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SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER Fresh target, fresh pit bull for GOP Friday, April 8, 2005 By ROBERT L. JAMIESON JR. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST The Republican Red Scare is on the loose. Again. The swirling forces of smear and sneer are now looking to a skeletal graybeard to legitimize their cause: Slade Gorton. The former U.S. senator from Washington has slithered back into the politics pool. Gorton says King County "has the worst elections administration of any county in the United States." How Gorton arrived at this grand pronouncement the other day is a mystery. He didn't offer much proof. One would have hoped the éminence grise of Evergreen State politics would be above shooting hyperbole from the hip to stir up the masses. After all, Gorton has shown a capacity to be a levelheaded, positive force when it comes to bipartisan cooperation. Remember his thoughtful contributions to the commission that reviewed the Sept. 11 terror attacks? But he can also be ruthlessly right-wing. The man we're now seeing is pure Slade the Blade. When Gorton commented on the election, I secretly hoped he would offer useful info that compared our sputtering King County election machine to, say, dubious election machines in GOP strongholds of Ohio. Or even Florida. Wishful thinking, I know. Gorton's splash was about partisan puffery, not a fleshing of meaningful facts. The state GOP relishes heat over light, conveniently glossing over election irregularities in right-leaning counties. Republicans favor the politics of destructiveness over the pursuit of constructiveness. The latter would mean rolling up the sleeves and working with Democrats to fix King County's election system. Instead, Republicans are in a lock-and-load revenge mode. The party is looking to amass a body count and preserve right-leaning bodies on the King County Council as election season approaches. And now Republicans want the head of Dean Logan, director of elections for King County. But here's what the would-be executioners need to do: Leave Logan alone. Logan is but the latest target of the GOP hit squad. Before him, Republicans went after Sam Reed, the Republican secretary of state. Reed angered his own party's lunatic, blog-crazed fringe by validating the close gubernatorial election in which Democrat Christine Gregoire squeaked by Dino Rossi, her Republican opponent. Before Reed, Gregoire had an X on her back. She still does. Under Logan's watch, valid absentee ballots were mistakenly left out of vote counting. Dead voters and felons cast ballots. A discrepancy in ballot numbers that should have been reported to Logan somehow failed to make it up the chain. So, the guy is not without blemish. It is instructive to point out, however, that the election had an accuracy rate of more than 99 percent in King County. Near perfection. The election flaws -- which have not been deemed illegalities or straight-out fraud -- would never have surfaced had this election not been as tight as a snare drum. There's also this point: The King County elections office was a mess before Logan was hired for the job two years ago. His predecessor resigned under fire after officials discovered that more than 1,800 absentee ballots were mailed late to voters. Oops. A former elections superintendent also got the boot for allegedly lying about election woes. Oops, again. Enter Logan, who took over with a reputation for discipline and a wonkish devotion to public policy -- qualities that served him well in Kitsap County, where he was a supervisor of elections. Logan looked to be a good fit in Democrat-rich King County -- until the otherworldly election exposed more flaws than a Microsoft beta program. The debacle Logan now faces would be a crucible for any election director of any political affiliation anywhere. He is in the perfect place to address this trouble. He knows the job. He knows the system. Logan can lead the county out of the woods, provided he's given the chance and doesn't become collateral damage in the GOP's rage campaign. If Republicans want better government rather than a rant, they'd wisely hold the fire where it really belongs -- at the feet of King County Executive Ron Sims. Sims has known about the county's election foibles for years. Ultimately, the responsibility lands on his desk. But Republicans are spoiling for a fight wherever they can find one. There is a time and place for their indignation: Election Day, in November, when Sims is up for re-election. Let the voters decide. Until then, the GOP Scream Machine needs to lower the volume. It needs to stop its wild personal attacks that are more about payback than productive ends for us all. It needs to work with Democrats, bridging this ugly political chasm, to ensure a less scary process the next time. The time has come to put away the blade. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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