Sound Politics: There's no place like home

April 20, 2007

There's no place like home

JOHNSON COUNTY | Election commissioner will stay

The county won't be losing its election commissioner to the Seattle area.

Brian Newby said he had applied for a similar job in King County, Wash., and was finalist, but he withdrew after interviewing for the job.

To be precise, Newby interviewed on March 12th. The fact that he posted a comment here last Friday trash-talking the I-25 ballot initiative that would change the conditions of the job suggested he was still in the running. If insider Sherril Huff really had been the frontrunner, it's hard to believe Sims would have led Newby on for an entire month right up to the end. We'll probably never get confirmation from anybody involved in the hiring process, but it looks like Newby withdrew (or was withdrawn) only after his inappropriate statement was exposed.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 20, 2007 10:15 AM | Email This

Comments

1. I agree with your analysis.

Is it as difficult as KC makes it out to be to fix all the problems? Same question for the rest of the country.

I personally believe that clean elections and the perception of clean elections are the backbone of a democracy. Without it, we can't have trust in our government.

While I agree ours is less corrupt than other countries, there are still problems. While I don't think it is necessarily staffs' issues (except when they are more votes counted than voters), I can't understand why the election 'officials' aren't out there and trying to get a good system. I don't see why someone who hasn't bothered to register when they move or rise from the dead is allowed to vote on voting day. I can go on and on.

I just don't understand the election officials.

Posted by: swatter on April 20, 2007 10:11 AM

2. Props to Stefan for single-handedly keeping what looks to be a poor choice OUT of the running!

Posted by: Michele on April 20, 2007 10:22 AM

3. Does it really matter who the puppet is when the puppet master is Ron Sims?

Posted by: Palouse on April 20, 2007 11:03 AM

4. Isn't Johnson County, Kansas heavily REPUBLICAN? Among registered voters, less than 1/4 of them are Democrats in Johnson County. Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 2-to-1. Independents even outnumber Democrats. The vast majority of legislative seats from Johnson County are held by Republicans. While the county commissioners are officially elected on a non-partisan basis, the odds are those folks are pretty much Republican-leaning. I assume Newby is hired by the county commissioners, but I could be mistaken.

Posted by: Richard Pope on April 20, 2007 11:27 AM

5. Thank God for the threat of I-25. It kept Ron Sims from appointing Scott Newby, so now we have Sherril Huff instead. Had I-25 gotten on the ballot and passed, there would have been a special election for the position in February 2008. Newby would not have had a snowball's chance in hell of being elected. NEWBY IS A REPUBLICAN! Therefore, Sims had to appoint Huff, since she has an almost certain chance of being elected. HUFF IS A DEMOCRAT!

Posted by: Richard Pope on April 20, 2007 11:52 AM

6. A few points --

* I didn't knock Newby out of the running. He knocked himself out with his inappropriate statement.

* If he were smart, he would have declined to comment about I-25, taken the job, and spent the next six months establishing trust with the county's voters, including both the courthouse machine and its critics. He could have positioned himself to get elected to the job. But he blew it.

* Sherril Huff lives in Kitsap County. She's not currently eligible to run. If she wants to move here and run, let her prove herself to the voters.

Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on April 20, 2007 12:33 PM

7. #1 nailed it--
a 50-cent pack of gum can be recorded & checked for authorization on any credit or debit card in seconds. yet our WA elections accuracy/integrity seems chronically inept, and never substantially improving. one would think the personal pride of any election worker would also push for change-- for any party. good elections serve all.

Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on April 23, 2007 12:04 AM

8. Hi, my name is Jonney, I am from Zaire.
Just like your resource :).

Posted by: Jonney_mwo on April 27, 2007 05:08 PM