When I first read Wednesday's Seattle Times editorial, presumably by Joni Balter, I wasn't sure whether I was going to laugh or vomit: "Where's Logan? Somewhere, smiling"
Outgoing King County Elections Director Dean Logan is a competent professional and solid public servant ... His decision to take the No. 2 job with [Los Angeles County] is King County's loss. ... Logan was by no means perfect. His office made many unacceptable mistakes during the 2004 election. He accepted responsibility for the missteps and then worked tirelessly and cooperatively ... to fix the problems.Balter goes on to dismiss every one of Logan's critics, including what she calls the "sometimes rabid musings of the blogosphere"1. But I'm going to do more than merely ridicule Balter's own hydrophobia-induced assertions about Dean Logan's performance. I'm going to publicly challenge her to substantiate her assertions.(And I'm e-mailing this to Balter, Editorial Page Editor James Vesely and Times Publisher Frank Blethen) --
Since the editorial asserts that Logan has taken responsibility for the missteps (with the implication that there are no other "unacceptable mistakes" for which Logan has not yet taken responsibility), I assume the Seattle Times can readily document the factual basis for this claim. I ask the Times to list all of the specific mistakes related to the November 2004 election and subsequent elections that Dean Logan has both taken responsibility for and fixed.
By "taking responsibility" I don't mean saying "mistakes were made. I take responsibility for them". I mean really taking responsibility, which would mean publicly acknowledging the specific mistake, investigating and publicly explaining how the mistake occurred, and implementing and publicly explaining a solution to prevent or substantially reduce the likelihood that the mistake will occur in the future (And by "publicly" acknowledging/explaining, I mean voluntarily making an on-record statement to a reporter or at a public forum or issuing a document to the general public or news media). For example, under this definition Logan eventually took responsibility for the 90+ mail ballots that were discovered months after the election, by releasing a report and implementing some technical solutions to address the problem. I'd like to see similar documentation of "taking responsibility" for all the other problems that the editorial writer knows about. Of course, if the Times has a definition of "taking responsibility" that is significantly different from the one that I posed above, I would expect them to share what their definition is.
This is not merely a moot exercise regarding a soon to be ex-employee. It is relevant because it is largely about Ron Sims, whom the Times insists is "in charge" of the office. And it is also about the quality of the research behind the Times editorial page, which holds itself out as having more authority than talk radio and blogs. I pledge to post the Seattle Times' response in full.
1: I'm trying to decide which of my new taglines I like best:
a) "rabid"
b) "squaloid bloviator"
c) "unhinged"
Ditto.
Posted by: Jeff B. on June 15, 2006 06:20 AMHer opinions are like my email rules, if the topic aims right, she fires off some predictable lefty response.
Question to me, is who's worse?
Joni or Westneat or Connolly or Nicole?
Dearon is a hero to be added to the pantheon of left wing martyrs. He withstood all the attacks of the rabid radical right, like the Greeks at Thermopylae he stopped the invaders at the cost of his own political / career life in KC.
The Law, Truth, Justice, Fairness do not matter Dearon foiled the evil republican plot to take the governors mansion.
If the could they would give Deanron the Order of the Red Star
Posted by: JCM on June 15, 2006 06:49 AM1 The Behren family and Seattle Times is capable of doing good work when they want to
a Fred Hutch scandal
b Native American Housing scandal
2 If the Behrens had chosen to do the good work they are capable of, they would have received nominations for
a UWMC/Harborview Medicare/caid scandal
b King County Elections scandals
3 The really sad part is Joni Balter and Mark Trahant/Joel Connelly of the PI really believe that "God is on their side" and Mr Logan and Mr Sims are victims
4 Mr Logan is the Y2K poster child of the Peter Principle
5 Counting votes and preparing the necessary reconciliations is basic accounting
6 Mr Logan made a concious decision to suspend internal controls and best practices
7 If KCE was a publicly traded company Mr Sims as CEO and Mr Logan as CFO would both be facing a Federal lawsuit for violation of Sox (Sarbanex Oxley) which requires CEOs and CFOs to personally attest that a system of internal controls exist to provide materially correct financial statements
8 In addition the two of them and their CLO (Chief Legal Officer Norm Malang) would be facing class action lawsuits from "an entrepreneur w/ a law degree named 'The Berman' who lives in The Columbia Tower
9 Mr Berman has been very successful "in holding the feet of irresponsible executives to the fire"
Good luck on getting a response from the Seattle Times.
Posted by: SouthernRoots on June 15, 2006 08:59 AMAs second banana there he will be much further down the food chain than he was here, and will be taking the arrows (again) for his boss. And while it isn't NYC, the LA press is far more predatory than Seattle's groupthinking bumpkins.
I see more failure in his future.
Posted by: speedloaded on June 15, 2006 09:46 AMAccording to Logan, Sims and the Seattle Times, we are the bad guys here and we are to blame for Logan leaving. Now if we can only find a way to drive Ron Sims out of King County and the Stae of Washington as well.
Posted by: Gary on June 15, 2006 11:27 AMThe Times editorial board is made up of blind liberal hacks.
or...
The Times editorial board is made up of drunk liberal hacks.
or...
The Times editorial board is made up of stoned liberal hacks.
(Though the editorial writer should not have paired it with "bloviator". Better would be something like "a squaloid attacker, who slashes . . ".)
I'm envious. I work hard on my site, and hardly ever get cool insults like that one. (Though I did provoke an astonishingly obscene outburst from Daniel Davies (dsquared) over at Crooked Timbers. Even for an academic site, it was pretty crude.)
Posted by: Jim Miller on June 15, 2006 04:36 PMJoni Balter in L.A.? Never happen. The Times would never agree to run her mug next to her columns.
Posted by: Organization Man on June 15, 2006 08:19 PMThe Seattle band is still playing the same music into the morn. Responsibility for the disater has not been accepted by the people in charge. And people are milling about deciding who will go and who will stay. Sooner or later the real impact of the Governor's election will be felt. Till that day, we suffer fools.
Posted by: Snuffy on June 16, 2006 04:27 PM