if it isn't already. Oh, and I am so fortunate to have Jay Inslee(D) as my Rep in COngress. Yeah, he's just a LITTLE bit to the right of Baghdad Jim, arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Posted by: doug on August 17, 2005 11:53 PM
25. Jay Inslee is the to right of Baghdad Jimbob? Who'd a thunk?

Posted by: BananaLand (aka Iguana) on August 18, 2005 12:32 AM
26. I have one question for RON SIMS that has to be answered yes or no. "Have you stopped the corruption of the election process in King County?"
The nice thing about this question is that he can not answer the question. IF he says yes then he admits that there was corruption in the 2004 election. IF he answers no then he admits that he is maintaining a corrupt elections office to maintain power.

Posted by: David Anfinrud on August 18, 2005 05:12 AM
27. UW,

Your abundance of ignorance never ceases to astound me.

Which election directors did GWB appointed in areas where there were voting problems?

Since you don't bother with trivial matters like research, facts or truth I let you skip the hard part, reading about it, and give you the answer.

None.

Are you talking about the '04 election? In '04 the margin was unquestionable. Only frothing moonbats talk about the '04 election. Yes, even in Ohio, Kerry really did lose (big).

Are you talking about '00 in Florida? If you are then you are worse off than I thought.

For you lesson of the day, if you are even capable of learning. The problems in Florida occurred in counties controlled by the DEMOCRATparty. Furthering you lesson of the day, which recount did Gore win? I can point to seven, one of which was done by the NY Times (no friend of GWB) all of which showed Gore LOST. Don't bring up Harris, she was Florida's Sam Reed, she just certified the election according to law, she had nothing to do with the counting.

In the areas of the country identified as having serious vote fraud problems, King Co. being on the list how many are controlled by Republicans? To keep it simple for you the same answer as before.

None.

To make if even simpler for you.

It is Democrats who can't win at the ballot box, and resort to fraud.

Posted by: JCM on August 18, 2005 05:47 AM
28. Nice work Stefan, I see you viewed the "source code" and then did some spoofing...

I like the "candidate information tab" which re-directs you to RonSims.com!

/peb

Posted by: Patrick E. Bell on August 18, 2005 06:47 AM
29. Their vote button of course would never feature a "don't hit twice" (like when posting or buying online)...

Posted by: righton on August 18, 2005 07:10 AM
30. Righton, it should be time limited, how many times can you vote in 5 seconds.

Posted by: JCM on August 18, 2005 07:16 AM
31. My response to all of Sims' silliness was to bail on KC and move north. Regrettably, I forfeit my right to vote against him, but I can always stand in my non-CAO backyard and send rude gestures in his general direction.

I'm wondering why we haven't used fingerprinting to validate voter ID's on ballots. Expensive technology, sure... but it's got to cost less than a Monorail.

Posted by: Snohomey on August 18, 2005 08:01 AM
32. Stephan - good one. Too bad pinhead liberals like Pee Wee Goldstein cannot see past the point on their heads or the screech of their voice to see the incompetence of moRON Simms.

Posted by: pbj on August 18, 2005 09:28 AM
33. My response to all of Sims' silliness was to bail on KC and move north. Regrettably, I forfeit my right to vote against him

Not according to the Bridges/Sims/Logan/Reed/Handy interpretation of Washington State Election Law.
The latest rulings allow you to vote wherever you want and to vote often with impunity.

Posted by: smallville on August 18, 2005 09:31 AM
34. Thank you Judge Bridges, for doing absolutly nothing to stop this travisty.

Posted by: dl on August 18, 2005 09:38 AM
35. The only real progress I see in KC elections, is they used to make me queasy, now I go directly to puke. Stefan's proposed name change for KC elections, appears accurate.

Comrad Triplett is a scary dude.

What inside investigation? Months ago, employees on the witness stand admitted to false documentation. More red herrings, stinky diapers, and shell games.

All this retoric about transparency is beyond old, when they clearly have no intention of making it happen. Can't be transparent when you have so much to hide.

Posted by: dl on August 18, 2005 10:19 AM
36. By transparency they mean making the operation so transparent as not to be visible. Normal folks say transparent as in make the workings visible. When Sims et. al. say it, it means make it invisible.

You have got to have the right dictionary.

Posted by: JCM on August 18, 2005 10:41 AM
37. Well, there would appear to be no reason to vote in Novemeber.

I say we start picketing Norm Maleng and Rob McKenna's office. It is only because these leftist will not do their job that such corruption can continue. We need to concentrate all of our power on them, since we will never be able to remove Sims from office.

Posted by: The Dude on August 18, 2005 11:31 AM
38. Uhhh... Deb, I've been here a long time, and I don't think anyone has accused me of being a "troll."

Until now, that is.

But I still don't understand how you came to that conclusion from my post, nor will I ever, I guess.

Best...
Dan

Posted by: Dan on August 18, 2005 02:04 PM
39. Dan,

The tone you used in your post to Stefan (that I quoted above) was very condescending and very much like those posted by the SP trolls.
I am sorry - I mistakenly lumped you with them!

I believe that you are not a troll.

I am sorry.



Posted by: Deborah on August 18, 2005 08:05 PM
40. All is forgiven!

Signed,
The "troll"

;-)

Posted by: Dan on August 18, 2005 08:17 PM
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