Goldy

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Norm Coleman attorney James Langdon, in a letter to judges hearing the Minnesota election contest:

Some courts have held that when the number of illegal votes exceeds the margin between the candidates — and it cannot be determined for which candidate those illegal votes were cast — the most appropriate remedy is to set aside the election. In that regard, the Court may wish to review the following cases addressing situations in which the number of illegal votes is large and the margin of victory is small…

So, first Coleman’s attorney’s argue for proportionate reduction, and now they argue that if the number of illegal votes exceeds the margin of victory, the entire election has to be set aside and redone.  Sounds familiar, no?

There are in fact rare grounds for setting aside the results of an election, but as we learned in WA in 2004, closeness sure as hell ain’t one of them.  Of course, what happened here holds no legal precedence for MN, but dollars to donuts the judges there will be looking at Judge Bridge’s decision before writing their own.

As expected, four-term Seattle City Councilmember Jan Drago announced this weekend that she will not be running for reelection this November, leaving at least two open seats in what is shaping up to be our most interesting council election in years.

Whether “interesting” equals “quality” when it comes to the final slate of candidates remains to be seen.

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Of course, his whole tale of personal heroism and defiance has since been totally debunked; Jindal’s office now admits that he played no part in the incident, in fact, wasn’t even present at the time, and only heard about it from the Sheriff days afterward.

But… in Jindal’s defense, he does start off this anecdote by saying “let me tell you a story.”  So I suppose he could claim he never intended it to be interpreted as nonfiction.

In yet another blow to the city’s media outlets, Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess has announced that no, in fact he won’t challenge Mayor Greg Nickels this November after all:

Despite dissatisfaction with some aspects of Nickels’ performance, “There are many many thing where we are in sync,” Burgess said. Absent major policy differences, he argued, the race would degenerate into a contest of “personality and style.”

Yeah… well… that’s exactly what a lot of reporters were hoping for, prompting The Stranger’s Dan Savage to quip “I may have to run.”

I think I can safely speak for all of your publication’s competitors in saying run, Dan, run!

I was recently forwarded a copy of HB 2002, entitled “An act relating to the generation of electricity in carbonless energy parks,” and while I generally find myself in the pro-parks/anti-carbon camp, I was intrigued enough by the title to read on.  So what is, according to this bill, a carbonless energy park?

(b) “Carbonless energy park” means an unfinished site for a nuclear power project that is located east of the crest of the Cascade mountains and is partially or wholly developed to generate electricity with a production capacity of not less than 10 megawatts;

In other words, this bill specifically refers to the four unfinished nuclear plants left mothballed from the costly WPPSS fiasco.

Huh.  Sounds to me like a “carbonless energy park” is in fact a nuclear power project, as I’m not sure what other carbonless, 10 megawatt-plus generating technologies could possibly be crammed on these four specific sites?  I’m guessing none, but I’ve emailed a handful of legislators asking for further explanation, just in case I’m wrong.

Now, I want to be clear:  I’m a technologist at heart, so I break with some of my fellow environmentalists in automatically rejecting nuclear energy as a viable alternative, especially now that greenhouse gas emissions have been recognized as our most pressing environmental threat.  I believe that nuclear power plants can be designed, built and operated to be both safe and economical, and as soon as I’m persuaded we have an equally safe, economical and secure means of transporting and disposing of their radioactive waste, I’m more than willing to consider construction based on next generation designs.

But dubbing these sites “carbonless energy parks”…?  That’s not an effort to persuade; that’s an effort to deceive.

There are strong arguments to be made for reviving the domestic nuclear power industry—they may not be strong enough to sway public opinion, especially here in sandal-wearing, granola-crunching WA state, but they are valid arguments nonetheless.  So if paving the way for restarting construction at the former WPPSS sites is indeed the goal of HB 2002’s sponsors, let them make their best case possible, rather than hiding their motives behind bullshit, pseudo-green Orwellian language like “carbonless energy parks.”

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Both the Seattle P-I and the Seattle Times editorialize today, demanding that longtime King County Assessor Scott Noble resign in the wake of his serious drunk-driving accident.  It would be hard to disagree.

Just any DUI should not automatically disqualify one from public office, though it certainly is more than fair fodder in a political campaign, but this incident—a near fatal u-turn on I-5, with Noble registering a blood-alcohol of .22%—is not just any DUI.  And Noble’s failure to proactively admit and apologize for the incident only compounds this gross violation of the public trust.

Were the Assessor an appointed position, Noble would no doubt be fired, and considering the seriousness of this incident there is little doubt that he would lose reelection should he be foolish enough to seek it.  Noble should do the right thing for voters, his office and himself, and resign now.

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Just listen to those slap-happy jokesters at CPAC loudly laugh and cheer at the mere thought of Chicago being destroyed in a nuclear attack.  And who says conservatives don’t have a sense of humor?

After months of legal maneuvering and public grandstanding in his futile effort to reverse the results of his excruciatingly close loss to Al Franken, former US Senator Norm Coleman is now calling for a revote in the Minnesota senate race.  Sounds familiar, huh?

This represents a come to Jesus moment for Coleman and his attorneys, for as we learned here in Washington state during the 2004 gubernatorial contest—where Dino Rossi only started calling for a revote after it became clear he had lost the recount—a call for a do-over election is not only the last, desperate refuge of losers, it is a losing argument in itself.

“What does the court do?” Norm asked rhetorically. “Yeah, you know some folks are now talking about simply saying run it again, just run it again. … Ultimately the court has to make a determination, can they confirm, can they certify who got the most legally cast votes?”

Yeah…  except, Coleman is an attorney, and so he knows that’s not the determination before the court.  It’s the canvassing board that determines who got the most legally cast votes; the court ultimately only determines if the board acted properly, and within the applicable statutes.  There are irregularities and errors in every election, and in a contest this close, nobody can absolutely confirm who got the most legally cast votes.

Coleman’s self-serving and situational solution?

“I got to believe next time this happens folks are going to say … if you have something within a couple of say percentage – this is by the way was thousandths of a percent – but if you have something within a couple of hundred votes out of three million cast, probably the best thing to do next time is run it again in three weeks and put all this other stuff aside.”

And, um… if three weeks later, it still comes to within a couple hundred votes out of three million, what then?

The problem for Coleman and his revote argument is that our election statutes clearly anticipate extremely close elections, as best illustrated by the provisions in place for handling an actual tie; in Minnesota as in most other jurisdictions, once the recount and challenge provisions have been exhausted, ties are determined not by the courts or by a new election, but by lot. This is because our election statutes generally prefer finality over certainty… and with good reason.

See, what Coleman has understandably lost sight of is that this election is not about him or Franken or their supporters or even the voters of Minnesota and their sense of justice and fair play.  Elections are about the smooth, peaceful and efficient transfer of power.  Elections are sometimes very close, and they are almost always conducted imperfectly, but the stability, continuity and legitimacy of our government is too important to be threatened by lengthy court challenges and perhaps an endless cycle of do-over elections.

In Minnesota in 2008, as in Washington state in 2004, the margin of victory is so far within the likely rate of error that it is fair to categorize both contests as a statistical tie.  Perhaps Coleman did receive a few more legally cast votes than Franken, perhaps not.  We’ll never know.  But Franken was determined the winner by the rules in place at the time, and that makes him at least as legitimate as those who are selected by the drawing of straws or the flip of a coin… and certainly more legitimate than Coleman and his ill-conceived, selfish and ultimately futile calls for revote.

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Not exactly a profile in courage:

US Representative David G. Reichert’s first mention that he “voted no twice on the stimulus package” earned him a standing ovation that echoed through the Elks Club auditorium. A declaration that “we should be angry” provoked screams of, “We are!”

[…] But in the short term, Reichert acknowledges that the stimulus bill will deliver tangible good news to his constituents. By April, they are to start seeing the bill’s tax cuts reflected in slightly larger paychecks. Within months, there may be job listings for construction projects, perhaps for the high-speed rail corridor – one of 10 nationwide to share in $8 billion in new funding – that runs along Reichert’s district. By the end of the year, local companies in this tech-centric area may be reaching for some of the money to improve the digital infrastructure of the healthcare industry.

“I feel a responsibility at this point to make this still work,” Reichert said.

What absolutely (and absolutely typical) shameless hypocrisy.  When the Seattle Times lauds Reichert for his “conscience-driven independence,” I guess they’re really referring to his independence from an actual conscience.

(Oh, and speaking of the Times… why the hell am I reading this article on Reichert in the Boston Globe, instead of the Times, P-I or TNT?)