The King County Council is discussing the proposal for electing the county's Elections Auditor, this Monday, August 21 at 10am. The Councilmembers will be taking public comment. You may speak for up to 3 minutes and explain why you believe the people of King County will be better served by having an Elections Auditor who is directly accountable to the voters (Hint: the last guy who was appointed by the Executive got to keep his job long after he should have been let go. And the guy before him didn't do the greatest job either)
Strictly speaking, the Council isn't deciding whether we elect the Auditor, the question the Council is discussing on Monday is whether to put a measure on the ballot to let the voters decide whether we will have an elected Auditor. At this point, 5 of the 9 Councilmembers are on the record supporting the people's prerogative to make that chioce (Ferguson, Dunn, Hague, Lambert and von Reichbauer). Oddly, Ron Sims and the other 4 Councilmembers (Constantine, Gossett, Patterson and Phillips) don't want the voters to choose whether we get to choose our Auditor. You have to wonder why they're so afraid of democracy and accountability in the elections office.
This isn't a done deal until the Council approves the ordinance. It's important that those of us who believe in fair, honest and accountable elections will make a strong statement to the Council on Monday.
Location: Council Chambers, King County Courthouse
516 Third Avenue, 10th floor. (And sorry for the late notice. The Council didn't post the agenda until late this afternoon).
Why don't you show up and put your three minutes of testimony. Grab the go-nads between your legs DO SOMETHING about it.
I watched the testimony from the previous hearings, and only heard from the ANTI-ALL MAIL VOTING CROWD. So if you believe you can make a difference, sign up.
If you don't think it is necessary, keep quiet. You obviously don't think it is important.
Pull your line, and motor on out of this pond...
Posted by: Chris on August 18, 2006 09:17 PMWill they actually listen to someone from Lewis county? Will they take what i have to say into consideration? (although will they take what KC voters have to say) I think I will give it shot, what do you think?
I am sick and tired of KCRE having the "tools". I want them to have the proof....
Posted by: chris on August 18, 2006 09:24 PMI am not sure if testifying is really doing anything productive. The auditor is pretty much a done deal unless Ferguson recants which is unlikely. I also highly doubt any R's switching. The real battle is going to be in Nov. and I think it will likely past. While I don't support it, mostly because I believe such positions are better appointed. I don't want to vote for the head of DDCS or Metro and I don't want to vote for the head of elections. What I find odd is that R's think that KC voters, who vote for Dems for every other position, will somehow elected a Rep. Auditor. Instead of an appointed professional you'll get liberal partisan politician. Not sure why you think this better. Hell most of you don't even like Reed and he is a R.
RE KS:
As surprising as this might be to you, the voters of KC support RS. They have elected him repeatedly. Next time try to get a candidate that didn't beat his mom and maybe you'll stand a better shot.
the county is likely to elect a Democrat to this post. But that person would be measured and held accountable solely on the basis of how they run the elections office.Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on August 19, 2006 03:24 PM
In my opinion the recent upsurge BY BOTH PARTIES of so called direct democracy action show that we are not taking our role as citizens seriously. This may seem counter intuitive but its not. In a Republic it is our role to find and elect the most qualified people we have to carry out executive and legislative functions. They then handle the nitty gritty of governing. Initiatives whether there for tax cuts or smaller class sizes tent to cause more problems then they solve. Voting for every person in government tents to result in even more incompetence. See voting is easy, pick one or the other. However, finding good people is much harder. I am the first one to say that both parties need to a better job of finding good people. Unfortunately our current political climate tends to discourage good people from running.
By the way most large Counties don't elect the heads of their elections departments.
You need to watch KCTV's last public testimony regarding the elections. The ELECTED didn't even CONSIDER the testimony of the 20+ people who took the time and trouble to show up. They made common sense in their testimony, and should have been considered.
Just take the time to listen/watch it.
Posted by: Chris on August 19, 2006 10:49 PMI did see it. Here is the problem. There are 1.6 million people in the COunty. 20 is hardly a representative sample. Enough publicity (SP) and you can get 20 people together for just about anything. Hell I bet Aaron Dixon even has 20 supporters he could get to an event.
Posted by: Giffy on August 19, 2006 11:04 PMThen YOU should go on Mondday, and tell them that you think they are 100% perfect in everything they do, if they will listen, never know, they may be with their dogs.
If 801,000 people showed up, they would still vote the way they want too.
This county is going to need an Auditor, someone who is qualified to impliment that "PLAN" Ron Simms has. There is alot of work to do, beyond that glossy brochure.