Sound Politics: King County Government Archives

Index of entries on "King County Government"
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November 20, 2006

Watch for the rush to judgment

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:44 AM, 5 Comments

Today's P-I: "King County's vote counters still have a lot of work to do". Reporter Gregory Reborts quoted me, sort of: The department has gotten better at balancing its electoral books since then. Even so, Stefan Sharkansky, the Seattle blogger... [read more]

November 16, 2006

Is vote-by-mail in 2007 a fait accompli?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:28 AM, 6 Comments

Republican elections observer Tim Borders tells me that senior Elections staff informed workers at the canvassing facility today that King County would transition to all vote-by-mail for the 2007 Primary. The announcement was made by Interim Elections Director Jim Buck... [read more]

November 15, 2006

Mail Ballot Lifecycle

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:48 PM, 14 Comments

For all the talk of vote-by-mail, most of the public discussion centers only on the voter's experience (getting the ballot in the mail (or not), returning it on time, coping with the possibly that one's signature was rejected). Little is... [read more]

November 14, 2006

Today's canvassing board meeting

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:52 PM, 14 Comments

KOMO-TV reports on today's meeting of the King County Canvassing Board. The main issue was the 116 bags containing roughly 15,000 absentee ballots which were dropped off at polling places on Election Day. The bags were improperly sealed, in some... [read more]

November 08, 2006

More incompetence from Ron Sims' Elections Office

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:47 PM, 19 Comments

They ran out of ballots yesterdayEven record-breaking flooding in some areas could not deter voters in King County, who turned out in greater than expected levels countywide, leading to ballot shortages in some polling locations. Although Elections officials expected only... [read more]

November 07, 2006

Diebold touchscreen voting machines? None for me, thanks.

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:32 PM, 12 Comments

I voted this morning at my neighborhood polling place, St. Benedict's Parish Center in Wallingford. I would have expected to see more people there, but then again it was raining and it's a heavily Democrat district. I used a new... [read more]

October 18, 2006

Ron Sims and his 42-story tower

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:22 PM, 19 Comments

"Sims wants tower to replace King County's "ugly" building" King County Executive Ron Sims wants to tear down one of downtown Seattle's least attractive buildings -- the county Administration Building -- and replace it with a tower of up to... [read more]

October 17, 2006

A man, no plan, a canard -- Ron Sims!

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:49 AM, 10 Comments

Seattle Times: "County Council OKs new absentee-ballot equipment after plan completed": The Metropolitan King County Council agreed Monday to authorize the purchase of new equipment to count and keep track of absentee ballots -- but only after election officials complete... [read more]

October 12, 2006

"Interim elections chief elects to go on vacation for three weeks"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:11 AM, 9 Comments

King County Interim Elections Director Jim Buck ("Jimron") is on vacation just in time to prepare for the general election Much like a traditional absentee voter, Jim Buck is out of town for a big chunk of this election season.... [read more]

September 28, 2006

Mail Ballot Horror Show (XVII): Your vote might not count

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:17 AM, 9 Comments

Jimron's latest press release: "Don't screen this phone call: King County Elections needs to reach you": King County Elections is making one last attempt to remind voters whose signatures on their absentee ballots either doe [sic] not match their voter... [read more]

September 26, 2006

Update on the voters who were sent the wrong ballots

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:56 PM, 3 Comments

King County Elections confirmed that 186 mail voters in Burien precinct 34-1104 were mistakenly sent ballots for precinct 34-1082. By the time the problem was detected last week, 48 of these ballots had been returned. Elections Fedex'ed ballots to the... [read more]

September 25, 2006

Mail Ballot Horror Show (XVI): They mail you the wrong ballot

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:11 PM, 7 Comments

King County Elections mailed some voters the wrong ballots for the primary. A reader from Burien e-mailed that he (a poll voter) discovered that he was given a different ballot than the one mailed to his wife. The wife, who... [read more]

September 23, 2006

Mail Ballot Horror Show (XIV): Dead People Voting?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:58 PM, 16 Comments

King County Elections posts the voter id's of returned (not necessarily accepted) absentee ballots . The statewide database indicates that several of these voters had been cancelled as deceased. It's possible the sender might have written deceased on the return... [read more]

September 22, 2006

King County Council special meeting

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:03 PM, 15 Comments

The King County Council has called a special meeting for this afternoon. Why? Theclerk's office told me that in case the AFIS measure doesn't pass, they want to be prepared with a measure for the November ballot. AFIS is ahead... [read more]

September 21, 2006

"So I tried it. I thought I was gonna die"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:37 PM, 21 Comments

My fellow vote-by-mail critics and I would like to thank whichever marketing genius at King County Elections it was who thought to advertise vote-by-mail using the Alka-Seltzer slogan. Eric from Shoreline tried vote-by-mail. He didn't like it. On September... [read more]

"That's crap"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:52 PM, 26 Comments

As noted below, Ron Sims and Interim Elections Director Jim Buck ("Jimron") have been telling outrageous tall tales to cover up the IT problems that are slowing down this week's tabulation. I should have realized earlier that Tuesday night's story... [read more]

King Cantcounty still struggling to tabulate its mail ballots, still lying about the problem

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:15 AM, 27 Comments

King Cantcounty yesterday tabulated only another 52,724 mail ballots, after a mere 45,521 on Tuesday, compared with 90,709 on primary day alone in 2005. Why is this year's count going so slowly? On Tuesday Ron Sims blamed voters who failed... [read more]

September 19, 2006

Deanron2 identified!

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:26 PM, 14 Comments

This evening's Seattle Times identifies the man who would have been Deanron2: King County Executive Ron Sims offered the post to John Arntz, elections director in San Francisco, but he turned it down last week. I guess we would have... [read more]

Signs of meltdown, spin control at King County Elections

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:09 PM, 10 Comments

As of this writing, 10:09pm Tuesday, King County has tabulated only about 1/2 of the mail ballots it counted on last year's primary election day. This suggests there might be a problem 155,466 mail ballots have been received as of... [read more]

September 18, 2006

Deanron2 doesn't exist. Time for an elected Auditor

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:24 AM, 12 Comments

The P-I reports that there is no Deanron2 Ron Sims ... thought he had a first-rate candidate lined up to recommend to the County Council for confirmation, but the deal fell through, a Sims spokeswoman said last week. I'm skeptical... [read more]

September 15, 2006

Elections office in crisis; Deanron2 fails to materialize

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:36 PM, 18 Comments

When King County Councilman Bob Ferguson reneged on his pledge to suppport a November vote for an elected auditor, his stated reason was that Ron Sims was on the verge of hiring someone permanent to run the elections office. We... [read more]

September 12, 2006

Ron Sims has no sense of budget priorities

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:36 PM, 21 Comments

"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... [read more]

September 11, 2006

Mail Ballot Horror Show(XII): Ballots keep getting forwarded to former residents who are no longer eligible to vote

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:26 PM, 25 Comments

Portland resident Amy Jenniges of The Stranger, shares this mail ballot horror storydespite moving out of King County last November, and registering to vote in Multnomah County this past spring ... I got my King County ballot in the mail... [read more]

"Democrats delay citizen input on auditor"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:47 PM, 7 Comments

King County Councilman Reagan Dunn wrote the following op-ed for the King County Journal last week (print only), affirming his support for an elected county elections auditor. The headline, "Politics delay citizen input on auditor", is diplomatic. It wasn't "politics"... [read more]

September 06, 2006

Endorsements: NO on King County Proposition No. 1

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:01 AM, 23 Comments

This is the first of a few endorsements I will make for the September 19th Primary. This represents only my opinion, not necessarily the opinions of any of the other Sound Politics editors and writers. I recommend a NO on... [read more]

September 01, 2006

Who is Deanron2?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:12 AM, 15 Comments

Seattle Times: "As primary nears, county still without new elections director" Sims says the debate over an elected auditor has made it difficult to hire a new director, even though he has narrowed his choice to one candidate, whose name... [read more]

August 26, 2006

Public Service Announcement for King County Permanent Absentee Voters

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:15 AM, 14 Comments

KIRO: "Mail Stolen From Seattle Post Office" The U.S. Postal Service said it will investigate security at a post office on Capitol Hill following a KIRO 7 Eyewitness News report that transients stole mail from unattended bins on a loading... [read more]

August 25, 2006

King County Bullshit Alert

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:58 PM, 13 Comments

Item (1): As if Ron Sims doesn't already generate enough bullshit, the federal government is now paying him to produce some more: "King County wins grant to plan manure digester". Item (2): I've spoken with several Councilmembers and/or their staff,... [read more]

August 24, 2006

Ferguson flip-flops, flips off voters

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:14 AM, 28 Comments

As noted yesterday, King County Councilman Bob Ferguson acknowledged that the voters would pass the ballot measure for an elected Auditor if it were on the ballot in November. Today's Seattle Times reports that Ferguson has flip-flopped, and flipping the... [read more]

August 23, 2006

"If it's on the ballot in November it will pass"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:55 PM, 24 Comments

So said King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson at last night's meeting of Washington Citizens for Fair Elections . Ferguson is convinced that if the proposal for an elected Auditor is placed on the ballot this November, it will pass. Ron... [read more]

August 22, 2006

Courthouse Democrat Machine is afraid to let voters decide future of elections office

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:51 PM, 40 Comments

Yesterday's Council meeting and the machinations of the Democratic leadership shows that the Sims cabal is scared witless at the prospect of electing the county's Elections Auditor. This is solely about power. Sims wants to keep the elections office under... [read more]

August 21, 2006

Nicole Way prevails in arbitration

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:51 PM, 24 Comments

This just in: Nicole Way, the mail ballot supervisor in King County during the November 2004 fiasco who was terminated by Dean Logan last year, has prevailed in her arbitration against King County. According to a spokesman for Teamsters Local... [read more]

August 19, 2006

Testify to the King County Council on behalf of an elected Auditor (II)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:36 PM, 64 Comments

The King County Council is discussing the proposal for electing the county's Elections Auditor, this Monday, August 21 at 10am. Please come testify to the Council in support of this proposal. Here's another example of the astonishing behavior of the... [read more]

August 18, 2006

Testify to the King County Council on behalf of an elected auditor

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:59 PM, 15 Comments

The King County Council is discussing the proposal for electing the county's Elections Auditor, this Monday, August 21 at 10am. The Councilmembers will be taking public comment. You may speak for up to 3 minutes and explain why you believe... [read more]

August 17, 2006

A man, no plan, a canard: Ron Sims!

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:40 PM, 17 Comments

Ron Sims discussing his mail-only voting scheme on KUOW Weekday, June 15: We do have a very good plan. And Dean has really put together a very, very good plan [audio clip of quote. complete exchange online at KUOW starts... [read more]

July 27, 2006

Memo to Ron Sims: Nobody Agrees With You

by Eric Earling, 07:06 PM, 13 Comments

Below, Stefan covers Ron Sims' truly lame response to the King County Council calling for a charter amendment to establish an elected Auditor, including biting examples of Sims ignoring previous recommendations on this issue. There is even more evidence, however,... [read more]

July 26, 2006

Ron Sims reacts badly to proposal for elected auditor

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:18 PM, 34 Comments

King County Executive Ron Sims is not happy that a majority of the County Council now supports a ballot measure that would make the county's election chief an elected official. Sims' press release -- "Executive Sims reaction to proposal for... [read more]

July 25, 2006

"Best Practices", maybe. But only in a world of pitifully low expectations

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:03 PM, 19 Comments

King County Elections announced today that it "receives top honors for excellence in mail ballot processing" from a national association of election officials. We should all be appalled that the standards of excellence in election operations could be this low.... [read more]

"Dunn and Ferguson: Let Voters Decide on Elected Auditor"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:54 AM, 21 Comments

King County Councilmembers Reagan Dunn and Bob Ferguson held a press conference today announcing that a majority of the Council is now ready to put the question of electing a County Auditor on the November ballot. When adopted by the... [read more]

July 19, 2006

"Nobody has ever been able to account, monitor and verify the figures of postal votes"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:23 AM, 10 Comments

The Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) reports "How Zimbabwe poll was fixed" A former Zanu-PF provincial chairperson has spilled the beans on how the ruling party rigged the 2002 presidential election, which President Robert Mugabe won against most expectations ... Now... [read more]

July 18, 2006

Proof: County Council Democrats approved Sims' vote-by-mail proposal without seeing a plan

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:21 PM, 8 Comments

Ron Sims on KUOW Weekday, June 15, speaking about his proposal for mail-only voting: We do have a very good plan. And Dean has really put together a very, very good plan [audio clip of quote. complete exchange online at... [read more]

July 14, 2006

Deanron's last day

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:38 PM, 30 Comments

Today is Dean Logan's last day as King County's Director of Records, Elections and Licensing Services Division. (In case you need a refresher course on Dean Logan, you can start here) Logan becomes the No. 2 elections official in Los... [read more]

July 13, 2006

But they don't give us any reason to believe that it will be "done right"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:23 PM, 5 Comments

King County Council Chairman Larry Phillips has a guest op-ed in today's Seattle Times: "Done right, vote-by-mail will improve county elections". The flip side is that "Done wrong, vote-by-mail will cause the wrong people to get 'elected'". One can only... [read more]

July 12, 2006

Who's not laughing at Ron Sims?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:05 PM, 125 Comments

Today's Seattle Times: "Global warming: They're not laughing at Ron Sims now" The first time Ron Sims tried to set up a county office to study the effects of global warming, he was mocked ... Now county executive, Sims has... [read more]

July 09, 2006

Yes, it is time to elect the elections director

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:14 PM, 11 Comments

Today's Seattle Times editorial argues against the Hague/Dunn proposal to make King County's Director of Elections an elected position: "Not another campaign". The editorial is unsigned, but has the hallmarks of Joni Balter: slavish support for Ron Sims, backed by... [read more]

July 05, 2006

Courthouse Furniture Fight

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:14 PM, 15 Comments

Ron Sims, who believes his role is to "help create wealth more efficiently", has asked the Council for $6.8 million for new furniture. But Councilman Bob Ferguson wants to make sure the county first looks at buying used furniture:Ferguson doesn't... [read more]

June 29, 2006

Yet another Transportation Boondoggle

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:03 PM, 22 Comments

King County Executive Ron Sims is claiming strong public support for his scheme to raise taxes to pay for expanded bus service, promising that his proposal: will get more than 50,000 drivers a day out of their cars and onto... [read more]

June 27, 2006

It's in the P-I

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:06 AM, 38 Comments

Today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on King County Councilman Reagan Dunn's public concerns over the county website posting social security numbers in certain property records. Curiously, the article seems to be more critical of Dunn's exposure of the issue than of... [read more]

June 26, 2006

King County Records and Elections puts thousands at risk for identity theft

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:26 PM, 33 Comments

King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn held a press conference today to discuss this recent discovery: King County's Records, Elections, and Licensing Services (REALS) Division has posted the social security numbers for potentially thousands of current and former King County residents... [read more]

Vote-by-mail "transition plan" appears to be little more than vaporware

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:52 AM, 16 Comments

Oops. When the Democrat majority on the King County Council approved mail-only voting last week, they were nominally relying on Ron Sims' representations that the Elections section had produced a plan for the transition. But responses from Elections and the... [read more]

June 22, 2006

Partisan Patterson has been busted

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:47 PM, 13 Comments

King County Councilmember Julia Patterson is noticeably defensive about the suggestion that the Democrats rammed the all-vote-by-mail through the Council in order to gain a partisan advantage. Tuesday's P-I: Patterson said the idea that an all-mail system provides a partisan... [read more]

What about Bob?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:14 PM, 8 Comments

"Bob's a special kind of friend. The kind that drives you crazy!" Okay, we do like King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson and he doesn't really drive us crazy. We supported him in his primary campaign last fall because he's... [read more]

June 21, 2006

Highlights from Monday's Council meeting

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:28 PM, 31 Comments

King County TV now has the video of Monday's Council hearing that approved forced mail-voting. The link is here (If it doesn't work in your browser, open it directly in Real Player) The discussion of vote-by-mail begins at 26:49. If... [read more]

June 20, 2006

A man, a plan, a canal, Smisnor!

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:25 AM, 44 Comments

King County Executive Ron Sims issued a self-congratulatory news release yesterday upon the Council's approval of compulsory mail-voting As always, our goal is to conduct fair, accurate and transparent elections. But enough easy laughs at Sims' expense. The main target... [read more]

June 19, 2006

County Council Hearing on Vote-By-Mail

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:52 PM, 43 Comments

UPDATE: The County Council approved forced mail-voting on a party line vote, 5 Democrats YES, 4 Republicans NO. Most of the Republican amendments similary failed 4-5. My running liveblog commentary from the gallery is in the extended entry.... [read more]

Mail Ballot Horror Show (VII): [Lack of ] Transparency

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:22 PM, 11 Comments

The King County Council is voting this afternoon on the forced vote-by-mail ordinance. The Council meeting starts at 1:30pm (agenda here), but there's a lot of business before they'll get to vote-by-mail. The vote-by-mail ordinance, 2006-0191 is item #8. I... [read more]

June 16, 2006

Help stop forced vote-by-mail

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:40 PM, 15 Comments

I hope the County Council will act on the suggestions I made in the previous post for bipartisan cooperation on elections reform. First on the list is suspending a decision on forced mail voting. Nevertheless, the Council Democrats are still... [read more]

"Can't we all just get along"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:35 PM, 14 Comments

King County GOP Chairman Mike Young issued a statement upon Dean Logan's resignation. It's posted at Postman's blog: [Logan's] departure offers the citizens of King County a unique opportunity to resolve the one issue that has divided us so bitterly.... [read more]

June 15, 2006

Restore your right to cast a secure secret ballot

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:10 PM, 14 Comments

If you became a "permanent absentee" voter before you realized that you were sold a bill of goods and that voting by mail is a seriously flawed process that is far less secure and convenient than promised, perhaps you're ready... [read more]

June 14, 2006

Sims and Phillips expected to move forward with vote-by-mail scheme

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:31 PM, 19 Comments

Ron Sims and Larry Phillips appear to be forging ahead with their scheme for forced mail voting, in spite of Dean Logan's resignation, according to today's P-I report and Chairman Phillips' press release: "The vote-by-mail ordinance remains on our agenda... [read more]

June 13, 2006

Deanron's Parthian Shot

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:19 AM, 22 Comments

I'll have more to say later about Dean Logan's career in King County and the future of King County Elections (elect the Auditor!). For now, some more thoughts on Deanron's parthian shot at his critics. Logan cited the "toxic" political... [read more]

June 12, 2006

It's in the P-I

by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:48 PM, 9 Comments

Jason Osgood has a great post below about the P-I's weekend editorial in favor of forcing everybody to vote by mail. Be sure to read Jason's post. A few more comments about the P-I's editorial -- First, a note of... [read more]

Dumb E-mails from Elected Officials

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:37 AM, 25 Comments

Today's entry in our occasional series of Dumb E-mails From Elected Officials is from King County Councilmember Larry Gossett. Reader Mike Costello e-mailed all of the Councilmembers to express his disappointment with last Monday's hearing (his complete email is in... [read more]

June 09, 2006

Near-term cost of forced mail-voting is $3 million+

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:47 AM, 5 Comments

This is the fiscal note to Deanron's forced mail-voting proposal. The price for forcing us to change our habits and vote the way Deanron thinks we're supposed to vote starts at $3 million through 2008. That includes $784,000 for "outreach... [read more]

June 08, 2006

Dunn 1, Patterson 0

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:54 PM, 4 Comments

KUOW's The Conversation covered the King County vote-by-mail proposal today. Councilmembers Julia Patterson and Reagan Dunn were on sequentially. Personally, I thought that Reagan Dunn's argument for respecting citizen concerns and letting people vote the way they trust most was... [read more]

Dean Logan, ~~qualified professional~~ partisan activist

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:06 PM, 102 Comments

Seattle Times editorial, January 30, 2005 One bad idea would make the elections director a directly elected nonpartisan auditor instead of an executive appointee ... The more important goal is to have a qualified professional lead the office, and that... [read more]

Lady Patterson Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:44 PM, 22 Comments

Among the more revealing moments in Monday's Council meeting on forced mail-voting were when Councilmember Julia Patterson lashed out at me from her seat. [The video is just now online, here, starting at 37:00] (if the link doesn't open in... [read more]

An absence of leadership

by Jonathan Bechtle, 09:06 AM, 21 Comments

This morning's Seattle Times has a great piece by Keith Ervin discussing the mysterious absence of Dean Logan, and his staffers' attempts to explain his whereabouts. Where was elections chief Dean Logan on Monday when the Metropolitan King County Council... [read more]

An Absence of Credibility

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:32 AM, 11 Comments

Dean Logan Pinocchio As Jonathan Bechtle posted above, Keith Ervin of the Seattle Times reports today that Dean Logan was busted telling a lie about his whereabouts during Monday's Council meeting on mail-only voting. Logan has a long record... [read more]

June 07, 2006

"And they change from day to day as well"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:30 PM, 15 Comments

Of the Democrats on the King County Council who have until now supported the proposal for mail-only voting, the one who is most familiar with the inherent inaccuracy of mail ballot processing is Dow Constantine. I would hope that he... [read more]

June 06, 2006

But draw your own conclusions

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:11 PM, 18 Comments

I wish I'd saved a copies of the King County Council's home page as they appeared both yesterday morning and yesterday evening. Yesterday morning, the page look much like the May 27th version that I saved from the google cache... [read more]

The King County Council has gone to the dogs

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:55 AM, 16 Comments

Just before the forced vote-by-mail measure came up on the agenda, Council Chairman Larry Phillips and his wife introduced their new Golden Retriever puppy Chase (I think this was Chairman Phillips way of expressing his commitment to strengthening animal... [read more]

Forced vote-by-mail in the news

by Jonathan Bechtle, 09:02 AM, 19 Comments

This morning the Seattle Times, the King County Journal, and the Seattle P-I ran stories on the vote-by-mail debate at the King County council meeting yesterday afternoon. One interesting point mentioned by Keith Ervin of the Times: "A council staff... [read more]

June 05, 2006

"A big victory"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:07 PM, 37 Comments

In light of the overwhelming public opposition, the King County Council tabled the proposal for forced mail voting for two more weeks. More than a dozen citizens, Republicans, Democrats, Greens and independents, spoke against forced mail voting. Not a single... [read more]

Council meeting on forced mail voting

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:11 PM, 24 Comments

I'm off to attend the King County Council 1:30 meeting to speak against Deanron's proposal to force everybody to vote by mail (which would flush elections accuracy and integrity down the toilet). I hope to see some of you there.... [read more]

June 04, 2006

Help stop Deanron's forced vote-by-mail scheme

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:08 PM, 12 Comments

This Monday afternoon, June 5, the King County Council will vote on Deanron's proposal to force all county voters to vote by mail. At this time, support for the proposal falls strictly on party lines, with only the Democrats favoring... [read more]

May 31, 2006

A chance to be heard on vote-by-mail

by Jonathan Bechtle, 10:15 AM, 18 Comments

According to the King County Council website, a public hearing has been scheduled on the vote-by-mail ordinance, to be held during next Monday's Full Committee meeting. However you feel about vote-by-mail, this is a good opportunity to make known any... [read more]

May 30, 2006

County Council postpones forced-mail voting vote

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:31 AM, 8 Comments

The home page of the King County Council says that the vote on Deanron's proposal for forced-mail voting, originally scheduled for today, "is expected to be re-set for the following Monday [June 5]". I haven't seen any indication yet that... [read more]

May 26, 2006

Counting the cost of mail ballots

by Jonathan Bechtle, 03:46 PM, 35 Comments

Many of the recent posts and comments about vote-by-mail have mentioned the cost factor, but few have been able to cite hard facts about what the cost really is. I'm not going to try to do that, but I have... [read more]

May 25, 2006

"Witnessed" Ballot Update

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:40 PM, 17 Comments

Read my earlier post from this evening, "Mail Ballot Horror Show (VI): "Witnessed" ballots " for context and then come back and see this example that Bob Edelman just e-mailed me: copies of two mail ballots cast in Pierce County... [read more]

Mail Ballot Horror Show (VI): "Witnessed" ballots

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:32 PM, 16 Comments

Although election officials and other advocates of forced mail voting promise us that "signature verification" is a sound security measure, those who read this blog have seen plenty of examples of ballots that were both wrongly accepted and wrongly rejected.... [read more]

May 23, 2006

Julia Patterson should be concerned

by Jonathan Bechtle, 12:40 PM, 55 Comments

about the accuracy of King County's voter roll. Despite the vaunted statewide database matching system, and an apparent attempt on her part to fix the problem, Councilmember Patterson has been and will continue to be receiving two ballots for every... [read more]

It's in the P-I

by Jonathan Bechtle, 09:28 AM, 17 Comments

This morning the P-I declared vote-by-mail in King County a sure thing. The reporter does make a nod to the needed formality of a full council vote next Tuesday, but based on the 5-3 "yes" vote in the Committee-of-the-Whole yesterday,... [read more]

May 22, 2006

Mail Ballot Horror Show(V): A 20% error rate

by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:00 AM, 39 Comments

In time for the King County Council's consideration of Deanron's proposal for all-mail voting-- The most astonishing thing about voting by mail is how unreliable and error-prone the whole process is. Never mind the bungled election of 2004, a close... [read more]

May 19, 2006

P-I is depending on technology to secure mail ballots

by Jonathan Bechtle, 09:15 AM, 9 Comments

This morning the P-I editorial board displayed their willingness to give up any hope of ballot security by putting their stamp of approval on a move to vote-by-mail in King County. The article cites convenience as the reason "that 70... [read more]

May 17, 2006

Dismal voter turnout in Oregon, despite vote by mail

by Jonathan Bechtle, 11:23 AM, 20 Comments

Another article in the Oregonian about voter turnout: "As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, the Secretary of State's office reported that 32 percent of Oregon ballots had been returned. The lowest historical turnout was 34.9 percent in 1998 and 38 percent... [read more]

Vote by Mail Protest today

by Jonathan Bechtle, 11:13 AM, 11 Comments

The vote by mail protest sponsored by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation and Washington Citizens for Fair Elections is happening today. It will be held at 5th Avenue Plaza, in front of the King County Administration Building, at 12:30 pm. It... [read more]

May 15, 2006

Protest Deanron's proposal for mail-only voting

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:06 PM, 7 Comments

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation and Washington Citizens for Fair Elections have issued a joint announcement -- "King County residents to protest Vote-By-Mail proposal" Unique coalition to call for increased ballot security SEATTLEâ€”A unique coalition will be coming together to protest... [read more]

Mail Ballot Horror Show (IV)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:45 PM, 8 Comments

Bob Edelman has been making records requests for the ballot envelopes and signed poll book pages for a number of possible double voters. Here is what he received on Alfred T. Birnbaum, a Seattle resident living in Tokyo. It seems... [read more]

Mail Ballot Horror Show (I)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:39 AM, 27 Comments

Bob Edelman reports on the strange case of Trudy Garman / Trudy Wiseblood. Among the mailbox voters challenged by Lori Sotelo last fall were Trudy Garman and Trudy Wiseblood, both claiming residence at the Pony Express Mail & Business Centers,... [read more]

Mail Ballot Horror Show (II)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:38 AM, 5 Comments

Non-citizen somehow gets added to the voter rolls. Perhaps she wasn't sufficiently assertive when she signed up for a Washington driver's license and the DOL clerk tried to force her to register to vote. Non-citizen receives absentee ballot and mails... [read more]

Mail Ballot Horror Show (III)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:36 AM, 4 Comments

Here's a mail ballot which was counted in 2004, but for which the audit trail shows no record that it was ever returned. The voter was not credited. I found several other ballots like this. These would explain some, but... [read more]

May 12, 2006

Support a woman's right to choose

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:54 AM, 16 Comments

The King County Council Committee of the Whole will be briefed by Deanron Monday morning on proposed ordinances for mail-only voting. The twin ordinances, proposed by Democrats Bob Ferguson and Julia Patterson, would direct [Deanron] to conduct all primary, special,... [read more]

May 11, 2006

Mail Ballot Accounting is still a total mess (I)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:26 PM, 8 Comments

Deanron's proposal to force everybody to vote by mail would increase the number of voted mail ballots per election by somewhere between 40% to 60%. If an election the size of November 2004 were held entirely by mail, King County... [read more]

Ballot Parties

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:14 PM, 21 Comments

I suspect that one of the reasons that Deanron and the Council Democrats like mail-only voting is because it effectively ends the guarantee of a secret ballot and facilitates group voting. See, for example, this P-I article from October 2004,... [read more]

May 09, 2006

"The big problem is with mail-in ballots"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:48 PM, 20 Comments

The King County Council is now actively considering Deanron's proposal to switch to mail-only voting. This letter against the proposal appears in today's P-I: "The big problem is with mail-in ballots" It opens:As Gregory Roberts reports May 2, the problem... [read more]

May 07, 2006

The Ongoing Work to ~~Restore~~ Vaporize Public Confidence in King County Elections

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:43 PM, 18 Comments

Larry Phillips wants you to believe that The King County Council continues its ongoing work to restore public confidence in the elections process this coming Monday, May 8, with a briefing on an election “Action Plan” and creation of an... [read more]

April 20, 2006

Deanron proposes spending $1.8 million in order to make elections less reliable

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:30 PM, 17 Comments

P-I "Mail-only balloting closer in county" The switch to vote-by-mail-only elections in King County moved closer to realization Thursday as County Executive Ron Sims formally asked the County Council to approve the change and get the process rolling.... [read more]

April 18, 2006

More findings from the transaction logs

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:12 PM, 11 Comments

Here's another finding from the voter registration database transaction log that Deanron finally released earlier this month, more than six months after I requested it-- Recall the challenges filed by GOP activist Lori Sotelo against several hundred voters who were... [read more]

April 17, 2006

24 more possible double voters

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:12 PM, 16 Comments

I've been slogging through the King County voter registration transaction logs that Deanron finally released this month, more than six months after I requested them. Among the things I've discovered -- up to 24 more people credited with voting twice... [read more]

April 08, 2006

DeanRon on national radio

by Ron Hebron, 10:51 PM, 2 Comments

The dean of political reporter/commentators joked about the work of DeanRon Friday. Michael Barone was being interviewed by Hugh Hewitt, heard here on KOL AM 1300. They were going over hot Congressional races and got to McGavick versus Maria Cantwell... [read more]

April 06, 2006

Deanron releases transaction logs

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:52 PM, 9 Comments

King County Elections made the long-awaited transaction logs available to me yesterday -- six months and a week after I first requested them. I'm still going through the data and won't have much to report just yet, but one thing's... [read more]

April 04, 2006

Larry Gossett plays race, poverty cards

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:26 AM, 20 Comments

Today's Seattle Times "Son of King County Council member sues Seattle police" The 25-year-old son of King County Councilman Larry Gossett has sued the city and two Seattle Police officers, saying he was roughed up when he was mistaken for... [read more]

March 30, 2006

Drug Deaths In King County Are Increasing

by Jim Miller, 10:47 AM, 5 Comments

At least according to the latest available report, which covers 2004. On page 20, you'll find an overall chart that shows that deaths from drugs and alcohol hit 253 in 2004, up from just 146 in 2001. I am skeptical*... [read more]

March 29, 2006

Lindemulder re-elected to King Conservation District board

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:36 AM, 15 Comments

Snoqualmie Valley farmer Bobbi Lindemulder was re-elected yesterday as a Supervisor of the King Conservation District, defeating former Seattle Monorail lobbyist Kevin Raymond 518 - 316. KCD District Co-Coordinator Geoff Reed e-mailed this reply to my inquiry about the election... [read more]

Government will get the job done! (III)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:03 AM, 11 Comments

"Replacements to haul garbage if drivers strike" The region's two largest garbage haulers are prepared to hire replacement workers if drivers go on strike, but residential service could be disrupted for weeks, King County Solid Waste Director Theresa Jennings said... [read more]

March 28, 2006

Get out and vote in today's stealth election

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:58 AM, 21 Comments

The King Conservation District is holding a special election today for Supervisor Position 3. The race is between incumbent Bobbi Lindemulder (a Snoqualmie Valley farmer, endorsed by other rural landowners) and challenger Kevin Raymond, a Seattle Democrat activist and former... [read more]

Mrs. Gregoire confirms most felons vote Democrat

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:54 AM, 27 Comments

As Matt just mentioned, a King County judge ruled that felons should be allowed to vote even if they haven't paid their financial obligations. [The Secretary of State website has the ruling here] The Seattle Times notes: In a written... [read more]

King County Is Consistent

by Jim Miller, 05:41 AM, 9 Comments

Democratic politicians, especially here in King County, generally resist requiring voters to show photo identification before they vote. So, when I received my jury summons, I wondered if the same would be true of jury duty. I studied the summons... [read more]

March 23, 2006

Ron Sims, master of geologic forces

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:49 PM, 52 Comments

Ron Sims has been working on his scheme to unilaterally reverse the Earth's emergence from the last Ice Age, Thursday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports: "County acts on global warming". Sims signed four executive orders specifying goals and timelines for the strategies.... [read more]

Ten Dollars A Day

by Jim Miller, 02:21 PM, 26 Comments

That's what I'll be paid for serving on a King County jury, starting this Monday. Oh, and they have sent me a bus pass, too, which I will probably use. That's not exceptional compensation, especially considering the neighborhood. I have... [read more]

Armen Yousoufian, Disenfranchised Voter

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:30 PM, 13 Comments

Armen Yousoufian is perhaps best known as the man who's been suing Ron Sims for the last nine years over violations of the Public Disclosure Act, winning the largest award for public records violations in state history. Yousoufian is also... [read more]

Cops Are Tops

by Matt Rosenberg, 12:18 PM, 8 Comments

In and around our progressive Northwest big cities, it's fashionable to treat cops with disrespect and suspicion. Even Portland's Mayor Tom Potter, the city's former police chief, for cri-yi, recently found himself with a mouthful of shoe leather after falsely... [read more]

Puppygate Update

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:48 AM, 7 Comments

Here is the news release and email that Deanron's Animal Services unit is sending out to make excuses for the botched investigation of the exceptionally cruel death of Mooie the puppy. Implicit in these documents (written by Deanron's familiar Communications... [read more]

March 22, 2006

More indictments in 2003 election

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:29 PM, 35 Comments

Today's headline in the Northwest Indiana Times: "Dozen more charged in 2003 [East Chicago] elections" The Lake County Vote Fraud Task Force has filed 56 felony charges against 12 people linked to voter fraud in the 2003 Lake County primary... [read more]

March 21, 2006

Eventually we'll all be privileged victims

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:11 AM, 46 Comments

Today's Seattle Times reports: "Democrats favor transgender discrimination ban" The Democratic majority on the Metropolitan King County Council appears ready to adopt an ordinance that would prohibit discrimination against transgender people. Supporters say they want to send a message that... [read more]

Dean Logan, Dogcatcher

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:51 AM, 10 Comments

Animal rescue activists are accusing Federal Way Police and King County Animal Services of bungling the case of Mooie, the 4-month-old puppy killed by acid. Today's Seattle Times reports: "Agencies deny they bungled investigation of dog's death". Pasado's Safe Haven,... [read more]

March 16, 2006

Seeing Double

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:41 PM, 20 Comments

Deanron says he "are serious about cleaning the voter rolls and protecting the integrity of the elections process". No, really. October 12, 2005: "Bottom line is that it is a felony to vote twice and we have safeguards like signature... [read more]

March 14, 2006

Sims slap-down

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:57 AM, 8 Comments

The King County Council has slapped Ron Sims: "Sims' plan to relocate office nixed by council" The King County Council on Monday slapped down County Executive Ron Sims' plan to move his office to a new county building next year.... [read more]

March 10, 2006

End to Hostage Crisis Promised

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:25 PM, 15 Comments

Deanron's lawyer promised today to release the remaining voter registration transaction log records, raising hopes for a satisfactory resolution of the 161 day "Truth Held Hostage" crisis. In a letter faxed to my attorney today, King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting... [read more]

March 09, 2006

Q: What's the difference between Washington and Ohio?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:12 PM, 29 Comments

A: In Ohio the county prosecutors do their jobs. In Ohio there are actual consequences for election workers who violate election laws. Today's Cleveland Plain-Dealer reports: "3rd worker indicted in probe of vote recount" A third employee at the Cuyahoga... [read more]

The Executive doth protest too much, methinks

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:23 AM, 34 Comments

Today's P-I reports "Sims attacks critic of office move" Turning up the heat in his simmering dispute with the King County Council, County Executive Ron Sims has written the council to register his "extreme displeasure" with what he calls "unsupportable... [read more]

March 08, 2006

Truth held hostage: Day 159

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:29 PM, 11 Comments

Attorney General Rob McKenna informs me that the new Public Records Act Model Rules are now effective and posted online with the rest of the Washington Administrative Code. My interest here is obtaining the records, not in going to court... [read more]

March 07, 2006

Truth held hostage: Day 158

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:42 PM, 24 Comments

Maureen Dowd is on vacation, so as a substitute today the King County Journal has published an op-ed from Councilmembers Larry Phillips and Jane Hague: "What we've done, so far, to fix King County Elections" [scroll down to the bottom... [read more]

March 06, 2006

Another day, another lame briefing

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:23 AM, 18 Comments

The King County Council will receive a briefing this morning on the "Status of King County Elections". Two groups will brief the Council -- the Elections Center, which conducted the $300,000 fraudulent audit last year, and the "Citizens Election Oversight... [read more]

March 05, 2006

Truth held hostage: Day 156

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:56 AM, 17 Comments

As sure as the sun rises and sets, Deanron continues to hold the voter database transaction log hostage. By unlawfully withholding these public records for yet another weekend, Deanron has put the county's taxpayers at risk to pay out yet... [read more]

March 03, 2006

Truth held hostage: Day 154

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:17 PM, 18 Comments

A whole week has passed since I last heard from Deanron. He's still holding the public's documents hostage and he's going to make me haul him in front of a judge before I can get them (details here and here).... [read more]

Coming up short

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:49 PM, 11 Comments

King County's three main daily newspapers all had editorials this week about the final report of Cheryl Scott's "independent task force" on elections. ( King County Journal, Seattle Times, Seattle P-I). All three reached similar conclusions: Deanron still needs to... [read more]

March 01, 2006

Truth held hostage: Day 152

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:38 PM, 24 Comments

Deanron still shows no signs of obeying the Public Disclosure Act and releasing all of the transaction log records I requested more than five months ago (more details here and here). A big thank you to everyone who hit the... [read more]

February 28, 2006

Truth held hostage: Day 151

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:29 AM, 14 Comments

Today's P-I editorial is on the money: The state's intent on open meetings and records is clear. The government works for the public and the public has a right to know what is done. Somebody should tell this to Deanron,... [read more]

February 27, 2006

This is not a tribute that King's admirers should welcome

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:58 PM, 43 Comments

The King County Council voted 7-2 today to spend (at least) $500,000 to replace the county's crown logo with a likeness of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King should be spinning in his grave with embarrassment... [read more]

Not-too-Bright-water costs continue to escalate out of control

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:04 PM, 15 Comments

Ron Sims has just released the latest numbers on his Brightwater sewage treatment plant fiasco: Rising inflation, higher global commodities prices and mitigation commitments have prompted King County's Wastewater Treatment Division to revise cost trends for the Brightwater wastewater treatment... [read more]

February 23, 2006

Would you trust Ron Sims with a blank check?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:06 AM, 21 Comments

Today's Seattle Times reports that "County could get free hand to spend under KeyArena bill "In striving to broaden political support for a taxpayer-funded KeyArena expansion, the Sonics have sent a bill to state lawmakers that would hand King County... [read more]

February 21, 2006

Siphoning wealth for the connected few

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:52 AM, 31 Comments

The WaPo's E. J. Dionne writes today about King County Executive Ron Sims. Dionne's column is remarkable only for its apparent sincerity and lack of irony. "Creating Wealth for the Poor" Ron Sims, the county executive in Washington state's King... [read more]

We have the funds, they're just being misspent

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:08 AM, 50 Comments

King County Executive Ron Sims and Councilwoman Julia Patterson have an op-ed in today's P-I whining about a supposed lack of funds for bus service Our buses are often full, people throughout the county want more and we lack the... [read more]

February 16, 2006

An Epiphany

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:08 PM, 29 Comments

Silly me. It only now occured to me after thinking about the Waldron "turnaround team" report on King County Elections that I've been approaching the whole elections reform controversy from the wrong angle. Maybe Deanron would pay me $115,000 if... [read more]

Turnaround Team

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:06 AM, 19 Comments

As reported last week, Deanron decided against hiring a "turnaround team" to revamp his Elections Office. It's probably just as well. The consultancy which had originally been selected to lead the turnaround effort, Waldron & Co., filed an initial report... [read more]

February 15, 2006

Courthouse Kerfuffle

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:55 AM, 18 Comments

King County Executive Ron Sims is feuding with the County Council over the relocation of the Executive's office. Sims covets the view penthouse in a new 13-story county building that is slated for completion next year. Members of the Council... [read more]

February 14, 2006

What Deanron means by "transparency"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:12 AM, 30 Comments

As I noted last week, Deanron claimed that forcing everybody to vote by mail will somehow increase "transparency". Deanron and transparency go together like Fidel Castro goes with human rights and capitalism. Deanron has a long and glorious track record... [read more]

February 10, 2006

Deanron says "turnaround team" not needed

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:43 AM, 34 Comments

USA Today reports Friday, February 10 Seattle - King County [Executive/Elections Director Deanron] says the elections department has made so much improvement that it no longer needs an overhaul by an outside turnaround team. The team was hired on the... [read more]

February 09, 2006

"It's more efficient, but it costs more"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:50 AM, 10 Comments

Today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a report on Deanron's proposal for mail-only voting: "Mail-vote ballots for everyone in King County next year". But before I get to the details of the P-I article, let us review one of the main arguments... [read more]

February 08, 2006

Deanron

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:57 PM, 11 Comments

When writing about the ongong crisis in King County elections, I find myself using the phrase "Ron Sims and Dean Logan", pronounced "RonSimsAndDeanLogan", as if they were one person, which they essentially are. Dean serves at Ron's pleasure and merely... [read more]

"Accountability and Transparency"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:23 PM, 19 Comments

I attended Ron Sims' press conference this morning on his mail-only voting proposal. His people handed out Dean Logan's report "Moving to Vote By Mail". The report claims that one of the county's goals with mail-only voting is to "Be... [read more]

Sims advances All-Mail voting

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:00 AM, 17 Comments

Ron Sims press event this morning: King County Executive Ron Sims will update the press on the county's plan to transition to all-mail balloting. Copies of a report to the Executive from Records and Elections Director Dean Logan outlining and... [read more]

January 25, 2006

The Stink Of King County Bungling Blankets Seattle, Regularly

by Matt Rosenberg, 10:43 AM, 21 Comments

Today's daily newspapers and several online TV news outlets report on the hideous odor that blanketed Seattle yesterday. The mistaken implication is that it was caused by a one-time, freakish malfunction at a King County (Metro) sewer substation in Seattle's... [read more]

January 24, 2006

Dean Logan, Dogcatcher

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:50 AM, 14 Comments

Dean Logan is not just in charge of King County Elections. He is the Director of Records, Elections and Licensing Services Division. Licensing, as in pet licensing and animal control. In other words, Dean Logan is the county dogcatcher. Some... [read more]

January 22, 2006

Citizens Election Out-of-sight Committee

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:56 PM, 7 Comments

When the King County Council reactivated the "Citizens’ Election Oversight Committee" last spring, the stated goal of the enabling legislation was: The goals of the committee and this ordinance are to investigate and report on problems identified in the 2004... [read more]

January 14, 2006

"King County Council spreads the power ..."

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:25 PM, 4 Comments

... among the Democrats who are already in power. Under a reorganization bordering on the bizarre, majority Democrats on the King County Council have agreed to let Larry Phillips remain as council chairman for a third consecutive year. ... Although... [read more]

January 10, 2006

Your tax dollars at work

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:51 AM, 44 Comments

I think there are more appropriate and effective ways to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr's legacy than to spend several hundred thousand dollars changing King County's logo.... [read more]

January 02, 2006

"Ignore the Seattle Times article claiming Black Box Voting supports mail-in voting"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:06 PM, 27 Comments

The other day I was surprised to see Bev Harris of Black Box Voting quoted in the Seattle Times1 in support of all-mail voting. My surprise was well-founded. Today Harris posted this item on her bulletin board, and also left... [read more]

December 28, 2005

The November 2005 election: The whitewash report vs. the reality

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:10 PM, 75 Comments

We read in the P-I last week that "King County elections gets good report on Nov. 8 vote". Sadly, that's more of a reflection on the shoddiness of the Election Center's report than it is on the quality of King... [read more]

December 27, 2005

"They knew what would happen"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:30 AM, 4 Comments

A reader with intimate knowledge of King County's mail ballot operation e-mailed to comment on my report yesterday that Dean Logan sat on the GOP's challenges of mail box voters for an extra week, which was long enough to allow... [read more]

December 26, 2005

Dean Logan's error rate on challenged ballots was over 30%

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:50 PM, 20 Comments

Last month the Democrats and their amen choir in the local newspapers savaged the Republicans for inadvertent errors in challenges against illegally registered mail box voters -- even though the Republican errors were promptly acknowledged and corrected and no legitimate... [read more]

December 23, 2005

The last refuge of the scoundrel

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:34 PM, 80 Comments

In his op-ed in yesterday's Seattle Times, Ron Sims demonstrates that the race card has displaced patriotism as the last refuge of the scoundrel. The op-ed criticizes the recent Republican challenges to hundreds of voters who were improperly registered at... [read more]

December 21, 2005

Thousands of King County voters are registered at non-residential addresses

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:32 PM, 32 Comments

The problem of voters registering at bogus addresses seems to be more pervasive than I ever realized. Here is a spreadsheet of King County addresses where individuals are currently registered at commercial address. There are over 5,000 such registrations on... [read more]

December 20, 2005

Sims calls for abolishing meaningful elections

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:00 PM, 75 Comments

I attended Ron Sims' press conference this morning: "Executive calls for all-mail voting" King County Executive Ron Sims today announced he is proposing to change King County elections to an all-mail ballot system. So I won my own contest and... [read more]

December 19, 2005

Elections announcement

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:59 PM, 68 Comments

Ron Sims has announced that he'll be making an announcement: King County Executive Ron Sims will be joined by King County council members Julia Patterson and Bob Ferguson as he makes a major announcement about King County elections. 10 a.m.... [read more]

December 17, 2005

Porkwash

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:14 AM, 30 Comments

Ron Sims vetoed $3.7 million of proposed spending recently added to the county's budget by the Council, claiming that the supplemental allocations jeopardize the county's reserves. Council Budget Chairman Larry Gossett was displeased: Gossett said it's "hogwash" for Sims to... [read more]

December 16, 2005

Council Cat Fight

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:38 AM, 23 Comments

The Democrats on the King County Council are having a brawl over the Council chairmanship. Larry Phillips, who bears an amusing resemblance to the late USSR Communist Party General Secretary Konstantin Chernenko, is supported by fellow urban Bolsheviks Larry Gossett... [read more]

December 14, 2005

Pet Projects

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:20 AM, 14 Comments

Today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that "County Council slips in millions for pet projects". The exact amount is $15,853,709 and I find no evidence of actual pet projects (as in cats and horses), just a long list of appropriations for various... [read more]

December 12, 2005

Mystery of the federal write-in ballots solved ... sort of

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:21 PM, 16 Comments

After five months of public records requests, I finally have some answers on the mysterious claim made nearly a year ago by King County Elections that Staff confirmed ... 251 federal write-in absentee ballots were tabulated. These represent validly cast... [read more]

December 10, 2005

Uncle Ron Wants You

by Matt Rosenberg, 12:07 PM, 27 Comments

King County is short on front-line law enforcement personnel. KING-TV reports the sheriff's department has 21 vacancies to fill for deputies, and another 54 deputies are on leave. (Hmmm). "For some reason, the job of being a police officer, who... [read more]

December 09, 2005

Public Non-disclosure

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:25 PM, 38 Comments

Dean Logan is dragging his heels on my public records request for the key data files from the 2005 fall elections. Everything I asked for in this request should be readily available (e.g. the standard voter registration file, which Logan,... [read more]

December 08, 2005

Turnaround team needed for turnaround team selection team

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:00 AM, 14 Comments

Ron Sims and his team still haven't managed to hire the turnaround team to clean up the elections office: King County's second try at hiring a "turnaround team" to rebuild its elections office turned into a confused jumble Wednesday. The... [read more]

December 03, 2005

Ron Sims wins re-election as county executive ... of Seattle

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:05 PM, 138 Comments

King County Elections yesterday posted the precinct canvass for the Nov. 2005 election, showing how the votes in the various races were distributed by precinct. The punchline is that Ron Sims beat David Irons in Seattle by 74.0% to 21.2%,... [read more]

December 02, 2005

How did confidential legal advice wind up on a partisan blog?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:55 AM, 87 Comments

In a recent post, yellow rabid dog Democrat blogger David Goldstein attacked County Prosecuting Attorney Norman Maleng for declaring his intention to take action against the illegally registered mail box voters. It's weird enough to attack Maleng for following both... [read more]

November 30, 2005

Norm Maleng to Ron Sims: Pound Sand

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:16 AM, 44 Comments

Ron Sims wants the Prosecuting Attorney to initiate a formal perjury investigation of Lori Sotelo for the inadvertent errors in the challenges of the illegal mail box voters. But County Prosecutor Norman Maleng will not be joining Sims to applaud... [read more]

November 22, 2005

Just another friend of Ron on the public payroll

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:01 AM, 41 Comments

When King County Councilmember Carolyn Edmonds lost her re-election bid to fellow Democrat Bob Ferguson, those who said "good riddance!" to Edmonds may have spoken too soon. She will likely receive as a consolation prize a cushy job in Ron... [read more]

November 15, 2005

Your tax dollars at work

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:15 AM, 17 Comments

The King County Council yesterday voted to spend $7 million on a maintenance barn for the frivolous Metro waterfront trolley. Before approving the $7 million expenditure, the council discussed whether it made economic sense to build a new barn because... [read more]

November 07, 2005

Dean Logan admits own work is "unacceptable"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:57 PM, 17 Comments

Dean Logan, criticizing state GOP chairman Chris Vance for the King County Republicans' newbie mistakes made when challenging nearly 2,000 illegally registered mail box voters: Logan said the GOP error rate was too high. "His effort resulted in a at... [read more]

November 03, 2005

Dean Logan still can't count ballots

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:04 AM, 20 Comments

The Thursday newspapers report on the bogus Mail Ballot Report from the September primary election which showed that 390 ballots were missing.... [read more]

November 01, 2005

King County Journal Endorses Irons

by Matt Rosenberg, 09:45 AM, 24 Comments

The King County Journal today endorsed David Irons for King County Executive. Let's hope it has an effect in the vote-rich suburban crescent east of Seattle. The Journal says: A string of embarrassing failures and miscalculations have shown Ron Sims... [read more]

October 28, 2005

King County employee using work computer to campaign for Ron Sims

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:54 AM, 66 Comments

This was just posted as a comment on an earlier entry: Ron is a kind, intelligent, and caring individual who has the best interest of his constituents always on the forefront of his agenda. He has a proven track record... [read more]

October 12, 2005

Irons: I-912 Passage Would Be "Tragedy"

by Matt Rosenberg, 10:15 PM, 92 Comments

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer posted online earlier today an editorial quoting an e-mail they received from King County Council Member and Republican candidate for King County Executive David Irons. Irons wants to make it crystal clear where he stands on Initiative... [read more]

September 27, 2005

Bogus audit

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:21 PM, 41 Comments

Back in May the King County Council commissioned a $300,000 audit of the elections department. The man tasked with the audit promised it would be the greatest thing since sliced cheese: Ernie Hawkins, chairman of The Election Center, promised "a... [read more]

September 19, 2005

We report, you decide

by Brian Crouch, 12:46 PM, 82 Comments

Bob Strauss, of the Eastside Republicans and State GOP Committee, sent this in:In yesterday’s mail some voters in the 9th Councilmatic District received a campaign mailing sent out by the Reagan Dunn campaign. This mailing was a Hit piece in... [read more]

September 07, 2005

Dean Logan to King County GOP: Drop Dead

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:20 PM, 23 Comments

As has been discussed previously on this blog, in my column last week for The Stranger and by King County Councilwoman Jane Hague at a recent Council meeting: Dean Logan has ended a long-standing Elections office policy to hire both... [read more]

September 03, 2005

Purjury?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:55 PM, 25 Comments

The "Oath of Voter" on the King County absentee ballot envelope for the September 2005 primary. This isn't as serious of a mistake as giving the wrong forwarding instructions to the post office, but don't these guys have a spell... [read more]

September 02, 2005

That was quick

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:36 PM, 16 Comments

King County Councilman Steve Hammond appears to be the first elected official to have responded to the county's unlawful mailing of absentee ballots. Hammond issued this press release earlier today: "New Ballot Errors Highlight Need for New Leadership at King... [read more]

Ron Sims' nephew's ballot

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:25 PM, 18 Comments

Here's a copy of the absentee ballot envelope that Ron Sims' nephew Donald voted in last September's primary election. Although registered at Uncle Ron's Seattle home, Donald was working in Staten Island, NY at the time. The handwritten Staten Island... [read more]

King County Absentee Ballots in serious Violation of State Law

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:48 AM, 39 Comments

Hat tip to Bob Edelman of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation for taking a close look at his absentee ballot and discovering that it violates state law on mail forwarding. Hundreds or possibly thousands of ballots are likely to be inappropriately... [read more]

PVR and JFH slam DCL at COW

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:25 AM, 6 Comments

A tip of the hat to King County Councilmembers Peter von Reichbauer and Jane F. Hague for taking on Dean C. Logan at last week's Committee-Of-the-Whole meeting. Look at the KCTV archives under Committe of the Whole and 8/22/2005. I... [read more]

September 01, 2005

Confidence Man

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:34 PM, 8 Comments

My column in this week's The Stranger is up! "Confidence Man" "Our goal this election is to build voter confidence," exhorted instructor Barnaby Dow at the outset of my poll-worker training session last week. After chronicling last year's fiasco of... [read more]

Irons plan to address elections woes

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:12 PM, 4 Comments

David Irons held a press conference today where he announced his Plan to Address King County Elections Woes. He was joined by Bob Bruce, who held the #2 and then #1 jobs in King County Elections from 1989 until his... [read more]

Dean Logan Makes case for own termination

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:34 AM, 19 Comments

This is from Dean Logan's Notice of Proposed Termination to Nicole Way last week. I am aware that you have completed the Secretary of State's certification courses where accuracy in the count is stressed as the most important part of... [read more]

$55,800 Whitewash? (III)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:00 AM, 7 Comments

My apologies. I was wrong when I called the "independent investigation" into King County's absentee ballot problems by law firm Williams, Kastner and Gibbs at a cost of $55,800 to county taxpayers a "whitewash". It was, in fact, an under-the-table... [read more]

August 31, 2005

$55,800 Whitewash? (II)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:40 PM, 13 Comments

I obtained a copy of King County's so-called "independent investigation report" on absentee ballot handling that was reported in yesterday's paper. First, here is Dean Logan's press statement that accompanied the release of the report. It opens In the spring,... [read more]

A $55,800 Whitewash?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:59 AM, 14 Comments

Buried in yesterday's news reports about the expected termination of mail ballot supervisor Nicole Way were these tidbits -- P-I: Logan's move to fire absentee-ballot supervisor Nicole Way comes after an independent investigation into blunders by his staff ... The... [read more]

Oh, it will make an impression all right

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:29 AM, 8 Comments

Today's Seattle Times editorial on the verdict in the Yousoufian Public Disclosure Act suit:We can only hope that last week's nearly $300,000 judgment against King County for years of flouting a legitimate public-records request will make an impression on public... [read more]

August 30, 2005

Logan relents

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:53 PM, 13 Comments

Dean Logan has relented and agreed to release original absentee ballot envelopes for my inspection. These should have been made available to me when I first asked for them two months ago. We'll only have 9 weeks from when they're... [read more]

August 29, 2005

Way to Go

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:58 PM, 26 Comments

KING 5: "More elections department employees facing discipline" As the King County Supervisor of Absentee Ballots, Nicole Way found herself in the spotlight when things went wrong. When Republicans tried to get the governor's election thrown out, Way testified that... [read more]

Credibility on the line

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:52 PM, 17 Comments

Today's Seattle Times reports that "Credibility on the line in Sept. vote". Who knew? The companion article lists some of the changes to training and procedures that are designed to restore credibility. Some of these even make sense: Problem: Ballots... [read more]

August 25, 2005

EFF to Norm Maleng: Enforce state elections laws

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:18 AM, 14 Comments

In a follow-up to Norm Maleng's talk at the Downtown Seattle Republican Club last week, the "EFF sent him a letter encouraging him to enforce election laws" The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) today called on King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng... [read more]

August 22, 2005

Cleaning up the voter rolls, one illegal voter at a time

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:23 PM, 29 Comments

And speaking of of cleaning up the voter rolls, a registration challenge was filed Saturday against Ron Sims' nephew, who was registered to vote at Uncle Ron's house and voted absentee last September while living in New York, and is... [read more]

August 20, 2005

Dow Constantine, meet Milo Minderbinder

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:06 AM, 19 Comments

King County Councilmember Dow Constantine is all excited about the Elliott Bay Water Taxi The Elliott Bay Water Taxi route took top marks in several categories: —Farebox recovery: The Elliott Bay Water Taxi’s established 30 percent farebox recovery rate compares... [read more]

August 19, 2005

King County is for Cat Lovers

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:26 PM, 17 Comments

This time I'm posting a Ron Sims news release and I'm not even being snarky. This is a bona fide public service announcement -- "King County Animal Shelters full special adoption prices for cat lovers" (That should read "King County... [read more]

RFQ for "Turnaround Team"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:15 PM, 23 Comments

Ron Sims has issued a 17-page RFQ for a "Turnaround Team for King County's Elections Office". The accompanying press release says The team ... will be fully engaged in the cultural, leadership, management and operational issues of King County Elections,... [read more]

Dean Logan to King County GOP: "Drop Dead"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:03 AM, 31 Comments

My head is beginning to hurt from all of this, but every time I turn around Dean Logan pulls yet another stunt that appears designed to eliminate transparency and public oversight. Tim Borders, the nominal plaintiff in the governor's election... [read more]

August 18, 2005

Yet another cover-up by Dean Logan to protect Ron Sims

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:23 PM, 51 Comments

Dean Logan has violated the Public Disclosure Act yet again, this time to evade disclosure of documents about Ron Sims' nephew who appears to be illegally registered and voting at Sims' house.... [read more]

New comedian joins King County Canvassing Board

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:56 AM, 10 Comments

The King County Canvassing Board, which illegally certified the November 2004 election, will have a new member this fall, Democrat Councilman Dow Constantine (D-CAO). Constantine replaces retiring Councilman Dwight Pelz (D-Havana), pictured above as Chico. Constantine's most distinguished contribution... [read more]

August 16, 2005

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:28 PM, 31 Comments

(Edmund Burke probably never said that, but it's still a good quote). My interview with King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng at last night's Downtown Seattle Republican Club will be shown on the Seattle Channel this Thursday at 8:30pm and repeated... [read more]

Sims tells "turnaround team" to sit and spin

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:23 AM, 16 Comments

Ron Sims is defiantly standing by his man in the elections office, ignoring even the tepid recommendations of his lame-ass task force -- "Sims says "turnaround team" wouldn't have election control": King County Executive Ron Sims wants to bring in... [read more]

August 15, 2005

King County: sex education resource

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:39 PM, 34 Comments

A reader just emailed a pointer to this gem from King County's repository of public health wisdom: No method of contraception or disease prevention is effective when practiced incorrectly or inconsistently. A 1988 National Survey of Family Growth found abstinence... [read more]

Dean Logan: The Amazing Transparent Man

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:00 PM, 18 Comments

Dean Logan, who promises "transparency and public access", draws the line at actually giving the public access to information that is potentially embarrassing to himself and Ron Sims. The Amazing Transparent Man continues to stonewall my public records requests.... [read more]

COW blogging

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:38 AM, 18 Comments

The King County Council Committe-Of-the-Whole is now having its elections briefing. Watch on KCTV. Meeting is now adjourned. Some running commentary in the extended entry...... [read more]

Have another COW, Man

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:27 AM, 9 Comments

Monday's King County Council Committee-Of-the-Whole will have a briefing on elections. If this is like all of the previous council meetings on elections, we can expect: Good questions and comments from Kathy Lambert, David Irons, Steve Hammond, Reagan Dunn, Bob... [read more]

August 12, 2005

Dunn v. Hammond

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:46 AM, 84 Comments

My column in this week's The Stranger is on the primary contest between Steve Hammond and Reagan Dunn to represent the new 9th County Council District: "Freshman Mistake" The brightest new political star to appear in the local firmament this... [read more]

August 11, 2005

Where's the beef?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:02 AM, 23 Comments

Today's Seattle Times reports that "County elections office gets beefed up" King County Executive Ron Sims has temporarily reassigned two veteran managers to help run this fall's elections ... In all, more than a dozen employees from other departments are... [read more]

August 10, 2005

Where does Ron Sims think he is, Zimbabwe?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:58 AM, 23 Comments

The Sims administration is approaching the upcoming election in a manner that shows how increasingly desperate and frightened they've become. In this week's Seattle Weekly, Skip Berger reports that two of Sims top aides, chief spokeswoman Carolyn Duncan and chief-of-staff... [read more]

August 08, 2005

"Up in the air, junior birdsman"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:47 AM, 28 Comments

Ron Sims approaches his job with his head in the clouds and is reluctant to return to planet earth. Both figuratively and literally: From his temporary, 32nd-floor offices in the Bank of America Tower, King County Executive Ron Sims enjoys... [read more]

August 05, 2005

Councilmembers Call for State to Run Election

by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:33 PM, 31 Comments

All six Republicans on the King County Council today called on Ron Sims to get out of the way and invite Sam Reed to run the county's elections this fall. I'm certainly in favor of taking the election out of... [read more]

August 04, 2005

Ron Sims Is A Bad Manager

by Jim Miller, 09:15 AM, 10 Comments

Who says so? Knute Berger of the Seattle Weekly. Talk with some of Sims' most ardent fans—staffers, former staffers, close political supporters—and they will acknowledge that the boss' charisma and energy are often undercut by his lack of focus, his... [read more]

August 03, 2005

Why we need an elected auditor

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:36 AM, 13 Comments

Today's P-I reports "King County gets no takers for elections job" "We can't fill the superintendent of elections job," County Executive Ron Sims admitted yesterday. "We posted (the opening), and nobody wanted it. Nobody wants a career breaker. I don't... [read more]

Was Dean Logan lying then or is he lying now?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:29 AM, 20 Comments

As Matt wrote below, King County Elections allowed convicted felon and would-be mayoral candidate James C. Garrett to re-register to vote in 2004 after his registration had been properly cancelled in 2002. Today's Seattle Times article includes this intriguing tidbit:... [read more]

August 02, 2005

Ron Sims Buys into (some) task force recommendations

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:14 PM, 15 Comments

Ron Sims sent this letter to the County Council today, summarized in this press statement. Sims said he intends to implement the task force’s key recommendation, the creation of a “turnaround team” reporting directly to the Executive. The turnaround team... [read more]

Believe it or not

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:47 AM, 17 Comments

Nicole Brodeur: "Ron Sims "a believer" who has yet to deliver" Last month, Sims presented his "Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness" to the County Council. The $300 million plan seeks, among other things, to develop 4,500 housing units for the... [read more]

July 29, 2005

Kulturkampf

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:54 PM, 36 Comments

One of the weirder "findings" of Ron Sims' Task Force on Elections is that While the new Elections Section managers made headway in introducing procedural and technological changes in the Elections office, they were unable to improve an entrenched organizational... [read more]

July 27, 2005

Public Non-Disclosure (IV)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:46 AM, 7 Comments

Armen Yousoufian's years-long public disclosure court case against Ron Sims is being dragged out even longer.... [read more]

Public Non-Disclosure (III)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:24 AM, 22 Comments

I'm not the only one whose public records requests are being stonewalled by Dean Logan. Bob Edelman of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has for weeks been asking for documentation on the mailing of military ballots during October 2004, which belive... [read more]

Another Call for Dean Logan's Resignation Expected

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:07 AM, 15 Comments

Today, July 27, is the final meeting of Ron Sims' Independent Task Force on Elections. I've heard from a variety of sources that the task force's final recommendations to be presented today will include a call for new leadership of... [read more]

July 26, 2005

Public Non-Disclosure (II)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:03 PM, 45 Comments

Thanks to everyone who hit the tip jar today to help me Sue Ron Sims for repeated violations of the Public Disclosure Act. More details on King County Election's NON-DISCLOSURE of documents that I've been requesting for months --... [read more]

Public Non-disclosure

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:53 AM, 17 Comments

Yesterday was the day when King County Elections was supposed to satisfy my public records request of July 5 (which wasn't a new request, but merely a reminder to satisfy weeks-old outstanding requests). There were three main items they promised... [read more]

July 21, 2005

Not too bright(water)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:56 PM, 21 Comments

You probably already guessed that Ron Sims' Brightwater Sewage Treatment Plant includes indispensible Public Art, but you probably didn't know that it also includes an education and conference center which plans to compete against established private businesses for market share... [read more]

Seeing Double

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:34 PM, 19 Comments

There appear to be thousands of duplicate voter registrations in King County, i.e. individuals who are listed on the voter rolls more than once. Duplicate registrations damage election integrity in two main ways: (1) they inflate the number of registered... [read more]

More indications of abuse of power by Ron Sims

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:19 AM, 59 Comments

Yet more fishy business in the investigation and booking of Julie Anne Kempf that adds to the perception that this is politically motivated --... [read more]

July 20, 2005

Dean Logan to spend $90,000+ of the public's money to evade public disclosure

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:12 PM, 60 Comments

Seriously. Dean Logan has decided to spend more than $90,000 of the public's money in order to evade his responsibilities to make a full public disclosure of election records --... [read more]

Where does Ron Sims think he is, Zimbabwe?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:54 AM, 109 Comments

Ron Sims is misusing the police to suppress dissenters and intimidate his subordinates. Former Superintendent of Elections Julie Anne Kempf was arrested yesterday No formal charges have been filed, and details are sketchy. I can't comment on specific sketchy details... [read more]

July 19, 2005

Ron Sims' Reign of Terror

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:48 PM, 27 Comments

Last week I mentioned that King County was conducting a criminal investigation against former Superintendent of Elections, Julie Anne Kempf. I posited that this was politically motivated and partly intended to intimidate current election employees from speaking out. I keep... [read more]

The building that won't solve the problems

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:38 AM, 16 Comments

As Judge John Bridges said in his tonguelashing of King County Elections at the outset of his ruling last month:the evidence here suggests that the problems require more than just constructing new buildings and hiring more staff. Amazing but true,... [read more]

July 16, 2005

Faith-based initiatives

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:30 AM, 11 Comments

The Ron Sims "independent task force on elections" seems to be less interested in figuring out how to fix King County's disastrous management of the November 2004 election than it is in serving up statewide policy recommendations for unrelated and... [read more]

July 15, 2005

Ron Sims is running away from his record

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:55 PM, 22 Comments

Ron Sims campaign website: running for re-election is not about what you have done in office, but rather what you will do in your next term Certainly you want to avoid running on your record when you're a chronic failure... [read more]

July 13, 2005

Meritless allegations

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:28 AM, 21 Comments

Wednesday's P-I reports -- "Former elections worker investigated".A former King County elections worker is under investigation for possible forgery, theft and criminal impersonation, the Sheriff's Office said yesterday, adding that none of the crimes is believed to have occurred while... [read more]

July 12, 2005

A plan to end homelessness

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:09 AM, 32 Comments

Ron Sims announced more details of his Ten-Year Plan to end homelessness in King County: In 10 years, [Committee to End Homelessness co-chairman Dan] Brettler said, he hopes residents will be able to say, "King County used to have a... [read more]

July 11, 2005

Eight Years and Counting

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:05 PM, 17 Comments

Armen Yousoufian, whose ongoing legal battle with King County over Ron Sims' violations of the Public Disclosure Act has already lasted eight years and has cost county taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in staff time, fines and (Yousoufian's) attorney... [read more]

"An accuracy rate any bank would envy"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:00 AM, 7 Comments

More evidence of Ron Sims' accounting prowess. Today's Seattle Times reports on yet another discovery by alert citizen and (frequent Sound Politics commenter) Richard Pope: almost 400 listings of unclaimed property belonging to King County and its various agencies on... [read more]

July 02, 2005

Wow

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:34 PM, 54 Comments

Ron Sims wants to convert the parking lot next to Qwest Field into a housing development. Huh? Why would anybody want to live next to the stadium? Oh, wait. the stadium area is a "busy and noisy place," said Mike... [read more]

June 30, 2005

Dead Heat in County Executive Race

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:27 AM, 37 Comments

A public opinion poll released yesterday by David Irons shows that the race for County Executive is neck-and-neck The poll shows that if the vote was held today, Sims of Seattle would get 42 percent, Irons 40 percent and Green... [read more]

June 29, 2005

Another Ron Sims scandal hits the fan

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:54 PM, 30 Comments

A King County Hearing Examiner has concluded that the county DOT produced bogus traffic reports in order to facilitate Quadrant Corp.'s application to develop a large housing community at Redmond Ridge. The Puget Sound Business Journal has a report here.... [read more]

"Dean Logan made things worse"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:24 AM, 23 Comments

Ron Sims' independent task force says that King County's election office is in worse shape than it was before County Executive Ron Sims hired Dean Logan two years ago In a scathing briefing to the Metropolitan King County Council's review... [read more]

June 28, 2005

FLASH: Ferguson trounces Edmonds

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:57 PM, 25 Comments

In a victory for sane grassroots Democrats over the corrupt Ron Sims machine, King County Councilman Bob Ferguson trounced Carolyn Edmonds at this evening's Democratic Party nominating convention. So reports a friendly Democrat who was there. It wasn't even close.... [read more]

Ferguson v Edmonds

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:48 AM, 27 Comments

The King County Democrats nominating convention will be held this evening. The most interesting contest appears to be that between incumbent County Councilmembers Bob Ferguson and Carolyn Edmonds, who were redistricted into the same district. Ferguson and Edmonds will appear... [read more]

June 27, 2005

Is Ron Sims A Good Manager?

by Jim Miller, 10:45 AM, 45 Comments

I wondered about that during the long King County election fiasco. And I started wondering about that again when I saw these two columns. First, Joel Connelly of the Seattle PI on transportation plans in this area. Two rules seem... [read more]

June 22, 2005

Challenge to Sims from the Left

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:14 PM, 28 Comments

Green Party activist Gentry Lange has announced that he is running against Ron Sims for County Executive. His platform includes "Voting Reform", which just goes to show that clean elections is a universal issue (except perhaps to those who think... [read more]

June 19, 2005

Kudos To The PI

by Jim Miller, 11:33 AM, 42 Comments

Kudos for this editorial. Here are the key paragraphs. The onus still remains with [Dean] Logan, and with [Ron] Sims. Conducting fair and accurate elections is a fundamental role of the county and flaws in that area can and should... [read more]

June 18, 2005

Complete task force report

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:41 AM, 57 Comments

I've obtained and posted the complete interim report of the Independent Task Force on Elections (the one reported on in today's newspaper articles and mentioned at the entry below) In three parts: The report The complete survey results Survey comments... [read more]

King County Elections workers embarrassed to work for Dean Logan

by Stefan Sharkansky, 07:43 AM, 84 Comments

Ron Sims' "Independent Elections Task Force", of which I expressed initial skepticism, demonstrated genuine independence and fortitude yesterday when it disclosed and discussed the results of its survey of King County Elections staff. This mornings Seattle Times: "Morale "very low"... [read more]

June 17, 2005

Save the whales!

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:12 PM, 40 Comments

King County Executive Ron "99.98%" Sims sent this letter to county Democrat PCOs asking for their support. As it turns out, a lot of local Democrats think Sims is an embarrassment and would prefer that he not run for re-election.... [read more]

June 16, 2005

Names of disenfranchised voters released

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:02 PM, 121 Comments

KING 5 has the names of the voters whose absentee ballots King County failed to count last November. The ballot envelopes were released by King County this afternoon in response to my records request. All 30 of the voters I... [read more]

Ron Sims Radio

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:47 AM, 22 Comments

King County Executive Ron "99.98%" Sims is on KUOW Weekday program today in the 10am hour. Sims will be taking listener questions. Listen on FM 94.9 in Seattle, or streaming audio here. Call in with your questions, (206) 543-KUOW, (800)... [read more]

June 15, 2005

A demotion or a $120,000 payoff?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:33 AM, 34 Comments

The daily newspapers are reporting today on Bill Huennekens' demotion from Superintendent of Elections. In the P-I -- "County election manager demoted" and in the Times -- "King County elections official demoted" Two things strike me as not quite right... [read more]

June 14, 2005

King County's clarification

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:33 PM, 26 Comments

King County Elections spokeswoman Bobbie Egan e-mailed: I want to clarify for you the advice given by the King County Prosecuting Attorney to help you and visitors to your blog understand the advice given to us by the PAO. The... [read more]

King County to release names of uncounted absentee balots

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:35 AM, 37 Comments

The King County Prosecutor's Office informed me this morning that the Elections office will release copies of the outer envelopes from the uncounted absentee ballots later this week. Thus we'll know exactly which voters didn't get their ballots counted. Rep.... [read more]

June 13, 2005

Disenfranchised voters revealed

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:01 AM, 125 Comments

King County has steadfastly refused to release the names of the now 96 absentee voters whose ballots were not counted last November. But I now have some names. Based on best available information from other King County documents, this weekend... [read more]

June 12, 2005

Hammond wins nomination!

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:10 PM, 65 Comments

Congratulations to King County Councilman Steve Hammond, who won the GOP nomination in a well-fought competition against fellow Councilman Reagan Dunn that was decided at yesterday's convention. This was a difficult contest because it pitted two popular and effective incumbents... [read more]

June 10, 2005

KC GOP Convention Surprise

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:19 PM, 49 Comments

The Hammond-Dunn contest isn't the only County Council race to be debated at tomorrow's convention. This was mentioned in the comments below, but it's also worth noting on the main page -- In a last minute surprise, former state Rep.... [read more]

June 07, 2005

Dean Logan Declares Victory

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:58 AM, 35 Comments

The one bright spot of yesterday's ruling was Judge Bridge's rebuke of King County Elections, even if it was milder than deserved: clearly, the evidence here suggests that the problems require more than just constructing new buildings and hiring more... [read more]

May 17, 2005

Railroad Ron

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:41 AM, 67 Comments

Not unlike my three-year-old son, Ron Sims loves his railroad toys. Railroad Ron is at it again: "King County trying to buy rail corridor for new trail" King County has entered into exclusive negotiations with BNSF Railway to buy a... [read more]

May 16, 2005

Carolyn Edmonds refuses to speak to constituents she doesn't agree with

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:57 AM, 49 Comments

King County Councilmember Carolyn Edmonds' own press release proudly declares that she Refuses Debate On Right Wing KVI Radio: Councilmember and candidate for re-election Carolyn Edmonds refused today to debate opponent Bob Ferguson on right wing talk radio station KVI.... [read more]

May 13, 2005

The politics of homelessness policy

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:48 PM, 43 Comments

King County Councilman Bob Ferguson has offered a novel solution to addressing homelessness: Ferguson proposed yesterday the county buy one or two closed motels to provide temporary housing for 50 to 100 homeless people. Ferguson said he will introduce an... [read more]

May 10, 2005

David Irons campaign events

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:07 PM, 8 Comments

The David Irons for King County Executive campaign has some events coming up: This Thursday, May 12 there's a reception in Issaquah at 5:30pm. Special guest: Dino Rossi! The week of May 23 there are four kick-off breakfasts, each in... [read more]

May 05, 2005

King County Canvassing Board

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:36 AM, 26 Comments

I recently asked the other members of the King County Canvassing Board to comment on Dean Logan's deposition -- specificially on the admission that Logan and election staff knew about significant numbers of irregularities that they didn't disclose to... [read more]

May 04, 2005

King County Elections "Take Your Children to Work Day"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:39 PM, 46 Comments

The King County Elections office held its Take Your Children to Work Day last week. The group project was, you guessed it, a special election. A sample of the questions the kids got to vote on: What do you think... [read more]

"No confidence" in Dean Logan

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:19 PM, 48 Comments

King County Councilman Reagan Dunn has introduced a Motion for No-Confidence Vote on Dean Logan. Council Chairman Larry Phillips says "It is far too soon to consider any change in leadership at King County Elections" What King County elections needs... [read more]

May 03, 2005

King County Official Policy: Look the other way

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:43 AM, 28 Comments

The King County Prosecutor's Office issued this legal opinion advising Dean Logan on his responsibilities as elections director regarding voter registration. The punchline is that he has to accept any complete registration form and register the voter. But if he... [read more]

April 29, 2005

Wal*Mart Election

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:28 PM, 22 Comments

King County has apparently given up and outsourced its Elections office to the People's Republic of China UPDATE: Every ballot mailed out for the April 26 Special Election looked like this one.... [read more]

Logan Deposition (IV)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:01 PM, 5 Comments

Dean Logan, in his deposition, finally gives credit where credit is due. p. 32 Q Okay. So you use signatures from poll books to credit individuals with voting? A To credit the individuals whose names are listed in the poll... [read more]

April 28, 2005

"Lamb" wasn't just crying wolf

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:21 AM, 29 Comments

Nicole Brodeur interviews Julie Anne Kempf, the former Superintendent of Elections in King County (the position now held by Bill Huennekens), who was terminated after the 2002 election ""Lamb" wasn't just crying wolf" In her own defense, Kempf said then... [read more]

April 27, 2005

Sam Reed on Carlson

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:44 PM, 28 Comments

Sam Reed comments on Dean Logan [mp3, 37sec.], from yesterday's John Carlson Show posted courtesy of KVI 570... [read more]

April 26, 2005

Logan Deposition (I)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:28 AM, 67 Comments

Okay, I've now read the entire 436 page transcript of Dean Logan's deposition. Lots of damning admissions. I'll post a few of the highlights in between tending to other business. One of the most serious admissions is that Logan was... [read more]

April 25, 2005

What explains the meltdown at the polls?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:02 PM, 24 Comments

As I've documented on many occasions there was an unprecedented meltdown at King County polling places last November: hundreds of unverified provisional ballots that went through the Accuvotes; hundreds of absentee voters who showed up at the polls and... [read more]

April 23, 2005

It's in the P-I

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:33 AM, 70 Comments

Today's headline in the Seattle Post-"Intelligence"r about the astonishing admissions of official errors, rule violations and outright fraud in King County Elections: "Pierce had vote foul-up, too". Why is it that every time the P-I writes a story about King... [read more]

April 22, 2005

Deposition Week

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:25 AM, 20 Comments

This week is deposition week in the gubernatorial election contest. Dean Logan was deposed by the Republicans on Monday and the Democrats on Tuesday. Bill Huennekens turn is yesterday and today. The Republicans are starting to talk about what came... [read more]

April 21, 2005

Support David Irons

by Andy MacDonald, 10:44 AM, 37 Comments

David Irons is the King County councilman who is running to unseat Ron Sims as King County executive. Since January 2000 he has been a voice for political sanity on the council, opposing the Critical Areas Ordinance and taking pragmatic... [read more]

April 18, 2005

King County's Absentee Ballot Audit Trail is a load of rubbish

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:08 PM, 34 Comments

The file that King County Elections gave me in fulfillment of my request for the "Absentee Ballot Audit Trail" is a complete mess. The Audit Trail is required by WAC 434-240-270 and is supposed to account for every absentee ballot... [read more]

Dean Logan, in his own words

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:45 PM, 21 Comments

In honor of Dean Logan's deposition today, I'm posting a video clip of Dean Logan's opening statement to the canvassing board on December 15, during the manual recount. Some of my favorite quotes: 4:34 it's important to point out that... [read more]

King County Unlawfully Counted Provisional Ballots Too Soon

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:34 AM, 26 Comments

I'll be posting more revelations later from the Absentee Ballot "Audit Trail" that King County released on Friday. On interesting find is confirmation that King County counted its provisional ballots too early in the canvassing process, in violation of state... [read more]

April 16, 2005

Absentee Ballot Audit Trail is Sadly Incomplete

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:59 AM, 98 Comments

King County Elections finally gave me a version of an Absentee Ballot Audit Trail yesterday afternoon. The purpose of the audit trail is to account for all absentee ballots that are issued. Sadly, the file I was given is short... [read more]

April 15, 2005

"Records and Information Management Month"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:59 AM, 31 Comments

Ron Sims has issued a proclamation recognizing April 2005 as "Records and Information Management Month": "WHEREAS, control of records and information is necessary of reduction of risk and liability as well as for compliance with established records management standards and... [read more]

April 14, 2005

Logan's Whopper

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:48 PM, 35 Comments

An attendee of this evening's Town Hall Meeting with Dean Logan reports -- Logan made an astonishing whopper of a claim when asked why he didn't say anything about the recently discovered ballots at last month's Issaquah Town Hall meeting:... [read more]

King County Elections responds

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:21 PM, 4 Comments

King County Elections replied a short time ago in response to my earlier e-mail expressing frustration with their incomplete fulfillment of my request for the absentee ballot audit trail: As I explained to you when you stopped by to review... [read more]

Delay, Evade, Obfuscate

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:59 AM, 39 Comments

I went to the King County Elections office yesterday afternoon to pick up some documents and data files in response to my public records requests. The thing I'm chasing down at the moment is the discrepancy of the nearly 900... [read more]

April 13, 2005

Batch Slip

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:56 PM, 52 Comments

From the 2000 election debacle in Florida, the term "hanging chad" entered the lexicon. In the King County election debacle 2004/5, we get the term "batch slip". A batch slip is a small slip of paper that is used to... [read more]

If it quacks like a Democrat ...

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:51 AM, 76 Comments

Cheryl Scott, the Sims/Gregoire big-money campaign contributor who was asked by Sims to chair his personal "independent" elections review panel, says she's not exclusively Democrat, she swings both ways: "The irony is I've also donated to Republicans," Scott said. "It's... [read more]

April 12, 2005

Dean Logan digs in heels, shovels more crap

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:41 PM, 27 Comments

KING-5's Robert Mak had this interview with Dean Logan, who says he has "no plans to resign over election mess". Asked how it’s possible that the numbers on the batch slip didn't account for all the ballots, Logan said: "Well,... [read more]

More spelunking through public records

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:22 PM, 11 Comments

King County Elections has scheduled the release of some of the outstanding documents from my public disclosure requests. This afternoon I'll review the following: * documentation on the 348 provisional ballots that were originally identified as having gone through the... [read more]

April 11, 2005

Sims' "independent review" panel led by bigwig Democrat donor

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:13 PM, 116 Comments

Less than two months after declaring that King County Elections had "an accuracy that any bank would envy", Ron Sims is trying to deflect calls for a criminal investigation into his accounting-challenged banking empire with an investigation of himself that... [read more]

April 09, 2005

Golden Easter Egg

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:43 AM, 52 Comments

Here's a fascinating discovery buried in King County's otherwise deadly boring comprehensive report of the (then) 93 uncounted absentee ballots: a careful read shows that there are a bunch more numerical discrepancies waiting to be explained, suggesting the existence of... [read more]

The 94th Ballot

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:07 AM, 10 Comments

This is the letter from King County consigliere Don Porter to the election contest litigants regarding the 94th uncounted absentee ballot. Although the discovery was announced on Friday, it was made on Monday afternoon. Presumably when the comprehensive report of... [read more]

April 07, 2005

Public Non-disclosure

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:37 PM, 30 Comments

Now that King County Elections has confirmed that the reconciliation reports it gave to the canvassing board were fake, it's time to press on to get the rest of the absentee ballot documentation that should explain the discrepancy of nearly... [read more]

"Conny" is a good nickname for a conwoman

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:11 PM, 16 Comments

In today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Gorton rips county election officials". But Conny thinks they're fabulous: support for [Dean Logan] came yesterday from Conny McCormack, his counterpart in Los Angeles County, Calif., who has worked with Logan in national organizations of election... [read more]

Bombshell: King County admits the Mail Ballot Report is bogus

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:17 AM, 103 Comments

In Thursday's Seattle Times, King County admits that the Mail Ballot Report is bogus: King County election officials said a key document accounting for absentee ballots in the November election was so flawed it was virtually meaningless. The Mail Ballot... [read more]

King County's Internal Report

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:16 AM, 8 Comments

This is the internal report [large PDF] that King County Elections wrote to describe how it discovered the 93 uncounted and unaccounted-for absentee ballots. It's overwritten and boring as all hell, but it does have some interesting revelations -- 1)... [read more]

April 06, 2005

Stage set for Logan's resignation

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:24 AM, 20 Comments

We now have recent on-the-record statements from both Ron Sims and Dean Logan which pretty much commit them both to Logan's resignation. From this morning's Seattle Times article about the latest mess in King County Elections: Sims, who has generally... [read more]

"Mail Ballot Report" enters the big leagues

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:04 AM, 19 Comments

As I wrote on Monday, King County's recent discovery of the 93 previously unaccounted-for absentee ballots proves that the "Mail Ballot Report" that was presented to the canvassing board was a fraud. Today's Seattle Times also reports on this: an... [read more]

April 05, 2005

More amazing news from King County Elections

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:56 PM, 57 Comments

It only keeps getting weirder: The King County Elections Division admitted it made a mistake with absentee ballots for a special election later in April that were going to overseas and military voters. KING 5 News was told that eight... [read more]

Ron Sims implicated in elections office cover-up

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:27 AM, 27 Comments

An interesting item in this morning's Seattle Times article about the fall-out from the discovery of the 93 uncounted absentee ballots Sims' chief of staff, Kurt Triplett, said Assistant County Executive Sheryl Whitney was promptly told of the discovery of... [read more]

April 04, 2005

F-word, again

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:04 PM, 20 Comments

Friday's e-mail from King County attorney Don Porter about the allegedly uncounted absentee ballots effectively admits that somebody on Dean Logan's staff must have committed fraud. Check out the Mail Ballot Report that was presented to the canvassing board prior... [read more]

Call in the Feds

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:35 PM, 26 Comments

Republicans on the King County Council today requested a federal investigation of last November's election. The letter is posted here. Meanwhile, Council Democrats are calling for an "independent audit" of the elections division. SNOOZE. The Council also passed 10-3 a... [read more]

"Discovery of untabulated ballots'

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:31 PM, 13 Comments

The following e-mail was sent by King County attorney Donald Porter to attorneys for the parties in the election contest on Friday afternoon once the story of the new absentee ballots leaked out. The most interesting and disturbing item here... [read more]

Circling the wagons and the drain

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:12 PM, 13 Comments

King County Councilman Steve Hammond today called on Dean Logan to resign. Now that two members of the Council (that I know about) have publicly demanded Logan's resignation and more are sure to follow, Executive Ron Sims is going into... [read more]

Reagan Dunn: Logan Done

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:00 AM, 32 Comments

King County Councilman Reagan Dunn has called on Dean Logan to resign.... [read more]

April 03, 2005

The latest on the new 48 87 93 Magical Mystery Ballots

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:13 PM, 29 Comments

King County issued a press release over the weekend reporting that the total number of recently discovered untabulated absentee ballots is 93. Intriguingly, these new ballots would be expected to add to Rossi's lead. Although the release doesn't explicitly state... [read more]

April 01, 2005

Last night's town hall meeting

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:58 PM, 16 Comments

I'm working my way through my videotape of last night's Julia Patterson Election Reform Town Hall Meeting in Kent, featuring Sam Reed and Dean Logan. Jim Miller now has a longer analysis posted. I'll just transcribe interesting quotes in real... [read more]

March 30, 2005

The canvassing board had to have known it certified a bunch of crap

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:02 PM, 35 Comments

I don't know how many more smoking guns we need to show that King County officials certified the election even though they had to have known that something was seriously wrong. But here's another smoking gun. From a set of... [read more]

Rebuilding Public Trust

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:35 PM, 31 Comments

Dean Logan wrote this letter in response to King County Council Republicans' criticism of Ron Sims "State of the County" speech. His main points seem to be that (1) he really wants a new building for the elections department, and... [read more]

On Wisconsin

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:49 AM, 17 Comments

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported last week that The results of the Nov. 2 election in Milwaukee, now the subject of an investigation into possible voter fraud, were certified without any double-checking of the totals by the city or county panels... [read more]

Voting is not supposed to be on the "honor system"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:44 AM, 14 Comments

State law (RCW 29A.84.010) seems to make clear that county election officials have an obligation to report fraudulent registration and voting irregularities to the county prosecutor "without delay". Nevertheless, King County Elections doesn't seem to follow this law. It's consistent... [read more]

March 28, 2005

Election Reform Town Hall Meetings

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:52 PM, 17 Comments

The big event this week is King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson's town hall meeting with Dean Logan and Sam Reed this Thursday 7:00-9:00 p.m., Kent City Hall, 220 4th Ave S. I'll be there. Please e-mail me if you plan... [read more]

March 27, 2005

Cascade County Committee

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:14 PM, 15 Comments

The Cascade County Committee, working to form a new county in what is now suburban and rural King County, separate from Seattle, now has a website.... [read more]

Kathy Lambert Campaign Kick-off

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:02 PM, 2 Comments

King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert is having a re-election campaign kick-off breakfast: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 7:30 AM at the Double Tree Hotel in Bellevue. Attorney General Rob McKenna will be the keynote speaker. Sign-up details here... [read more]

March 25, 2005

How ironic

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:22 PM, 50 Comments

Buried in the Democrats' filing for today's hearing [large PDF] is this tidbit, complaining about King County Elections' lack of response to the Democrats' document requests: [Hamilton Declaration p. 5, #9] After the filing and scrutiny associated with this election,... [read more]

More Weird Numbers That Just Don't Add Up

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:28 PM, 21 Comments

Among the exhibits in the Democrats' brief for today's election contest hearing is the "Provisional Ballot Summary Report" that was presented to the canvassing board for certifying the first count on November 17. Compare November's "Final Report" with the... [read more]

March 24, 2005

Election Results

by Andy MacDonald, 10:45 PM, 12 Comments

Here are the results from Tuesday's King Conservation District commissioner election:Richard Gelb 235 Darlene Madenwald 77 Write in (Ross Loudenback) 169 Other 1 Given that the Loudenback candidacy was a write in with little publicity, he did rather well. Of... [read more]

Did King County illegally count its provisional ballots?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:06 PM, 24 Comments

News releases from King County Elections in November suggest that the county prematurely counted provisional ballots in violation of state election rules. See, for example, this announcement of Nov. 10 King County Elections today counted 20,839 ballots, which includes 1,978... [read more]

Selective application of the law

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:28 AM, 23 Comments

Dean Logan and most of the Democrats on the King County Council (e.g.: Julia Patterson) have been saying things to the effect that anybody who fills out a voter registration form has to be accepted as a registered voter, with... [read more]

Election Reform Town Hall Meeting

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:08 AM, 12 Comments

King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson is holding an "Election Reform Town Hall Meeting" featuring herself, Dean Logan and Secretary of State Sam Reed.Thursday, March 31 7:00-9:00 p.m. Kent City Hall, 220 4th Ave S.“The integrity of the elections process is... [read more]

March 23, 2005

Absentee Ballot Mystery Deepens

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:15 PM, 19 Comments

More numbers released by King County Elections that don't add up. This is yet another indication that the discrepancy of 780 more absentee ballots counted than absentee voters may well be attributable to bogus ballots and also that King County... [read more]

Absentee Ballot Mystery

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:04 AM, 8 Comments

Another interesting tidbit related to the mystery of King County's 780 absentee ballots counted in excess of absentee voters. Prior to the first certification, the county issued daily reports with the running totals of absentee ballots counted. The last such... [read more]

March 22, 2005

Absentee Ballot Audit Trail

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:54 PM, 16 Comments

Now that King County's "Big Binder" has shown that the county's reconciliation of polling place ballots is an irreconciliable mess, the next thing to look at is the groaning discrepancy in absentee ballots, which the latest numbers put at 780... [read more]

URGENT! Election Today

by Andy MacDonald, 01:59 PM, 24 Comments

I bet you didn't know there is an election today. There is: The King Conservation District is holding an election for its Board of Supervisors. I spoke with District Co-Coordinator Geoff Reed and got the following details: Every registered voter... [read more]

"Front End Election Security"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:30 AM, 16 Comments

Here is another tale in "front end election security", as per Dean Logan State election laws address ballot security and accountability on the front end of the elections process - at the polls, in ballot counting centers and throughout the... [read more]

March 21, 2005

Dumb E-mails from Elected Officials - I

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:54 PM, 35 Comments

Today we inaugurate an ongoing series where we'll be posting some of the dumb e-mails that elected officials send to their constituents. (We've posted a few such e-mails in the past. This howler from Rep. Jeanne Darneille is a classic)... [read more]

Shrill and Inaccurate

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:26 AM, 18 Comments

King County Executive Ron Sims will give the 2005 Executive State of the County Address to the Council today at 1:30. Watch on KCTV online (or Channel 22 on most King County cable systems) and post your live commentary! UPDATE:... [read more]

The fiction of the "348 provisional ballots"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:50 AM, 24 Comments

Even back in January when King County Elections officials announced that they knew about "up to 348" unverified provisional ballots that went through the AccuVote machines, and later hedged in the February "comprehensive report", saying that "348 provisional ballots were... [read more]

March 20, 2005

All in the family

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:04 PM, 23 Comments

County auditors from around the state are again circling the wagons and, quite frankly, lying to the public in a shameless attempt to defend the mistakes made by King County Elections. This letter [look what my new scanner can do,... [read more]

March 19, 2005

Julia Patterson

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:18 PM, 16 Comments

Christmas Ghost isn't favorably impressed with King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson.... [read more]

Your Tax Dollars At Work

by Matt Rosenberg, 05:38 PM, 31 Comments

Sorry, but this is just too priceless. I'm in downtown Seattle today and a King County Metro bus pulls up to a stop, bearing a billboard-style ad on the side from the King County Transportation Dept. - telling people to... [read more]

March 18, 2005

Shrill and Inaccurate

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:22 AM, 46 Comments

Ron "99.98% no make that 99.8%" Sims is complaining about "shrill and inaccurate" conservative Web sites. At least he didn't accuse those unnamed conservative web sites of lacking good hometraining.... [read more]

Credit where credit is due

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:20 AM, 10 Comments

People who are familiar with the elections process explain what probably caused King County Elections to count roughly 500 more absentee ballots than absentee voters credited. First, there is absolutely no way for there to be more absentee ballots counted... [read more]

March 17, 2005

"Time for a new county executive"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:57 PM, 5 Comments

My column in this week's The Stranger is now up: "Time for a new county executive" And speaking of which, Republican candidate for County Executive, Councilman David Irons, Jr., is speaking at Monday's Downtown Seattle Republican Club dinner. More seating... [read more]

Provisionals were a much bigger problem in 2004 than in the past

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:01 AM, 48 Comments

Here are some files from the King County archives that illustrate how different the situation with provisional ballots was in 2004 vs. the 3 general elections before Dean Logan came on board. 1) "Special Ballot Summary Reports" (provisional ballots used... [read more]

March 16, 2005

"The security is on the front end"

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:44 AM, 8 Comments

Dean Logan, Sam Reed and our other underperforming election officials have been telling us for months now that the ballot/voter discrepancy shouldn't matter. There is no need to have accounting checks in place to ensure integrity because (from Logan's... [read more]

March 15, 2005

Reconciliation appears to be difficult by design

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:19 PM, 22 Comments

I've been going through the Binder documents and summary spreadsheets in an attempt to reconcile the ballot counts with the county's latest informatoin, but the information that has been provided almost seems as if it's designed to impede rather than... [read more]

Paul Robeson Award

by Andy MacDonald, 04:03 PM, 18 Comments

King County's homepage is highlighting the February 3rd presentation of the Paul Robeson Awards for outstanding scholar-athletes. Many pictures of smiling award recipients are featured. Given that Mr. Robeson died in 1976, most of the young recipients will not have... [read more]

County Council Meeting Recap

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:48 AM, 45 Comments

Here are the highlights from yesterday's County Council meeting featuring Dean Logan. * A Republican Councilmember speaking with me afterwords, called the meeting "orchestrated". Chairman Larry Phillips front-loaded the agenda with the less controversial issues, postponing the ballot/voter discrepancy to... [read more]

March 14, 2005

Dean Login in the hot seat

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:13 AM, 128 Comments

Dean Logan will appear before the King County Council at 9:30am. I'll be there. You can also watch the proceedings on King County TV... [read more]

March 11, 2005

Irons in the fire

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:31 PM, 8 Comments

King County Councilman David Irons is scheduled to officially announce his campaign to challenge County Executive Ron Sims. Yesterday, on the eve of his formal announcement, Irons stopped short of declaring his candidacy, but just barely. I think that means... [read more]

Binder Bombshell

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:33 PM, 61 Comments

The "Big Binder" has finally been released. It confirms that the numbers don't nearly add up and that hundreds more unverified provisional ballots went into the ballot machines than previously acknowledged. The county's summary worksheets and explanatory documents try to... [read more]

Flash: "The Binder" to be released this afternoon

by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:29 AM, 24 Comments

King County Elections spokeswoman Bobbie Egan e-mails: Responsive documents for #5 of your Public Disclosure Request dated 2/22/05 will be available today. We'll have copies of the summary and "notes" spreadsheet and the polling place reconciliation binder available for purchase... [read more]

March 10, 2005

Bothell Regional Library

by Stefan Sharkansky, 06:10 PM, 68 Comments

The Bothell Regional Library polling place counted a net 30 more ballots than voters. The election worker's note on this polling book cover explains what happened: 31 "no labels" went through Accuvote That's election official slang for "unverified provisionals were... [read more]

Truth Held Hostage: Day 12

by Stefan Sharkansky, 03:48 PM, 13 Comments

I spent a good part of today at the King County Elections office looking at pollbooks. Oy, what a mess. More on this later. I also asked again to see The Infamous Binder with the precinct reconciliation reports. Still no... [read more]

March 09, 2005

Dean Logan will have a COW next Monday

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:24 PM, 6 Comments

Dean Logan's appearance before the King County Council "Committee-of-the-Whole" (COW) has been rescheduled to Monday, March 14 Time: 9:30am Location: King County Council Chambers Room 1001 King County Courthouse, 516 Third Ave., Seattle.... [read more]

The Larry Phillips Ballots Revisited

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:03 AM, 12 Comments

One of the biggest controversies of the election last year were the 720+ absentee ballots in King County that were ruled to have been improperly rejected by election officials because the voters' signatures were not in the computer database. As... [read more]

March 08, 2005

Truth held hostage: Day 10

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:12 AM, 31 Comments

King County Elections sent me a formal response to my public disclosure request late Monday afternoon. Some of the documents I requested will be available today. But the county says it will continue to conceal the most important information, the... [read more]

March 07, 2005

Smoking Gun

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:57 PM, 63 Comments

This is a smoking gun that something went very seriously amiss in King County Elections during the canvassing and recounts last year. In partial fulfillment of my public records request, King County released this "Mail Ballot Report". It doesn't carry... [read more]

Truth held hostage: Day 9

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:37 PM, 42 Comments

Today's update on King County's magical binder of precinct-by-precinct reconciliation worksheets, which the lunatic-fringe blogs tell us are "sitting down there at KC Elections for anybody to inspect". The punchline is: the lunatic-fringe bloggers are living in a sick fantasy... [read more]

March 04, 2005

Questions to remain unanswered

by Stefan Sharkansky, 04:21 PM, 23 Comments

Monday's King County Council "Committee-of-the-whole" meeting where Dean Logan was to have been questioned by the Councilmembers has been cancelled. Meanwhile, the notorious binder containing precinct-by-precinct reconciliation reports wasn't released this week either. I'm sure there's a very good reason... [read more]

March 03, 2005

Ron Sims Political Death Watch

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:18 AM, 12 Comments

Even Joni Balter, one of Ron Sims' most loyal sycophants in the local press, admits that Mr. 99.98% is vulnerable. "GOP could mount a credible run at Sims". Balter's analysis of the potential Republican challengers isn't worth much, but there's... [read more]

March 02, 2005

Secretary of State comments on the "crediting" flap

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:40 PM, 29 Comments

I contacted the Secretary of State's office to ask for comment now that King County has acknowledged that crediting is an integral part of the ballot counting process and not just a post-certification file-maintenance procedure that is unrelated to ballot-counting,... [read more]

Pose a question to Dean Logan

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:03 AM, 15 Comments

King County Councilmember Steve Hammond informs me that Dean Logan will be appearing before the King County Council next Monday, to answer questions from the Council about the 2004 Election. Councilmember Hammond would appreciate receiving suggestions for questions from Sound... [read more]

March 01, 2005

Big News: King County Revises Story on Voter Crediting

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:50 AM, 54 Comments

King County Elections now acknowledges that crediting voters was an integral part of the ballot counting process after the November 2004 election, for both absentee and polling place voters. This acknowledgement is huge. It implicitly confirms that the discrepancy of... [read more]

February 28, 2005

Musical Chairs

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:02 PM, 33 Comments

Today's Seattle P-I article on King County politics reports that Republican Councilmember Reagan Dunn, recently appointed to fill Rob McKenna's old seat, is challenging fellow Republican incumbent Steve Hammond in the new 9th District. Hammond is a good guy. Dunn... [read more]

February 26, 2005

Grassroots action. Quite literally.

by Brian Crouch, 10:38 PM, 33 Comments

"Critical areas" ordinance victims protest at the Sims mansion:They all loaded up on a bus, and drove to the King County Administrator's neighborhood to stage a surprise protest in front of his home. When protesters arrived, Ron Sims was not... [read more]

That Magical Binder

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:37 AM, 31 Comments

Yes, King County really does have a magical binder with precinct reconciliation data (at least they did at one time). And by the account of someone who is familiar with the contents, it would confirm that there were a significant... [read more]

February 25, 2005

Real Soon Now (2)

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:36 AM, 12 Comments

Today's Seattle Times reports on yet another instance where the King County Elections Office has not released the information it has said it would release. "Probe of felon voters not yet started" King County's January 23 press release and the... [read more]

February 24, 2005

Real Soon Now

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:12 PM, 53 Comments

A certain lunatic-fringe blogger, whose name we conveniently forget, reassures us that nothing went wrong in the King County vote count, and informs us that everything is explained by a "big binder", which he has never seen, but nevertheless claims... [read more]

Ron Sims is Toast

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:55 PM, 36 Comments

The Stranger reports that King County Executive Ron Sims could easily be tossed out of office if the right challenger steps up to the plate: One possible Democratic challenger is former state legislator and ex-supreme court justice Phil Talmadge, who... [read more]

February 23, 2005

King County Cover-up

by Stefan Sharkansky, 01:08 AM, 61 Comments

I've now put enough together on King County's story about the 1,800+ discrepancy between ballots and voters that I can call it what it is. It's past the point of routine spin control, it's a lie. It's a major league... [read more]

February 22, 2005

Selective public disclosure

by Stefan Sharkansky, 02:42 PM, 14 Comments

One of the more excitable lunatic-fringe bloggers reported this weekend that "KC Elections reconciled results. (So there)" Said blogger bases his giddy report on a conversation with the spokeswoman for King County Elections. However, it appears that our good friend's... [read more]

February 18, 2005

"I was a Democrat until September,'' she said

by Brian Crouch, 10:05 AM, 58 Comments

As Stefan posted earlier, the 5th District Democrats, by applauding the unconstitutional confiscation of rural land by King County's Council through the Critical Areas Ordinance, are unintentionally enlightening their own constituents: Sims gave his planned presentation on King County's Critical... [read more]

February 17, 2005

Is this good home training?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 05:00 PM, 57 Comments

King County Executive Ron "99.98%" Sims' attempt to hold a secret lovefest last night with Issaquah Democrats did not turn out as planned. "CAO opponents crash meeting - Democrats had hoped to keep county executive's appearance to themselves" The Democrats... [read more]

February 14, 2005

What went down at the Courthouse

by Stefan Sharkansky, 11:56 PM, 29 Comments

My highlights from this morning's King County Council meeting, where Dean Logan and Kurt Triplett (Ron Sims' chief of staff) presented their 2004 election report. The first two hours were a complete waste of time. The meeting started 15 minutes... [read more]

February 11, 2005

99.98%, 99.8%, what's the difference?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:57 AM, 58 Comments

Much fun has been made of Ron Sims' claim at his Wednesday press conference that King County Elections was "99.98% accurate" which Sims also believes is an accuracy rate that any bank would envy. As noted, I corrected Sims during... [read more]

February 09, 2005

King County Whitewash

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:08 PM, 166 Comments

I attended this morning's press conference with King County Executive Ron Sims and Elections Director Dean Logan. It was an attempt at whitewash and it backfired. Big time. Another nail in the coffin not only of this disastrous election but... [read more]

February 07, 2005

Julia Patterson on King County Election Reform

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:24 PM, 18 Comments

As noted earlier, King County Councilmembers Kathy Lambert (Republican) and Julia Patterson (Democrat) together proposed election reform legislation. I spoke with Kathy Lambert and posted her perspective on the legislation here. I also contacted Patterson's office last week to ask... [read more]

February 06, 2005

Judge: Heal Thyself

by Matt Rosenberg, 11:48 AM, 1 Comments

A King County District Court judge and Federal Way resident named named Judith Eiler, who in 2003 taught a seminar to Washington state administrative lawyers in "ethical fitness" will now be taking ethics and sensitivity training at her own expense.... [read more]

Kathy Lambert on King County Election Reform

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:50 AM, 27 Comments

A lot of people were surprised by last Tuesday's Seattle Times article which implied that Republican Councilmember Kathy Lambert was advocating all-mail elections "Vote-by-mail test is proposed" King County should consider conducting elections entirely by mail, County Councilwomen Julia Patterson... [read more]

February 04, 2005

Brightwater Art Update

by Timothy Goddard, 09:51 AM, 15 Comments

Ron Logan, who originally alerted me to the Brightwater art issue, attended the project's open house last night, and he's passed on some good news and some bad news: The good news is that they aren’t spending $16 million on... [read more]

February 03, 2005

"Taking Secession Seriously"

by Matt Rosenberg, 02:18 PM, 23 Comments

Eastern King County secession has become a hot topic again (recent SP posts here and here). Now, a leading liberal Seattle publication is getting behind the idea. The Seattle Weekly's Editor In Chief, Knute Berger, has penned "Taking Secession Seriously"... [read more]

February 02, 2005

Mandatory public art: not too Brightwater

by Timothy Goddard, 04:36 PM, 37 Comments

Washington State law says that 0.5% of the budget for all state-funded public works must be spent on art. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? And maybe it is--but when you start doing the math, things start adding up. The Tacoma Narrows... [read more]

January 31, 2005

Cedar County

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:56 PM, 26 Comments

As Matt Rosenberg noted the other day, a movement is building in rural King County to split off and form a new county. This is gaining momentum. Eastside political giants, including Rep. Toby Nixon and County Councilmember Kathy Lambert, are... [read more]

January 27, 2005

Property Rights, Secession Revolts Brewing In WA

by Matt Rosenberg, 07:02 PM, 48 Comments

Oregon's successful Measure 37 property rights salvo is boosting support just across the Columbia River in Washington state's Clark County for a similar statewide rural property owners revolt, as The Oregonian reports (quick, 3-step reg. req.). And - closer to... [read more]

King County Auditor Proposed

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:43 AM, 11 Comments

The King County Council is contemplating various reforms in the wake of the recent meltdown in the elections office, today's Seattle Times reports. Some of the Republican members have proposed creating a new position for an elected auditor and moving... [read more]

January 26, 2005

Cost in Translation

by Brian Crouch, 11:25 AM, 60 Comments

The PI's Robert Jamieson, noting that Sam Reed is "Swampy Weed" in Mandarin: "A poor or inaccurate translation misinforms and frustrates voters and conveys the unintended message that the state does not equally value their participation in the political process,"... [read more]

January 15, 2005

Dow Constantine Recall

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:32 AM, 20 Comments

Armen Yousoufian has filed a petition to recall King County Councilmember Dow Constantine [Democrat representing West Seattle, Vashon Island, Burien] The grounds: misrepresenting facts about the Critical Areas Ordinance; voting for unlawful provisions of the Critical Areas Ordinance that are... [read more]

King County Redistricting Disaster

by Stefan Sharkansky, 08:02 AM, 14 Comments

The Seattle Times opined yesterday that THE good news about redistricting the county is that it has been done in a spirit of industrious bipartisanship, and the Democrat-Republican balance on the Metropolitan King County Council has been maintained until changed... [read more]

January 13, 2005

ORANGE COUNTY?

by Tim Ford, 11:28 AM, 22 Comments

King County Referendums 22, 23, and 24 were invalidated by Judge Robinson as beyond the scope of referendum power as provided in the King County Charter and the Washington State Constitution. Over 18,000 signatures were collected and submitted by the... [read more]

January 04, 2005

Nothing but net

by Brian Crouch, 10:25 AM, 21 Comments

You thought maybe all we covered was the "generally well-conducted laughingstock election"? O-hooh no.... Via the Orb, according to Seattle Times reporters Jim Brunner and Bob Young, your temporary Stadium taxes might never expire: (edits and emphases added) Seattle's three... [read more]

December 22, 2004

The Seattle Weekly Agrees That Past Elections Are Tainted

by Jim Miller, 01:44 PM, 16 Comments

Rick Anderson of the alternative newspaper begins with a wonderful quote from Ron Sims and then lists a bunch of elections that are now suspect, thanks to King County's failure to follow election laws (and common sense). "It will never,... [read more]

December 21, 2004

For Years, The King County Elections Office Has Routinely Violated State Law

by Jim Miller, 07:59 AM, 32 Comments

Lornet Turnbull and David Postman get the biggest scoop yet in King County's increasingly bizarre election story. King County election workers were told as early as May that if an absentee ballot came in without a matching signature on file... [read more]

December 19, 2004

Ukrainian History Lesson

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:25 PM, 21 Comments

When we think of the Ukraine County Elections office, we think of the recent fiasco involving the 400 rejected provisional ballots corrected by weeping Democratic party officials, the 717 surgically enhanced haruspex ballots and the 336 magical mystery ballots that... [read more]

December 14, 2004

Should Democrats Be Allowed To Handle Ballots?

by Jim Miller, 11:53 AM, 46 Comments

All right, I am being sarcastic, but consider some recent history. Nearly all of the problems in Florida during the 2000 election occurred in counties with Democratic election boards, counties with long histories of mismanagement and fraud. And now we... [read more]

December 06, 2004

King County Scuttlebutt

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:34 PM, 22 Comments

King County Executive Ron Sims, the Robert Mugabe of Washington politics, has concluded that he might face difficulty getting himself re-elected next year. Lacking any skills that are useful to anybody in the private sector, Governor-pretender Christine Gregoire has promised... [read more]

November 23, 2004

Critical Protest

by Stefan Sharkansky, 12:25 PM, 8 Comments

King County Executive Ron Sims has joined with the goofy-assed environmental extremists in a lawsuit to quash property rights and the right to self-determination: "Groups file legal challenge against referenda that seek to overturn Critical Areas package" Emphasizing that state... [read more]

October 26, 2004

Silver Lining?

by Stefan Sharkansky, 10:07 PM, 7 Comments

The King County Council approved the draconian "Critical Areas Ordinance" that sharply limits what rural property owners can do with their land. It's an unfunded land grab conceived by urban environmentalists and put into law by the (Bolshevist) Democrats who... [read more]

August 13, 2004

KCGOP Picnic

by Brian Crouch, 05:59 PM, 1 Comments

Talk 770 KTTH announces the King County Republican Party Picnic!You won't want to miss the picnic this year! Come out to meet key candidates and your favorite Talk 770 KTTH hosts: Michael Medved, David Boze, Mike Siegel, Dan Sytman, Rabbi... [read more]

August 03, 2004

Fighting Welfare For Politicians

by Matt Rosenberg, 10:59 PM, 1 Comments

Readers of a certain age might recall the old r&b chestnut, "Give Me Just a Little More Time," by the Chairmen of the Board. Seems the electeds on the board of Washington's largest county are singing that tune, now that... [read more]