Sound Politics: Ron Sims has no sense of budget priorities

September 12, 2006

Ron Sims has no sense of budget priorities

"Sims says county can't afford $5 million in Sheriff's Office reforms"

The cost of implementing a package of sweeping reforms proposed for the King County Sheriff's Office -- including hiring new sergeants, providing better training for all ranks and creating an early-intervention system to deal with problem behavior -- is simply too high for a government still dealing with serious budget woes, Metropolitan King County Executive Ron Sims said Monday.

Yeah, essential public services such as effective law enforcement are too expensive. But somehow King County can afford to spend millions on frivolous non-essentials such as the non-existent plan to move to forced mail voting and another half million to change the county's logo to a silhouette of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at September 12, 2006 03:36 PM | Email This

Comments

1. Sims might wish to consider reducing the County payroll by around 75 "workers" -- that would be more than enough to save $5,000,000 per year --

Posted by: Lew on September 12, 2006 03:56 PM

2. Any voting in King County is evil as long as people select democrats, eh? Mail voting is preferred in many red states...guess what's good for the red goose just ain't good enough for blessed ol' Stefan...

PUKE

Posted by: Peter Vochick on September 12, 2006 04:22 PM

3. Yet another reason to vote no on any proposition to create new taxes, new levies, or extend levies.

The truth about moon bats: http://tinyurl.com/erm2z

Posted by: Tyler Durden on September 12, 2006 04:48 PM

4. Has it not occurred to you (Peter) that Ron has money for artwork at the dumps ($1million worth) and his other pet social engineering projects but not for his primary responsibilities - ie the safety of the citizens? We should not need special levies for police, fire, emergency response, etc. It's ludicruous that we do. It indicates a government out of touch with its primary responsibility and inidcates politicians who have abrogated their oath of office.

Posted by: Paladin on September 12, 2006 05:08 PM

5. Peter--are you an ardent supporter of public education in this state? Your comprehension skills and deductive reasoning are about par with what the public schools are teaching. If you have been reading the posts on the voting issues with even one eye open, you would not make such ridiculous comments.

King County can't handle the election system that is already in place, with the majority of the errors coming from the absentee ballot handling (we may find yet another box hidden under a couch somewhere). Because of the ongoing efforts of Stefan and others, the funny business in the county election office is not going to be swept under the rug. The political affiliation of the winner is not important. Counting legitimate ballots correctly is.

Sims is an egotistical doof who is more concerned about funding pet projects rather than silly things like 911 services. Don't forget he was the one having the tantrums about the council questioning his need for a luxury penthouse office. It's too bad many voters automatically vote for candidates with certain party affiliations without thinking.

Posted by: Burdabee on September 12, 2006 05:21 PM

6. Government is owned by the citizens, however Ron Sims has always ignored that 'minor detail' (ie. land ownership, public safety, employees who might disagree, etc.). His one and only concern is his own safety & status (& his office space).

Is the reason he does not want to move back into the KC Court House because he knows just how 'good' the new earth quake supports will stand up to the next one? He has no qualms in having a KC officer accompany him (which he does not pay for) for his own protection, however the safety of citizens is 'too expensive'?

Thank goodness this is not his decision!

Posted by: David on September 12, 2006 05:47 PM

7. Sims can't afford 5 million dollars for the sheriffs department?? Funny, didn't he just asked the county council recently for 6 million dollars for new office furniture? I can see where his priorities are.

Posted by: Dave G on September 12, 2006 06:34 PM

8. "We can't afford it" is the standard response of every liberal politician to any problem that is pointed out by anyone at any time.

The translation is, "This looks like it might be a good excuse to raise taxes."

Posted by: Bit32 on September 12, 2006 08:10 PM

9. Hmmm... which is more important?

1) An effective sheriff's office, or the Native Plant Salvage Program? http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/pi/salopps.htm

2) An effective sheriff's office, or salmon watching? http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/salmon/index.htm

3) An effective sheriff's office, or the "Green globe award program"? http://dnr.metrokc.gov/grnglobe/index.htm

4) An effetive sheriff's office, or licensing Fluffy and Fido? http://www.metrokc.gov/animals/licenses/

5) An effective sheriff's office, or protecting people from "expressing themselves"? http://www.metrokc.gov/health/apu/

6) An effective sheriff's office, or sculptures of fish? http://www.soundtransit.org/x3302.xml

Just wondering...

Posted by: Taxpayer on September 12, 2006 08:39 PM

10. Typical, Ron (Tax to the Max) Sims needs to demonstrate how dire the budget crisis in KC is, claiming no money for public safety.

He seems to come with some reason or another not to fund public safety heading into and election cycle, go figure.

My favorite was after $30 car tabs passed Sims saying, "the people voted for less fire and police protection."

I am still waiting for the response to my public artwork submission. Awhile back they solicited for art in the Shoreline transfer station (yes art in a dump). I submitted designs for a sculpture visible on I5.

A hand with middle finger raised entitled; "Ron Sims message to the taxpayers."

I never even got a notice that my proposal had been received. So much for open minded selection committees.

The man sickens me.

Posted by: JCM on September 12, 2006 09:01 PM

11. How does this man have a job? What is wrong with this County and the Republican party? This is another issue that kills him, but it doesn't. Why? Anyway to have a "no confidence" vote against him? He has not done his job and shows it over and over again. If he was in the private sector, I doubt he'd have a job above fry cooker at Dicks.

Posted by: Dengle on September 12, 2006 09:47 PM

12. Dengle,

Looks to me like Ron and The Mayor of Seattle been eatin a few too many of them Dick's burgers....erp.

I'll bet we're buyin them too!

Posted by: GS on September 12, 2006 11:03 PM

13. And this is also typical of the democrats, who want us to put their party in charge of protecting us against the evils in this state and in this world.

Well Ron, it didn't much matter what goverment paid for furniture was in the twin towers now did it.

What a joke!

Posted by: GS on September 13, 2006 12:49 AM

14. Papadin's right--

and--when was the last time anyone in Seattle "found" money for any pet project by simply CUTTING another program? do we need a diversity department? how about bi-lingual bureaucracies? cutting art? and as noted earlier--that logo thing--what a joke;

Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on September 13, 2006 06:40 AM

15. As always, protecting people's self-esteem through diversity programs, the arts, nice furniture for Sims, etc. is ultimately more important than protecting people from things like, for instance, assult, robbery, rape, murder. Just so long as you have good "feeelings", doesn't matter that the streets are not safe and hoodlums and punks go unpunished.

Posted by: katomar on September 13, 2006 09:07 AM

16. $5M for the police or $3.4M for the park in Pioneer Square???
Some choices are just too hard.

I think it is about time for a Seattle Tea Party... we can through the Politicians in the Sound instead of tea.... just a thought.

Posted by: Variable on September 13, 2006 09:42 AM

17. Variable--good idea but illegal dumping of raw sewage in the Sound is a no-no;

Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on September 13, 2006 12:04 PM

18. Amen to all that, Stefan!

Posted by: Michele on September 13, 2006 07:54 PM

19. Keep it up, Stefan!
put any of these King County politicians in a 7-11 store in White Center or elsewhere in the city for 48 hours to see if they understand the business world, the worker or the public at large; all will fail; they are clueless & insulated from reality;

my question is how do these dufuses (or is that 'dufii' for plural) manage their own checkbooks? don't they say 'no' to stupid personal things? seems inconsistent--unless "it's not MY money"

Posted by: jimmie-howya-doin on September 13, 2006 08:41 PM

20. 1--sunset budget provisions
2--cut programs
3--indep. performance audits & mandated changes
4--'priorities of govt.' view
5--done!

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