April 10, 2005
John Fund on WA state

WSJ's John Fund gives an update on our homestate elections mess in Monday's column: "Florida With Rain"

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 10, 2005 10:15 PM | Email This
Comments
1. That's a pretty good column by John. He has one error there though - the ballot found on Friday was the 110th, not 111th ballot. It seems Fund was using LoganMath.

Posted by: bmvaughn on April 10, 2005 10:22 PM
2. Quote from article: "--Washington, once renowned for its clean government--"

DUUHHHH -- since when??

Posted by: Bill on April 10, 2005 10:37 PM
3. All I gots ta say, is bring on the depositions! Ha Ha The truth will set those KC boys free! Yehaaa!

Posted by: GS on April 10, 2005 11:15 PM
4. The Wall Street Journal??
Actually exposing our corrupt elections? For all to read about?

It's about freakin time! I just wonder what the impact will be with investors in our great state? But then again...Washington - with Democrats in control - have shown they are not business friendly anyway....

We need to get our state away from the liberals, rabid mock-enviro's, communists,...and get back to a business - people and family friendly state!

We are so sick of *fringe* politics here! Mind numbing political correctness! Corruption and fraud in our Democrat run legislature!

Posted by: Deborah on April 11, 2005 12:03 AM
5. The phrase "tip of the iceberg" comes to mind.

Posted by: Tim B. on April 11, 2005 02:50 AM
6. Hmm...this guy is as partisan as they come -- he uses facts selectively even more than our hero Stefan does (and that is quite an accomplishment!)

Good press for the republican PR machine on this one...losing in the election can't be made up with a successful right wing press smearing effort though.

Also, good thing the republicans got the talking points out to stay on point...should expect rush and medved and others to repeat same slogans throughout the day....

Posted by: Pierre Drinkingwater on April 11, 2005 06:30 AM
7. And Sam Reed's comment regarding the chaos is, "That's appalling ..." Now that's aggressive. Sheesh.

Posted by: Dave on April 11, 2005 07:32 AM
8. I think Pierre has been drinking a bit more than water.
Like a typical Kool Aid drinking liberal, he accuses others of distortions but offers no examples.

Posted by: Andy on April 11, 2005 07:45 AM
9. Hey,

I live in Florida and we have had almost TWO FEET of rain the last month. Top that.

On the other hand, REVOTE

Your Fla supporter. Or should I say A Fla supporter.

Posted by: niceville on April 11, 2005 07:48 AM
10. I wish John Fund had mentioned the other 10 times unsecured ballots had been found during the recounts, the voter-less ballots (is it ~800 or ~1,800?), the 50,000 illegally changed (enhanced) ballots, the fabricated certification report by KC elections, and the refusal by KC to release public records on the last election.

But all will be well. Apparently Sims has announced that he will appoint a "blue ribbon panel" to investigate the election irregularities.

Maybe everyone should send a can of this to Ron:
http://rlhome.polo.com/rlhome/products/paint/items.asp?haid=49&f=lp&start=0

Posted by: iconoclast on April 11, 2005 07:57 AM
11. We all should email Kathy Haigh (what an appropriate last name) and demand photo ID to vote. She's the one responsible for having it removed. Whether or not absentee voters have to show ID versus polling-place voters is not a valid comparison.

Her email address is: haigh.kathy@leg.wa.gov

Posted by: Brent on April 11, 2005 08:07 AM
12. Uh John, When was it that washington was ever renowned for clean Government. I have been her four decades and even as a child I used to shake my head. Although there have been examples of 'clean' politicians, for the most part Washingtons Government has never impressed me as anything other than a festering cesspool of corruption.

Posted by: JDH on April 11, 2005 08:10 AM
13. Pierre--the spelling is Perriere, I believe. Also note that Evian spelled backward is NAIVE and Dasani spelled backward--INASAD. Yes, IsN't thAt SAD? When the shoe is on the other foot, suddenly you get upset. I don't think Republicans should be stooping to levels set as standard for the Dems of the last 50 years, so we agree on that. But then I don't want rampant communism in my state either.

Posted by: A finger in your ear will stop that whistling on April 11, 2005 09:20 AM
14. "That's appalling," says Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican who has frequently drawn praise from Democrats for being evenhanded. "You just don't do those things."

Too late, Sam. You had your opportunity to fix this mess. It's been "appalling" from the start, but instead you went along with it and certified a bogus election.

Save your new-found indignation for those who might believe you actually still have a clue.

Posted by: jimg on April 11, 2005 09:25 AM
15. Oh Goody, Sims' has named a 10-member commission to look into this. I feel much better now.

Posted by: JDH on April 11, 2005 09:37 AM
16. Pierre Drinkingwater:

"Hmm...this guy is as partisan as they come -- he uses facts selectively even more than our hero Stefan does"

So - you admit that they are FACTS! Bully for you. Another one who has come around to our camp and has accepted the FACTS of all the problems with this election.

I've always felt that using FACTS, selectively or not, is preferable to using myths, embellishments, or lies, like Ron "99.98 percent accurate, as good as a bank" Sims does. Don't you agree, PD? How about Christine "model election" Gregoire? I wouldn't call that a FACT.

Here's a hum-dinger fact for you: "In the four previous November elections, King County workers had never mishandled more than nine provisional ballots in a single election." Amazing.

PD, if you'd like to point out anything that is not factual about this article, with corresponding proof, feel free. Otherwise, you're admitting that our side is dealing in FACTS, while your camp is just whistling into a howling wind.

Posted by: Larry on April 11, 2005 09:46 AM
17. Pudster here; hello again from Atlanta. Georgians know about the WA election fiasco here but don't really care. This is the land of Democrat DA Paul Howard, where baby killing mothers walk free and rapists can get a second chance and kill a judge.

Hmmm... WA State, where felons get a chance to vote, where dead people can vote from the grave, and your vote may happen to count twice in King and Pullman counties (WA State University) at the same time and no one will notice.

Pudster

Posted by: Puddybud on April 11, 2005 09:57 AM
18. Hey, that isn't fair. It rains way more in Florida than in Seattle.

Posted by: James on April 11, 2005 10:07 AM
19. With all the mess surrounding our recent "election" it's appalling how many people I've heard say, "It's time to move on." On the basis of principle we need to go after this-- not only for this race, but for future elections. If we think it's hard to get the masses out for an election now, just let a few of these go by and there are a lot of folks who will give up on it altogether.

I used to program the big old voting machines (with the curtain and all the little levers) here in Whatcom County and so have been around the process. For all their shortcomings, I think they beat what we have now! Absentee ballots, of course, are a different matter. Speaking of which, I think I just found another box in the trunk of my car! Now how did that get there?

Posted by: Marty Knapp on April 11, 2005 10:10 AM
20. Pierre,
Your post is ridiculous...
Ok please humor us, site an election fact/stat that you would have liked John Fund to use that you think would have made the article less partisan!

Let me save you some time... There are none. John Fund's story is about a complete breakdown in our county's election department. You may think the article is partisan and get upset because the facts are the truth (reluctantly admitted by King County Election officials themselves) and YES they are damning. The facts, details, and evidence of the 2004 election saga are so true that you are faced with no other option then to try to attack the messengers that try to provide them to the public. Your attempts are extremely transparent.

I suppose instead of reporting this you would prefer that King County continue making their "mistakes" without public knowledge, or without any review or scrutiny. If you allow this kind of slopiness to go on my valid vote and I assume yours would continue to be placed in jeopardy! WAKE UP. You and people of your ilk have misplaced their anger and frustration by blaming the messengers instead of holding the real offenders responsible.


Posted by: Joe on April 11, 2005 10:18 AM
21. We are moving on and forward. The depositions will start on the 18th (tee hee) and the trial is mAY 23rd. It was the dems who wanted to stall this and not move on for 6 months so we could find even more KC uncounted or unreconciled votes. We the voting majojority who need to move on are definately moving on!

Posted by: GS on April 11, 2005 10:36 AM
22. Marty: On the basis of principle we need to go after this-- not only for this race, but for future elections.

It is for both the future elections and to capture the attention of the public that the legal contest must continue with the alleged remarking of ballots in violation of state election law.

If there is anything that would energize the public is knowing the shananagans that COULD go on with a pen in the hands of an election worker.
Altering ballots endangers our basic rights.

If the Rep. party give in here, it forever gives up the high ground on this issue. A strategic mistake.

Posted by: StephenR from Houston on April 11, 2005 10:42 AM
23. You can't have communism in your state if the means of production and the labor is all outsourced. That's nipping it in the bud. Gotta give you Reps. credit.

Posted by: headless lucy on April 11, 2005 10:45 AM
24. Interesting.

Kathy Haigh, chairman of the Washington State House committee overseeing election laws calls for “strip[ping] the election reform bill of a requirement that voters show photo ID at the polls.” Why doesn’t she drop the formality and simply make our voting system into a rubber stamp for liberal communists. Because it would be too obvious?

“Washington, once renowned for its clean government, now finds its election system compared to those in Louisiana or Philadelphia.” American observers including Lt. Brian Suits say the elections process was far more orderly and its results more clear in Iraq than here in Washington State.

And Christine Gregoire says that we should just move on.

Of course, if Saddam was Governor he might say something similar, right before he made sweeping radical changes in the state (through his minions) that guarantee his consolidation of power. And what is Gregoire doing?

The communists want our children to be forced to work in sweatshops, and if they have their way through the liberal communists they support they would have her way. We are not going to let it happen. Let Chomsky swill Morning Glory and pontificate hopelessly abstruse crap that even he admits he doesn't understand, to all of the addled abusive liberal idiots of the world—I look forward to the responsible government we will get from Dino Rossi. It is about time we had a mature sensible government back in the state of Washington, and the only way to get it is with a Republican in Olympia.

Posted by: Amused by liberals on April 11, 2005 11:02 AM
25. Lucy, brilliant as ever!

The reps have not legislated that companies HAVE to outsource. It is more that the dems have regulated companies to outsource. As an example, states' minimum wage is sending jobs to other states for fast food joints. When you speak into the clown you now speak to someone in a state with lower min wage. They send the order back to the store for being filled. (it may not be the clown, it just seemed the most fitting!)

What companies are you talking about, though? High tech companies are almost all headed by dems, so when they outsource the help desk that is the reps?

How about Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, and Honda? They outsourced - whoops, sorry, cancel, Ctrl/Alt/Del, they outsourced TO the USA.

Posted by: Fred on April 11, 2005 11:04 AM
26. So WAl-Mart must be communist, since a lot of their stuff is made in third world sweat shops and their cheap labor force is subsidized by your tax $.

Posted by: headless lucy on April 11, 2005 11:13 AM
27. The column should have been called "Florida With Fraud." In both cases, Dem nonsense in Dem counties caused the problems. But in WA, it has temporarily turned an election. The contrast turns on the question of the success in manipulating the "final" outcome, not rain.

Posted by: scott158 on April 11, 2005 11:17 AM
28. Lucy,

At least Wal-Mart delivers good products that compete in the marketplace.

Compare that with a public-school education here in Washington State: poor quality, produced by an over-paid labor force (whose members often post comments on blogs while they should be working), and subsidized by our tax dollars.

It's amazing that nobody has thought of outsourcing our public school elementary education system. Maybe then we would get top-ranking results in the world to go with our top-spending per student inputs, rather than second-tier results.

Posted by: Larry on April 11, 2005 11:44 AM
29. The gift that just keeps on giving.

No one in their wildest dreams, not even a great novelist could make up a character that would say the things you say without losing all credibility.

Thanks again for this amusing installment in the seemingly endless series on ECONOMICS by Headless Lucy.

Good job. You are a hoot.

Posted by: Amused by liberals on April 11, 2005 11:49 AM
30. Headless, Interesting definition of communist -

WalMart has debt and is paying interest on it
WalMart has private ownership (stock holders including pension plans)
WalMart has a multiple level pay structure
WalMart is run by a single person, not the party
WalMart sells things for profit

And stop throwing that lib mantra of WalMart being subsidized by the tax $ as if they get special treatment beyond any other company. Companies get certain tax breaks, they all take advantage of it. Workers get certain tax breaks, which I am sure you are taking advantage of too.

Posted by: Fred on April 11, 2005 11:50 AM
31. Fred,
You are assuming that Headlice works, although the "taking advantage" part is pretty much a given ;'}

Posted by: alphabet soup on April 11, 2005 11:54 AM
32. Heedless Lucy says....

"So WAl-Mart must be communist, since a lot of their stuff is made in third world sweat shops and their cheap labor force is subsidized by your tax $."

You notice she says 'YOUR TAX DOLLARS..." just as I suspected......if it's just OUR tax dollars Lucy, what are you so worried about? Get back to us when you start paying taxes too......
And ,as usual you miss the entire point.
But she does have the Democrat's entire line of reasoning down. 2+2= 129

Otherwise, Stefan, great job covering all this and getting in the Wall Street Journal....if it wasn't for you I don't think any of this would have been brought out into the open.

Posted by: christmasghost on April 11, 2005 12:05 PM
33. I'm not a huge fan of Walmart - their high crowded aisles give me the heebee jeebees - BUT, if I'm off to buy a name brand product that is sold everywhere - shampoo, light bulbs, vacuum cleaner bags, gardening stuff - I choose NON UNION!

That's also why I've almost completely shunned the QFCs, Safeways, Albertsons et al. for NON UNION Winco.

And that's what really sticks in the craw of the libs - not the "outsourcing" or any of the other anti Walmart whines, but the NON UNION audacity of Walmart!

Posted by: Cheryl on April 11, 2005 12:06 PM
34. Liberals like lucy are still greiving that Ronald Reagan broke the strike, and Russia has gone non-Soviet Union.

Posted by: Amused by liberals on April 11, 2005 12:21 PM
35. we HAVE thought of outsourcing education. It's called vouchers, charter schools, and home schooling.

Posted by: scott158 on April 11, 2005 01:03 PM
36. On balance, a less than stellar day here in Big D. So how do I bring a little levity into my world??? That's it, a post from brainless!

Seriously, lucy...PLEASE, PLEASE, try to come up with something relevant. Your arguments are only considered legitimate within the halls of Ward Churchill academia.

Meanwhile, how quickly is Logan's hair turning gray? We need a series of photos, starting in November, and running monthly through today. Might be interesting. (then again, might not)

Posted by: Danny on April 11, 2005 01:06 PM
37. Yes, those liberals believe that Phil Donahue had as much to do with the Soviet Union being dismembered as Ronald Reagan. After they saw his show, they realized that they had choices!

Pope John Paul II was no big deal, Poland would have revolted against Communism eventually.

The War in Iraq was not necessary because the people of Iraq could have chosed a different leader if they wanted.

And that health care system in Cuba and Canada? I'm thinking of sending my children out of country for major operations.

Posted by: Larry on April 11, 2005 01:06 PM
38. I don't know how this morphed into a walmart/Anti-Walmart thread, however I will throw my two cents worth in. I have been in a walmart exactly two times in my life, once to pick up a scholarship form for my neice and once because I sprayed rooster sauce dowwn the front of a brand new sweater and since there was a walmart next door I ran in there and boght the first shirt I came upon so that I could imediately remove my sweater and hand wash it in the sink. That being said, I don't have anything against Walmart but at the time that there was nothing but controversy about the building of a Walmart across the bridge in the Gig Harbor area, all I could think about was a particular 'businessman' over there who was surly, inconsiderate, offensive and OVER PRICED because he was 'the only game in town.' I remember thinking that he would have two choices after Walmart opened, either start providing value or go out of bussiness. Therefore I saw Walmart coming as a good thing.

Posted by: JDH on April 11, 2005 01:09 PM
39. Also in Opinion Journal today:

Metaphor Alert
From a column by Robert L. Jamieson Jr. in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ("intelligent as a post!"):

The Republican Red Scare is on the loose. Again.

The swirling forces of smear and sneer are now looking to a skeletal graybeard to legitimize their cause: Slade Gorton.

The former U.S. senator from Washington has slithered back into the politics pool. Gorton says King County "has the worst elections administration of any county in the United States." . . .

One would have hoped the éminence grise of Evergreen State politics would be above shooting hyperbole from the hip to stir up the masses. . . .

Gorton's splash was about partisan puffery, not a fleshing of meaningful facts.

Posted by: Danny on April 11, 2005 01:27 PM
40. ...so with National Media Coverage and continued State coverage...how is it that Gregoire never hears about the election mess anymore (as she loves to proclaim)?

Posted by: flexnfx on April 11, 2005 01:48 PM
41. Depositions, subpoenas, testimony, facts.

Some words that will finally make the "news" in coming weeks, followed shortly by the headline,

"Gov. Election Tossed OUT!"

Posted by: Shaun on April 11, 2005 02:15 PM
42. Off topic, but responding to posts on WalMart: Thank God for WalMart here on the Big Island [Hilo, Hawaii], as they force other businesses to reduce prices and compete. Are we in a free market economy, or have the Democrats demanded a Cuba or North Korean type of government controlled socialism. If the commie libs don't like WalMart, don't shop there. [FYI: the parking lot is always packed!]

Posted by: JCH on April 11, 2005 03:46 PM
43. I wonder if maybe Brainless was turned down for a job at Walmart for being unqualified.

Ummmmm!

Posted by: Gil on April 11, 2005 04:34 PM
44. Understanding the Wal-Mart Effect

http://www.techcentralstation.com/041105B.html

Posted by: Cheryl on April 11, 2005 09:34 PM
45. Cherly .....Great Link !! Headless would benifit from reading it (really reading it, the whole thing Lucy)

Posted by: Chris on April 12, 2005 09:03 AM
46. Cheryl...Great Link !!!! Headless would benifit from reading this....

Posted by: Chris on April 12, 2005 09:03 AM
Post a comment
Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember info?