State Senator and noted right-wing nutjob Pam Roach is seriously considering a run from the newly created elected position of King County Elections Director… or at least, that’s what the TNT’s Joe Turner is reporting. But don’t you worry, because the Elections Director is officially a non-partisan position, so we can expect whoever wins it to operate it in a completely non-partisan manner, regardless of their established record as a right-wing nutjob. Um… right?
The new elections director will be chosen in a February 4th special election. Here’s hoping only one qualified Democrat files for the office lest Roach win on name recognition alone.
Does’t need to live in King County? or did she move agian?
A lot of the animosity toward Roach stems from her drafting a bill outlawing bestiality.
please please dig up the speech she gave about penises on the floor one time
memory has faded on this one, but, it is beyond belief
How can a special provision in the King Code Charter overrule state election law? The new charter amendment says that the office should be filled in a special election in February 2009. But state election law says that nonpartisan races (except for certain judicial offices and SPI, where a majority can win in the primary) must have a top two primary first, and then a runoff general election afterwards.
Toby Nixon deliberately put the February special election date in the charter amendment, since state law does not provide for any special election dates between November and February. The intent was to have a winner-take-all plurality race, without the possibility of a runoff election. The idea was for one Republican to win with a minority of the vote in the primary, rather than be defeated by a Democrat in the runoff.
However, there is absolutely NOTHING in state law for a nonpartisan election to be decided by a minority plurality. Nor does the King County charter amendment expressly state that a minority plurality would decide the special election.
It is too bad that the Democratic majority on the King County Council did not give the voters the alternative of a November election (with August primary) to fill this position.
Technically, the February special election is merely part of the county ordinance that the voters approved in November 2007 (which placed the charter amendment on the November 2008 ballot), and not part of the charter amendment itself.
So the King County Council can amend the ordinance portion, setting the February 2009 special election date, by a vote of 2/3 of the council — since initiative adopted ordinances require a 2/3 vote to amend within the first two years after adoption.
Unfortunately, there are only five Democrats on the King County Council. There could have been six Democrats, but not enough Democrats were interested in increasing the majority last year. So the four Republicans on the council can block this ordinance amendment.
So it looks like a good chance for Pam Roach to cruise into the election director position with a 35% or so plurality in the February special election.
god oh god
going to the temple in fear to pray
save us from Madame Crazy lady Roach
Well, who’s a valid opponent? Time to ramp up their campaign…
Can’t let a lady who thinks firearms are a valid means of negotiation be in charge of KC Elections, no matter how much Olympia would sigh in relief…
Since King County voters think electing their Elections Director is a good idea, why shouldn’t they elect brain surgeons, too! After all, these aren’t technical jobs, so a politician who knows none of the details can do the job quite nicely simply by bringing a partisan point of view to the work, and who cares if they bolix it up anyway?
If Pam Roach is a non-partisan anything, I’m a penguin egg!
Which species, Roger?
You have 17 to choose from.
Since we’re talking about La Cucaracha, I’d suggest Yellow Eyed or Erect Crested. Certainly not Emperor or King.
You heard it (and ignored it) here first.
It’s getting late.
(BTW, that special election is Tuesday, February 3rd).
Yay Pam! Another year of discussing armed lunch ladies in school cafeterias. I think her candidacy is secretly funded by local talk radio stations so they will have something to talk about.
Can Pam even raise money when the legislative freeze kicks in? Hmmmmm?
Also, as I pointed out some time back over on Washblog, Jason Osgood got nearly 48% in King County when he ran for the state wide Sec of State office in this last election.
The answer to the question “Who can ramp up that fast?” is Jason Osgood.
Would La Cucaracha have to quit her other job as pistol-packin’ State Senator? Or is this another of those Tim Sheldon (Senator/County Commissioner) two-fers?
At least no one would ever accuse Pam of being a RINO.
Money may not be much of a factor, as there won’t be much time to spend it.
Particle Man @ 12:
Let us hope . . .
King County is the only county in Washington that does not elect a county auditor whose role includes the running of elections. So I’m not overly concerned about having an elected director.
That said, the idea of Pam Roach holding such a vital position is horrifying. I used to work with a former elected official who served with Roach. The official referred to her as “the most anti-democratic officeholder I’ve ever met”. She is not qualified and is too viciously partisan to control our election process.
@16 King County isn’t just another Washington County. There are something like 4,000 counties in the U.S., and only 1 handles more absentee ballots than King County — Los Angeles County, which is where Dean Logan works now. It takes an expert like Logan to successfuly run King County Elections. Roach couldn’t begin to do it properly, even if she was motivated to do it properly, which she isn’t.
N @ 13 — It does not seem that the holding of these two offices would give rise to a conflict of interest such that the doctrine of incompatible offices would apply.
Of course this E.D. would supervise the counting of ballots over his/her own election to the other office, but that conflict comes with the territory as a elected E.D. ipso facto supervises the election which keeps him/her in office.
For some weird reason the people of this county voted for a partisan elections director while voting up and down the ticket for Dems.
They just invited BIAW and friends to run some whack job in there like the Minnow.
It’s nuts!
RonK @18.
I’ve thought a lot about the conflict of interest, where the auditor/director or Secretary of State presides over their own re-election.
My opponent used his soapbox to maximum effect. Every press release from his office functions as a campaign ad. Overly optimistic projected turnouts, important announcements, publicizing a tax-payer funded survey about the Top 2 primary, etc.
The only mitigation idea I have is to stagger the Secretary of State’s election from the Presidential. (Might also be a good idea for the rest of the down ballot statewide races.) Then the voters could be judged how well the Chief Elections Officer just performed. (King County 2004, Pierce County 2008, ??? County 2012)
With this notion, the same should apply to the auditor/director.
Cheers, Jason Osgood
If she wins, we should send her flowers. Maybe someone will move them again and we can watch a repeat of her screaming. heh
The Economist recently weighed in on the “dumbing down” of the Republican Party.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/.....ource=mypi
Pam Roach literally started the trend. Decades ago. Remember when she mailed herself ashes from her own fire place right after the Anthrax scare? (helps to avoid prosecution when you deliver fat by the truckload to law and justice budgets) This woman has a victim’s complex like you wouldn’t believe! She would be a hilarious elections director…in the tradition of Julie Anne Kempf! Sorry, that was low. My apologies to Sen. Roach.
Double & triple dipping is Pam Roach’s speciality. Remember all those years she was taking a big salary working for Kent Pullen on the King County Council? Her name was on the door of an office, but she was literally there once or twice per year. When somebody filed a complaint, folks were expecting she had a remote office set up somewhere in S King county. But records showed no phone bill, no internet connection…nothing. The woman was literally taking a check to do…nothing.
No joke: when Ken Pullen died from cancer, Roach actually went for that appointment, too…so she was on the verge of taking three salaries. Triple dipping: the ultimate in “conservative” politics. Pam Roach has one mantra she always follows: corruption is only a bad thing when SHE isn’t benefiting from it.
Moral of the story: never trust a ‘populist’ reformer on the right or on the left. Their world view (corruption lurks everywhere) comes from personal experience.
Note: Filing period is Dec. 10-12,
ballots hit the mail Jan 14-16.
if pam roach files to run, whatever candidate runs against her will get every penny i have and every free second of my day from now until the election. she cannot win another office and, god willing, she won’t be returned to olympia after her next cycle.
Yeah, because corrupt professional election-stealer Dean Logan did such a bang-up job in 2004 right? He’s now in trouble in L.A. for the same thing. Who woulda thunk it?
26 – Gee. We just had an election and people rejected that sore-losing whiner Rossi pretty strongly.
We dodged a bullet in 2004.
I have been hoping that Senator Roach would find something else to do, but this isn’t it…
All the neocommies are whining because there is a good chance that they won’t be able to “fix” the elections anymore!!
Ironic, progressives think the same about conservatives. That they fix elections their way.
Any chance the current KC elections director will run for the office?
Better a pro than crazy Pam.
@31…CS…
In a word,”NO!”
First, she’s not a King County resident – she lives over on the peninsula, and isn’t inclined to move.
Second, she’s close enough to her own retirement not to want to take on what should be a career position in elective government.
That answer your question?
The Piper
What do we have to do to get Jason Osgood to run??? Seems to me that he could “fight City Hall” from the inside.