September 02, 2005
PVR and JFH slam DCL at COW
A tip of the hat to King County Councilmembers Peter von Reichbauer and Jane F. Hague for taking on Dean C. Logan at last week's Committee-Of-the-Whole meeting.
Look at the KCTV archives under Committe of the Whole and 8/22/2005. I can't get the video to play in my browser, but it works when I enter this URL directly into Real Player (download at real.com)
PVR's questioning starts at 1:07:44 and runs until 1:12:04, then other Councilmembers have some turns and PVR resumes at 1:36:15. You have to see both segments to fully appreciate this. Logan gives incorrect information in the first bit and PVR busts him for it in the second. This is one of Logan's fundamental flaws -- he speaks with the air of an expert even when he provides incorrect information and thus vaporizes his own credibility.
Then skip back and watch Jane Hague question Logan starting at 1:12:05. She raises concerns about the unprecedented absence of Republicans working in the elections office to fill polling place assignments, which I also mention in the last graph of my column in this week's The Stranger.
The other Councilmembers question Logan too, but I haven't said much about Hague and von Reichbauer's contributions previously and I wanted to give credit where due.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at September 02, 2005
10:25 AM | Email This
1. It makes zero sense that the democrats were allowed to put two of their own appointments in the pollworker coordinator positions in the King County Elections office, and the republicans weren't allowed to appoint any. That is a serious lack of fairness. If they wanted to scrap the party representatives approach start from scratch and do interviews that would be one thing, but they are applying a policy to one party and not the other! The only thing that action proves is that they want to work in as secret and safe environment as possible! It appears as though the only thing the elections office really learned from the 2004 elections is making sure that nobody blows any whistles if things go wrong next time!
2. You're right about Logan--he always uses 'organizationspeak' but it never amounts to anything, in the end. And I'm so glad to hear he was given grief about barring Republicans from filling polling place assignments. What HAS he given as an excuse for that????
3. We need to hear more from Jane Hague, who used to run Records and Elections herself before this 'new
and more politically corrrect' bunch got control. She knoweth of what she speaks.
4. Logan uses "organizationspeak" to avoid answering any questions. It's distressing to watch him deliberately refusing to answer question after question,no matter how clearly or frequently stated. The patina of faux courtesy, thankfully scratched by Mr. Irons, needs to be pierced even more strongly by some of the more courageous members of this council.
A frowny face is a good start, but it must be backed up with insistence on an answer. As a former member of several elected and appointed boards, I know how difficult that can be, but it is clearly necessary in the case of King County elections.
5. Joe,
You got that right.
But the problem existed back in 2004, too. I was a Republican-appointed worker on the VoteMobile, and as election day neared, I was informed that there were several openings on the canvassing crew, but I was told (by Linda Chavez) that the reason I was not selected was that inspectors were given first priority for all openings. Of course, the inspectors are all from one party, and it isn't the GOP.
6. I'm glad to hear Dean Logan finally had to answer some hardball ?s for a change!! I consider this poetic justice! Considering all the garbage he's pulled.