July 14, 2008
Clown of the Day: Jay Rodne
Today's Clown is state Rep. Jay Rodne, selected for his sadly laughable efforts to frustrate the public's right to know what our government is doing. The Olympian reports that legislators on the state "Sunshine Committee"', constituted to review exemptions to the Public Records Act, object to limiting the oft-abused exemption for attorney-client privilege:
Rep. Jay Rodne, a North Bend Republican and attorney, said the privilege protecting legal advice from disclosure has worked for hundreds of years; he urged voters to use the ballot box to fix secretive governments.

"Local governments ignore and resist transparency at their own peril," Rodne said.

That is ridiculous. Voters are far more likely to be moved by specific malfeasance if revealed, rather than the abstract notion of poor transparency, which few will notice. Which is exactly why the Public Records Act is needed in the first place.

Rodne's nose-honk of an excuse makes more sense in light of the fact that his day job is in-house counsel for Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, a public agency whose administrators would certainly prefer more, not fewer, exemptions to public disclosure. It's fair to wonder whether Rodne is more motivated to represent his constituents' interests, or those of his employer.

Cue the music.

UPDATE: I dare any of the good people who are pissing and moaning about the silly clown picture to step up and defend Rep. Rodne's position on the attorney-client privilege exemption to the Public Records Act. And if you're more upset by the clown picture than you are by government secrecy, then you might want to look in the mirror and contemplate your priorities.

Posted by Juvenal at July 14, 2008 12:11 PM | Email This
Comments
1. Ok Juvenal.

Even I'm getting tired of the "clowns"

Used every so often would be a funny thing, but not time after time.

Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on July 14, 2008 12:21 PM
2. Yeah, your posts are certainly relevant and of import to us all, but the 'clown' connotation seems to rub me the wrong way...and seems like many others. Objectively posting your concern about a particular matter to garner response is (I believe) somewhat tainted by your constant references to clowns. Sort of like Ken Schramm's 'Schrammy Award'; I never was a fan of that either. Just sayin. :)

Posted by: Duffman on July 14, 2008 12:29 PM
3. Duffer, your confusion as to whether anyone would care about your position is troubling: no one does.

AM/V, I'm not sure why you're opposed to the clown issue or why it makes any difference to anyone for any reason.

The issue is the thing. The vehicle for presenting it shouldn't make any difference.

Posted by: hinton on July 14, 2008 12:39 PM
4. Sir hinton: excuse me but you must have me confused with someone who gives a s***. I could care less if ANYone cares about my position; but I would ask that you respect my right to give it.
Please ignore at your will, continue to post your bile and/or STFU! :)

Posted by: Duffman on July 14, 2008 12:45 PM
5. Hinlton
AM/V, I'm not sure why you're opposed to the clown issue or why it makes any difference to anyone for any reason.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Even a good thing can be over used. That's all.
I agree many of the people he is speaking of are clowns.

I just don't want to see a good thing worn out.


WOW, you got duffies dander. LOL

Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on July 14, 2008 01:12 PM
6. I know this is off-topic, I apologize.

But, isn't it ironic in Mr. Miller's post down the page about the Seattle Times needing a proofreader that he takes them to task for misspelling "sprayed", at the same time he misspells "apprehended"?

Posted by: BA on July 14, 2008 01:12 PM
7. There is an old saying, "he who has the gold makes the rules". That was learned in my days working for the State of Washington. The idea being it was the feds with the gold, so they could make the rules. Same with us Staters with those we regulated.

Same goes here, "he who has the blog, makes the rules".

I kind of like the Klown variety as compared to the first couple of days of posts. My only problem is Juvenal doesn't know how to spell Klown (Tip of the hat to ole cynic).

Posted by: swatter on July 14, 2008 01:26 PM
8. Juvenal,

How about changing the music every once in a while? The same old song is getting boring. Hee, hee.

Posted by: NW Denizen on July 14, 2008 01:29 PM
9. Good that you're up for a little bit of nonpartisan clowning. But why object to limiting attorney-client privilege? The job of an attorney is not to provide information to the public, but to provide frank, honest advice to government officials. Take that away, and I'm not imagining that transparency will improve... decisions made by these officials will just be more poorly informed.

Posted by: demo kid on July 14, 2008 01:30 PM
10. @6 - Sarcasm/irony is sometimes difficult to spot on the internet, but based on Jim's past posts, I'm pretty sure that misspelling was on purpose.

Posted by: Palouse on July 14, 2008 02:07 PM
11. The only thing worse than voting for a Republican is voting for a Democrat. Vote these career bums out.

Posted by: Jeff B. on July 14, 2008 02:21 PM
12. Oh, and Duffer, I agree with you on the clown posts. I'm hoping they go away too. More appropriate for HA.

My guess is that "Juvenal" is one of the existing contributors who doesn't want to be associated with these lame posts (I don't blame them).

Posted by: Palouse on July 14, 2008 03:32 PM
13. My guess is that "Juvenal" is one of the existing contributors who doesn't want to be associated with these lame posts (I don't blame them).

You mean like "Palouse" doesn't want to be associated with his lame comments?

Posted by: Palouse cracks me up on July 14, 2008 03:45 PM
14. @13 - no, that moniker is used to avoid internet dolts like you in my personal life.

Posted by: Palouse on July 14, 2008 03:51 PM
15. Juvenal is not one of the contributors acting incognito, as in, it's not me, not Jim Miller, not Eric Earling or Pudge. And it is 98 percent certain that he is not Stefan although you'll have to ask him to confirm.

Internet sleuthing gives us a "Juvenal" who is/was a member of the University of Washington Chapter of the Federalist Society.

The writing style meshes.

http://uwfedsoc.blogspot.com/

http://www.blogger.com/profile/13395140346798161677

Other than that, I can't really help you folks. My apologies.

Posted by: Don Ward on July 14, 2008 04:37 PM
16. Jay Rodne is a North Bend Republican? Really? Maybe when he is gassing up on I-90. The Representative from the 5th District lives in Snoqualmie chuckles.

Posted by: Smokie on July 14, 2008 04:42 PM
17. BA - (Also off-topic) Yes, it is ironic. But I fixed my mistake as soon as I saw your comment - and I don't have a proofreader or even an editor, other than myself.

The mistake has been in the Times since early Saturday. My post has been up since 12:46 PM Saturday, so they have had every chance to see it. Their error is far more embarrassing than mine -- and they have both paid editors and paid proofreaders.

Incidentally, if you had used your real eamil address, I would have sent you a thank you note for catching my error.

Now please go back to the actual topic.

Posted by: Jim Miller on July 14, 2008 05:06 PM
18. Jim, my "real" email address is my business address, I don't have a personal address because most of my life is there anyway and I simply don't need even more emails to deal with.

I'm sure you've noticed, as have I, that there is a general increase in typos in newspapers, books, and certainly resumes. My rule is that I throw away a resume as soon as I see a typo.

Is the topic here the use of a clown graphic, or the public records act?

Posted by: BA on July 14, 2008 06:41 PM
19. "My rule is that I throw away a resume as soon as I see a typo.
Is the topic here the use of a clown graphic, or the public records act?
"

My rule is that I throw away a resume as soon as the first stupid question is asked...like asking what the topic of the thread is.

Posted by: Rick D. on July 14, 2008 07:36 PM
20. I like the clowns, it is such an act to watch these people tax everyone out of their homes, to feed their massive government appitite.

My neighbor here and the one on Camano have both had to sell their places after the massive tax and spending binge Gregoire and the democrats have thrown on us in the last 4 years.

So a Clown that is smiling is really a taxpayer that is frowning.

Posted by: gs on July 14, 2008 07:49 PM
21. Juvenal - the clown face has become juvenille. There are no shortage of clowns, but why persist in trying to show off as a
clown ?

The Clown of the Day post should continue, but with the following changes; Use the cartoon image of Krusty or even Bozo instead of giving us your mug shot. Trust us- the cartoon clowns are better than the human ones. I find that anyone who gets made up that way invariably has some sort of character defect and also gives some people the creeps.

Furthermore, I don't know the dude - Jay Rodne and don't really care to. At least give us someone who we relate to.

Posted by: KS on July 14, 2008 08:18 PM
22. The abuse of the attorney-client farce is an obvious attempt to skirt any sunshine laws we may have.

When the executive or legislative branches of government can hide behind the judicial branch to keep their deliberations hidden, we are screwed.

Vote out the abusers.

P.S. I could care less about the clown motif - it does give me a quick visual that one of our representatives is being stupid.

However, as this thread demonstrates, it appears to be a distraction. Out of the first 21 posts, only three or four actually had anything to say about the actual topic of the post - too many people are overlooking the message while they shoot the messenger.

Posted by: SouthernRoots on July 14, 2008 08:38 PM
23. What's with all the Coulrophobia ? Yes, the "clown of the day" segments are somewhat predictable (given the enormous amount of Seattle/WA state politicians we have that are easy targets), but it's like the TV or Radio...you're free to comment or not comment..and for that matter Ignore if you so choose.

Posted by: Rick D. on July 14, 2008 08:40 PM
24. hey demo kid, attorney client privilege in this instance is a crock. and anyway, the "client" is us. like executive privilege, a/c privilege is mostly just an excuse for "i don't wanna do it." and for what it's worth, i say keep sending in the klowns, sondheim.

Posted by: Quincy on July 14, 2008 10:50 PM
25. Duffer, Duffer, Duffer!

One of your problems, obviously, (besides believing that anyone gives a rat's ass what you think or post) is reading comprehension.

Unlike yourself, nothing I wrote said anything about you NOT posting. I made no such demand. In fact, unlike Oliar, I wore a uniform for several years to help make sure you, personally, would have the right to spill your drivel on any blog, anywhere.

So.... do TRY and read what is THERE, not what you delusionally believe I wrote.

Thank you SO much for illustrating that leftist penchant for "tolerance." As for the rest, I'll write what, when, where, how and at whatever time I choose.

Thanks for playing.... tah!

Posted by: hinton on July 15, 2008 08:14 AM
26. Seems the clowns are of more interest than transparency in government.

Posted by: km on July 15, 2008 09:32 AM
27. I love the clowns. I'd like to see a clown every day on Sound Politics. The clowns represent this blog better than anything else could.


Posted by: ivan on July 15, 2008 10:23 AM
28. I'm with Army/Medic Vet and Duffman. You ought to be able to express a substantive disagreement with an elected official without calling him a clown. That's simply uncivilized behavior. Name-calling in place of argument. It's the kind of thing, I'm afraid, that gives blogging a bad name.

Maybe the name "Juvenal" should be changed to "Juvenile." Readers, what do you think? Hinton, you O.K. with that? After all, the vehicle for presenting an issue shouldn't make any difference.

Posted by: friar on July 15, 2008 01:52 PM
29. Compared to the public hospital district down the road -- Valley Medical Center -- the hospital that Rodne represents (Snoq. Valley) is a paragon of openness. Valley continues to fly under the radar while actively working to hide what it is doing from the public - like fat contracts for its GM and misusing public $ that the PDC fined it for big time.

Posted by: DocFrock on July 15, 2008 09:53 PM
30. I dare any of the good people who are pissing and moaning about the silly clown picture to step up and defend Rep. Rodne's position on the attorney-client privilege exemption to the Public Records Act.

Tell ya what. Stop using stupid clowns in order to make a point, and then I'd be happy to comment on your actual topics. They are just a distraction, and a poor (lazy) metaphor used when good writing would suffice.

Posted by: Palouse on July 16, 2008 07:32 AM
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