Sound Politics: Great moments in national and local government

March 23, 2009

Great moments in national and local government

The Associated Press on Ron Sims and the Yousoufian public records scandal: "Sims oversaw huge public-records fines"

The man President Barack Obama selected to be his top deputy at the Department of Housing and Urban Development is leaving his last public job with a huge legal bill for violating Washington's open government laws, in a case tied to Seattle's taxpayer-financed NFL stadium and its biggest booster, billionaire Paul Allen.

Hope! Change! Transparency!

Sims said through a spokeswoman the public-records case is an aberration that doesn't reflect his long record of public service ... Sims' spokeswoman, [Carolyn] Duncan, said King County has made major improvements in its [public records] system

My own lawsuit against Sims and King County for withholding records about the 2004 election (for over two years, in some cases) is scheduled for trial next month.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 23, 2009 11:00 AM | Email This

Comments

1. Trial next month? Please let us know the time and place, I'd love to attend and see for myself how King County tries to evade this one.

Come to think of it... in yesterday's Times, a high muckety-muck Editor (Boardman?) assured us that despite the demise of the printed P-I, the Times would nobly continue along the path of honorable, trustworthy, all-seeing Journalism, saying Our only credo is to speak truth to power, shining light into corners where 'the powerful' are hiding something from you...

Considering that the Times abjectly failed to do just that regarding King County's malfeasance in managing the 2004 election, and its followup concealment of the evidence, I'd be happy to provide him with periodic notes to guide him on his future attainment of the status of a Real Journalist.

Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on March 23, 2009 11:43 AM

2. The good news is that Obama is turning out to be much more incompetent and incapable than we thought. He continually dodges the press and has no real plans for critically important aspects of governance and fiscal viability. Many Democrats are turning on him. It's only a matter of time before his house of cards comes crashing down. And he's built a much bigger house of cards than Carter, so the fall we be much harder.

Posted by: Jeff B. on March 23, 2009 11:59 AM

3. "Hope! Change! Transparency!"

LOL!!

I hadn't realized you were going to trial next month against Sims et al. Best wishes for the best outcome! We certainly look forward to hearing more about it.

Posted by: Michele on March 23, 2009 02:07 PM

4. Please, do keep us well-informed. Write many, many essays about how overpoweringly powerful the evidence is, how easily your side will win the case, etc. Then spend the next several years after the verdict searching for the REAL, double-secret evidence, the evidence which would have proven the case, if only a team of high-powered attorneys had just found it, etc. It keeps you out of our hair rather nicely. Meanwhile, best of luck to Mr. Sims in his new job; hopefully, he won't have any silly lawsuits to waste his time.

Posted by: tensor on March 23, 2009 06:36 PM

5. I was surprised that this case was barely mentioned when it first was reported that Sims might be DC-bound. Better late than never, AP.

Posted by: travis t on March 24, 2009 12:19 PM

6. Too bad they can't have a civil trial to recover the 75 million he threw down the crapper in his total falure of over site of the counties "new" computer system a few years ago. Sims started it, madated it and rammed it through. The Sea Times REFUSED to even mention it during his last election bid, amoung other things. But the Seattle media cover for the marxists at all costs.

Posted by: Sulaco on March 28, 2009 06:03 PM