Reporter Neil Modie takes down King County Councilman Raymond Shaw Reagan Dunn in this morning’s Seattle P-I… and it’s well deserved.
If identity thieves needed assistance plundering King County’s records for sensitive personal data about its citizens, County Councilman Reagan Dunn may have unwittingly helped them out Monday.
Dunn held a news conference to call attention to the fact that the county Records, Elections and Licensing Services Division posts documents containing Social Security numbers and other personal data online for “potentially thousands of current and former King County residents.”
[…]
Sandeep Kaushik, a spokesman for King County Executive Ron Sims, Logan’s boss, added, “Here’s a situation where there’s no indication that any kind of identity theft has occurred before, and now there’s a public announcement out there drawing people’s attention to it.”
Oy.
See, here’s what I’m guessing happened. Shaw Dunn thought he had a sexy story on his hands — one of those golden opportunities for some free press — and all he needed to do to cash in was take yet another cheap shot at outgoing KCRE director Dean Logan. This was a freebie.
But in his haste, Shaw Dunn simply didn’t think through the consequences, for in publicizing this issue he likely made the problem much worse by telling aspiring identity thieves exactly where to find the personal information they are looking for.
Ooops.
And when you look at the chronology of events, Shaw’s Dunn’s defense of himself comes off as a bit disingenuous.
When asked why he held a news conference to highlight the problem instead of drafting legislation to remedy it, Dunn said he wouldn’t have done so “if the director had been willing to work with us on this. … I couldn’t get Records and Elections to do anything about this.”
That’s right, Shaw Dunn could get Logan to do anything about this… for an entire day.
From: Barringer, Christopher
Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 1:10 PM
To: Logan, Dean
Cc: Dunn, Reagan; Axe, Casey
Subject: REALS InformationMr. Logan,
Attached is an urgent letter from Councilman Dunn. If you would like to speak with Councilman Dunn over the phone, please do not hesitate to call me […] I will do my best to put you in contact with him or his Chief of Staff, Casey Axe.
Here is a copy of the letter sent out by Shaw’s Dunn’s staffer on Thursday afternoon. At 9:28 AM the next morning, Logan forwarded the letter to staff, and by that afternoon he emailed back a detailed, three-page response. Shaw Dunn held his press conference the next business day, at 11 AM Monday morning.
Didn’t exactly give KCRE much time to “work with us on this,” huh?
See, this is exactly the kind of ill tempered, ill thought out, partisan sniping that has Logan leaving for greener pastures, and several of the top management slots at KCRE left unfilled. I mean really… who the hell would want to work in an environment where every communication with a Republican council member must be assumed to be a setup for a media assault and a personal attack?
The responsible thing for Shaw Dunn to do would have been to really attempt to work with Logan instead of immediately going for the easy media hit. It also would have been the smart thing for Shaw Dunn to do, for unless he takes a step back from the KCGOP’s angry, right-wing base and starts governing like a grownup, he’s going to permanently alienate himself from the independent and centrist Eastside voters he’ll need if he’s ever going to fulfill is political promise.
No doubt, Shaw Dunn is the anointed one; if Darcy Burner defeats Dave Reichert this November, dollars to doughnuts she’ll be facing off against Shaw Dunn in 2008.
But first impressions count, and so far Shaw Dunn isn’t making a very good first impression.
INSIDE JOKE ALERT:
FYI, the whole “Raymond Shaw Reagan Dunn” schtick is, of course, a Manchurian Candidate reference, and while the excellent original starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and a chilling performance by Angela Lansbury is the only version worth seeing, it’s Liev Schreiber’s character in the disappointing 2004 remake to which Dunn eerily resembles in appearance, manner, and um… circumstance.
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Clueless here – what’s the Shaw/Dunn joke?
Competence has NEVER been a requirement for someone to be invited into the republican tent.
Republican politicians are stupid. What else is new?
Why does Raygun Dunce hate Americans?
Why didn’t good government Ron Sims and Dean Logan fix this so it didn’t happen?
I thought you guys were all over good government.
Seems posting my ss number isn’t very good.
Jesus, this stuff goes back 10 years. Is Dean Logan responsible for every fucking thing?
What a bunch of assholes.
You’re new here, eh, Wondering…?
It’s Shaw as in Raymond Shaw in The Manchurian Candidate, the programmed/brainwashed automaton son of the evil and manipulative Mrs. Iselin.
Starring Angela Lansbury as Jennifer Dunn and Laurence Harvey as Reagan Dunn.
Wondering,
More information about the
ShawDunn joke here.Perhaps this is just one more reason voters say they favor a Dem win in the next election?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....tics_x.htm
Republicans, in addition to being liars, cowards and traitors, are incompetent and based on what we see from Lush Flimbaugh, impotent too!
Breaking news. Republicans BITCH-SLAPPED AGAIN! They loooooose in their attempt to trample all over the Constitution.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....bill_x.htm
So, every time someone gets their laptop stolen that has millions of names and numbers in it, it shouldn’t be reported because that will help the identity thieves? What kind of logic is that?
Dunn wanted to let the citizens of King County know that their information is out there. I suspect that identity thieves probably already figured it out.
And if it was such a bad thing, then isn’t the PI and all the media reporting on it just as bad? Including this site?
Goldy, either you are a complete dunce, an idiot or someone who has lost his marbles (or all of the above). But it doesn’t amaze me that you argue Dunn is at fault while hidding the real issue. The King County records site is well known to many and if you truely wanted to steal identities, you didn’t have to wait until Dunn told you about the opportunities. Geeze…
But based on everything KC has done lately, I doubt that KC Records would have done anything if it wouldn’t have been made public. So this was the only way to get a fix fast, get people informed and start asking questions. But of course, you have to turn this around for partisan purposes and your minuscule base is eating it up…no surprise here.
So why not help to protect the people, ask for a fix, and gain credibility at the same time….but I guess that would be too much to ask.
N @ 7
“It’s Shaw as in Raymond Shaw in The Manchurian Candidate, the programmed/brainwashed automaton son of the evil and manipulative Mrs. Iselin.”
If this is true, And I am sure it is, then McSafeco and Regan Dunn are really brothers since as everyone knows by now, Jennifer Dunn and Slade Gordon are the same person. Even now, they never show up at the same place.
What a bunch of lying bullshit.
1988 and 1995, those are the years that records can reveal SS#s.
Fucking Reagan Dunn talks about Kitsap, but they haven’t even installed the system yet that might allow for redactions of sensitive information.
If a dog gets hurt, its Dean Logan’s fault. If he doesn’t solve problems that have been around for decades, it’s Dean Logan’s fault. If Dino Rossi loses, it’s Dean Logan’s fault.
What the fuck is the KC Council for?
I’ve posted an update to explain the inside joke for the newcomers.
Oh… and for those of you echoing
ShawDunn… read Dean Logan’s letter. Go on… read it.Reagan Dunn is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.
Goldy @15
I’ll be delighted to read it when you post a link that works.
FLAG BURNING AMENDMENT LOSES BY 1 VOTE
bwaaa-haaa-haa-ha, another wingfuck defeat!
With all 100 senators voting, the flag burning constitutional amendment lost, 66-34. http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....bill_x.htm
Roger – that means that more than a few dems voted in favor of this amendment. Not all the pandering is from one party.
Luckily for our trolls, the amendment failed, because they desecrate the flag every time they open their mouths.
19
Janet, I’m sooo glad you see the amendment for what it is — pandering.
Commentby Harry Tuttle— 6/27/06@ 4:13 pm
“What the f*ck is the KC Council for?” (expletive deleted)
Passing legislation and oversight. Not executing the laws passed by the legislative branch, that’s the responsibility of the executive branch. Separation of powers right?
Goldy, as a software engineer (former?) I’d expect better reasoning from you. Of all people should know that security through obscurity is a flawed concept.
I don’t reacll any outrage from you lefties here when two staffers working on Sen. Schumer’s Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee illegally obtained the SSN of Michael Steele in an attempt to find information to damage Steele’s Maryland Senate campaign. Isn’t privacy a Constitutional right going on almost 40 years now?
laws passed by the legislative branch
They have nothing to do with their passage, no, they are the source of the laws, They mandate putting public information on-limne. They provide the money to maintain those records.
Something, ir someone knew in 1995 that there was stuff in the records that shouldn’t be online.
Why didn’t the council mandate a fix for earlier records and fund the necessary fix?
Roger @17,
Ooops. File was there, but it must have been some weird naming convention. Anyway, I changed the filename and updated the links.
Though I do find it curious that nobody else bothered to tell me the link was bad. It pretty much confirms that people were ready to criticize KCRE without actually bothering to read all the information.
22.
Leave it some right wing asshole to have an obscure reference to, NOT, justify a right wing asshole like Reagan Dunn to reveal a way to get private information on thousands of KC citizens.
Dunn was granstanding, pure and simple. He had to take one more gratuitous shot at Dean Logan (no doubt at your suggestion, Steffie) even though NO GOOD COULD COME FROM IT.
“But in his haste, Shaw Dunn simply didn’t think through the consequences, for in publicizing this issue he likely made the problem much worse by telling aspiring identity thieves exactly where to find the personal information they are looking for.”
Hmmmm….so Dunn is an idiot for pointing out King County’s error and lack of concern about privacy, but the media running leaked stories about counter-terror operations because somebody inside has a political agenda is what? Doesn’t the leak of such programs have the potential of having “consequences”, once potential terrorists are aware of the program?
I’m not defending these counter-terror programs per se, but I see a double standard here of blaming the messenger for the faults of the government agency that should know better.
And, yes, Roger, that applies to both sides.
ConservativeFirst:
Why are liberals supposed to express “outrage” every time someone connected to the democrats does something stupid? I don’t see the righties recoiling in horror about when the GOP staffers intercepted democratic computer files or messed with the New Hampshire phone banks. I guess its okay when its for a good cause, right? But when 4 vandals slash some tires in Milwaukee it is symptomatic of the whole Democratic party, and we should run around in hair shirts apologizing.
Besides, to you righties every screw up is actually part of a sinister plot and not just an accident. When a low level White House employee accidentally uses an old list when requesting FBI files for clearances and gets some GOP files, it is an evil plot hatched by Hilary Clinton. Never mind that they only got half the alphabet (I guess the important Republicans only had names starting A-M) and there was never a shred of evidence any of the files was used for any purpose. Its not a screw up by an ignorant staffer, its “Filegate”!
If two of Schumer’s staff did what you claim they ought to be fired. Not only because they did something wrong, but because they are stupid. Steele has no chance of winning so why do something illegal? It can only help him by making the opponent look bad.
26
No, Dunn is an idiot for going to the press with it.
He’s not unable to effect a solution. A hell of a lot more so than a person who’ll be in LA next month.
That didn’t come out right. Dunn will be more able, and more responsible, for getting a solution accomplished than Logan, who will be in LA.
Do you think the reason Janet S is such a bitch is that her husband, like her hero, LimpDickLimbaugh can’t get a stiff one?
DUNN Immediately disable access to the Records & Elections online documents.
LOGAN Immediately disabling access to the Recorder’s Office online documents would severely affect those who have come to rely on the website, including citizens, title companies, surveyors, escrow agents, and county, law enforcement agencies, and other governmental agencies. There are over 36,000,000 pages of records available on the website. A query run when this letter was drafted showed over 1,300 active sessions (users accessing the website) over two servers. This is a typical activity level. A query run at the same time showed that in a 24-hour period (6/21) over 60,000 image pages were requested for viewing and/or printing.
DUNN Disable the imaging option for public records on the site until greater security measures can be implemented.
LOGAN Additionally, in recognition that a small minority of documents, other than those identified above, may have been submitted for recording with a personal identifier embedded in the document, in 2003 King County proactively developed procedures to allow for the removal of those images from our records website – a mechanism not currently available in other Washington counties where records indexes and images are available on-line. To date, 112 of these “Remove Image from Website” documents have been recorded.
DUNN Develop a different system for tracking this information that does not place the burden of discovery on the citizen.
LOGAN …the financial and operational impact of redacting portions of several million pages of document images is also tremendous. Legislation introduced in 2006 requesting that public documents be reviewed for personal identifiers prior to delivering copies to customers did not pass. It was found to be far too costly in terms of staffing and equipment and to severely hinder the ability to provide outstanding customer service.
If Dunn’s making a public fuss about inappropriate accessibility of citizens’ information, it must mean the Republicans have finished grabbing all of it.
You know this is a hell of a time for a rightie to get concerned about identity theft. The VA, completely under the control of the Bush regime actually LOST data. And the righties don’t seem to mind. But then they try a political stunt when no data has been lost, showing that ONCE AGAIN, their ethics, if you can call them that, are situational at best!
The only way your information to be removed is for you to personally request that it be removed. But no one should tell people that their information is there and that they should ask to have it removed. I see.
Bruce Fein, attorney and renowned legal scholar, told the Senate Judiciary Committee,
“I would recommend that Congress enact a generic law that prohibits the expenditure of any funds of the United States to enforce a bill that the President has signed into law but which he has declared in a signing statement that he will refuse to enforce in whole or in part because of its alleged unconstitutionality. That use of the power of the purse would transform such signing statements into the equivalent of a constitutional veto. It would force the President to accept either all of a bill or none, as the Founding Fathers intended.”
.
.
.
“If all other avenues have proved unavailing, Congress should contemplate impeachment for signing statements that systematically flout the separation of powers and legislative prerogatives. The epitome of an impeachable offense, as Alexander Hamilton amplified in the Federalist Papers, is a political crime against the Constitution.”
Harvard Law Professor Charles J. Ogletree added,
“This excessive exercise of executive power, coupled with the failure to use the authorized veto power, creates serious issues of constitutional magnitude, and requires a legislative response… The President has used signing statements on 207 occasions to object to a bill’s constitutionality on the grounds that it interferes with his “power to supervise the unitary executive,” or with his “exclusive power over foreign affairs,” or with his “authority to determine and impose national security classifications and withhold information.” Such examples require further probing by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and more detailed and persuasive explanations from the executive branch.”
Typical fucking librul seattle media and their gullible consumers. That fucking idiot Dean Logan is the culprit here, not Reagan Dunn. In fact, Dunn had A CIVIC DUTY to put this out there to put some heat on the fucking idiots that run King County.
Typical fucking wackjob mouthbreathing conservative response from MTR and his gullible ignorance. That fucking idiot Dunn is the culprit here, not Neil Modie. In fact, Logan had A CIVIC DUTY to tell Dunn to put a sock in it to put some heat on the fucking idiots that (sic) continually carp uselessly at his demonstrable civic virtue.
MTR=maroooooon
Some say Sharkansky swiped a lot of SSN#’s during his ill fated romp through King County Election Records.
Yes, some say.
Take it from here, Jonah and Michelle!
Janet S. postulates @11:
So, every time someone gets their laptop stolen that has millions of names and numbers in it, it shouldn’t be reported because that will help the identity thieves?
Ah, Janet…cool down a bit. Nothing has been stolen.
What kind of logic is that?
Since the proffered “logic” makes no sense, the question can only be termed puzzling.
Dunn wanted to let the citizens of King County know that their information is out there.
Yes. Via a cheap theatric ploy that demeans the duties he has sworn to carry out.
I suspect that identity thieves probably already figured it out.
In that case, what’s your point? None, I take it. I suppose next you’ll scold us with “9/11 changed EVERYTHING”.
And if it was such a bad thing, then isn’t the PI and all the media reporting on it just as bad?
Classic straw man “analysis”, but the answer is “no”.
Including this site?
The issue is Dunn’s behavior, not Goldy’s. You’re obviously not paying attention.
LT – with your rhetorical skills, I can’t imagine how you ever lose an argument.
Harry – I think you are right – this is too far gone to be fixed at this point. Dunn did the right thing by alerting the public to the easy access to their SSN’s. The best thing to do now is put into place an easy way to suspend your credit if you suspect identity theft.
Oh, that’s right, McKenna (republican) proposed this in the last session, but the democrats killed it. Seems they are in the pockets of the credit agencies and credit card companies that might be inconvenienced by letting the consumer have control over access to their credit.
Never to let a fact get in the way of an argument Janet – I admire that about you.
Here’s the deal. The records laws are governed in part by State laws. And during the time republicans had control over the state legislature – they did NOTHING about this problem. So it’s a bit late to blame a Democrat now isn’t it.
The truth of the matter is simple. The laws are there for any lazy son of a bitch to read. If you don’t want to have your info on the site, you send in a form, they redact it and that’s it. That’s the law. Don’t like the law, elect people who will change it. And be willing to pay for those changes, which would cost millions. But then you’d loooooose the value of this stunt and so I am sure you and the republican councilman who just tipped off the identity thieves don’t really care about anything but the politics of this now do you? You fucking hypocrite.
And speaking of pandering to the credit card companies, it was the republican white house and congress that took more money from credit card companies by 90% than did Dems. The credit card companies are protected at a federal level from any liability for identity theft because they bought and paid for the protection of the GOP controlled federal government – but once again, that will be okay with Janet because she doesn’t really care about anything but spewing the party line.
@39
Stefan didn’t swipe any SSN’s during his “enlightening” romp through KC Election Records. The ballots don’t have SSN’s on them. He did find hundreds of illegally counted ballots and many ballots NOT counted that should have been.
In other words, KC Election Records documents were/are a total clusterfuck! They are a clusterfuck with a Democrat in charge and they would still be a clusterfuck if they had a Republican in charge.
To claim that Logan isn’t responsible for any mistakes or errors in his department is ridiculous. Of course, he is responsible. Instead of jumping up with excuses and blaming others, he should try to work with people to fix it. Logan creates a lot of the tension and the culture that he supposedly hates.
What do you mean about CC’s being protected? Protected how?
Speaking of credit cards, they need to pass a State law limiting the amount of interest that they can charge. Other states have stict ursury laws and our poor and working poor are bing slammed into next century with credit card interest.
Geez, I already conceded that there is nothing that can be done. The thieves had a big head start, and I’m betting that this wasn’t news to them. This problem has been out there a long time, I’m just surprised that it wasn’t made public before this.
Now we need tools to act quickly when we suspect our identities have been stolen. Any opposition to what McKenna proposed in the last legislative session?
It looks like some conservatives aren’t THAT conservative when it comes to spending OUR money.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13...../newsweek/
“It’s a national issue, to be quite frank,” Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy said. She said her office keeps certain types of documents off its Web site — as King County does — because they might contain Social Security numbers or similar data.
Pierce County was one that Dunn said has dealt with security concerns, but McCarthy indicated Pierce has the same problem since it has certain online records such as deeds of trust that sometimes contain Social Security numbers.
@42 The records laws are governed in part by State laws.
Hmm, which law is it that says the records must be posted on the website at all?
This Reagan Dunn is a real ass
Dunn said Kitsap County also had solved its security problem. But its auditor, Karen Flynn, said Kitsap doesn’t redact personal identity information online. It is in the process, however, of installing a system to redact such data automatically by recognizing the formats in which such numbers usually appear.
So, Reagan Dunn opened his big mouth before he knew what he was talking about.
Just like most wingnuts.
Commentby wayne— 6/27/06@ 4:54 pm
“If two of Schumer’s staff did what you claim they ought to be fired. Not only because they did something wrong, but because they are stupid. Steele has no chance of winning so why do something illegal? It can only help him by making the opponent look bad.”
Actually they did someting wrong, and illegal. Two of Schumer’s staffers obtained Steele’s credit report using his Social Security number, which they obtained from public documents. While not front page news, most of the MSM covered this story. Initially the staffers were only docked some pay but not fired. I think it speaks volumes to the value Sen. Schumer (as one Democrat) puts on individual privacy. There certainly was no outrage here on HA, even though there was concrete evidence that someone’s privacy was violated. I guess in Goldy’s, and the lefties on HA’s, world if you are a Black Republican you don’t have a right to privacy.
If two NRSC staffers had done the same thing to Kweisi Mfume, I think all the lefties here would be howling not stop for days demanding Elizabeth Dole’s resignation. And quite frankly I’d agree with them.
I’m not sure what you are basing your assertion that Steele has “no chance of winning”.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....02392.html
“Poll Finds Steele May Be Magnet for Black Voters
An internal document prepared by a top Democratic strategist warns that a majority of African American voters in Maryland are open to supporting Republican Senate candidate Michael S. Steele and advises the party not to wait to ‘knock Steele down.'”
You know this is a hell of a time for a rightie to get concerned about identity theft. The VA, completely under the control of the Bush regime actually LOST data. And the righties don’t seem to mind. But then they try a political stunt when no data has been lost, showing that ONCE AGAIN, their ethics, if you can call them that, are situational at best!
Commentby LeftTurn— 6/27/06@ 5:25 pm
I hope they determine the politics of the VA bozo like they did of the CIA leaker.. a holdeover from the Clinton years.
The VA is a bunch of career people who are not tied to any administration. And yeah, they suck. I am still fighting them over the payment, or lack thereof, of my Army College Fund benefits.
Norm Dicks is looking into it for me. :)
Commentby wayne— 6/27/06@ 4:54 pm
“Why are liberals supposed to express “outrage” every time someone connected to the democrats does something stupid?”
Well first it was more than stupid, it was illegal. I didn’t say that liberals were supposed to do anything. I was merely pointing out the contrast between Goldy’s outrage for some possible harm done to people, compared to complete lack of commentary on a situation where someone’s privacy was clearly violated. Of course the difference is that you can’t score political points as a Democrat attacking Charles Schumer, but you can by attacking Reagan Dunn or Raymond Shaw or whatever tired joke Goldy will beat into the ground next.
The VA is run 100% by Bush regime appointees. All the bosses are political appointees appointed by Bush. But of course you so-called conservatives, want to find someone else to blame for the incompetence demonstrated by every single Bush appointee there has ever been. Whether it’s FEMA’s Brown or the turds that lost the VA data, you want to blame anyone but yourselves. Sorry, truth wins out.
Investigators probe Limbaugh drug find
Deal in prior case could be at risk after Viagra found in his possession
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Investigators were trying to determine Tuesday whether Rush Limbaugh violated a deal with prosecutors in a long-running prescription fraud case when authorities found he had a bottle of Viagra that was apparently prescribed to someone else.
Uh-oh, LimpDickLimbaugh could be sharing a cell with fellow dicksucker Tommy DeLay…. HE FUCKING HE!
LeftTurd, you have some interesting fetishes. NOT
The lefties know they cant compete with Rush so there trying to take out commie style. Hehe
HARY YOUR STILL A FUCKING IDIOT.WHO SNIFFS TO MUCH GLUE.
HEY WHATS UP WITH THE LEFT AND THERE GREAT RADIO SHOW AIR AMERICA ITS GOING DOWN IN FLAME.SIMILAR TO GOLDYS SHOW.
ARMY RAISES ENLISTMENT AGE
Hey wingfucks! If you somehow missed the opportunity to enlist years ago, here’s your chance! You no longer have to daydream about humping a 60-lb. combat pack through the dusty alleys of Fallujah, or confine your sharpshooting to video games — now you can experience the real thing! Be all you can be!
“FORT KNOX, Ky. (Army News Service, June 22, 2006) – The Army has raised the enlistment age to 42, made possible under provisions of the Fiscal Year 2006 National Defense Authorization Act.” http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.....d_key=9197
So what the fuck are you waiting for? You want to serve your country, don’t it? You want to kick terrorist ass, don’t you? Don’t delay another minute — don’t sit on your ass waiting for your 43rd birthday to roll around — pick up the phone and call an Army recruiter today!
37
Redneck — man I hope your SS# is on that database! If you start seeing weird charges on your credit card, be sure to call Dunn and thank him for the opportunity to have your entire life fucked up by his political grandstanding.
Not that Redneck has much of a reputation to fuck up … he’s already famous for welshing bets.
I’ll bet all the wingfucks are now working on their driver’s licenses with razor blades to change their age to “44.”
Hey wingfucks! If you’re over 43, all is not lost! You can still vicariously experience the thrill of war by donating $99 to buy a helmet upgrade kit for a soldier in Afghanistan or Iraq. http://www.operation-helmet.org/ Of course, I know NONE of you will. You only “support the troops” with your mouths. When somebody asks you to forego a bottle of wine to save a soldier’s life, you’re nowhere to be seen.
“Yo” is a contraction of the word “yahoo” (as in “trailer park yahoo”) and is properly spelled “Y’o.” Like most wingnuts, Y’o can’t spell his own fucking name. For a photo of Y’o’s penthouse condo, click here: http://www.donan.com/images/st.....ehouse.jpg
ROGER RABBIT USES VIAGRA.STOPS HIM FROM PISSING ON HIS SHOES,AND FROM ROLLING OUT OF BED.
Nah. Our republican brothers in the military would rather us stay at home to defeat the enemy from within (democratic party). They know they cant fight because they are denied the right to vote. Dont worry boys, we will take care of the home front for you.
ROGER ASSWIPE I DONT NEED TO SPELL MY NAME AS LONG AS MY 4 CHECKS COME EVERY MONTH THATS ALL I CARE ABOUT.NOT LIKE THE ONE YOU GET FOR FUCKIN THE PEOPLE OF WA.
David, you’ve let your partisan politicking get in the way of common sense. I’m a Sims supporter AND a Dean Logan supporter, and even I can admit that this is a major fuck-up on the part of the County. In the era of identity theft, goverment should be shoring up its protection of personal information just like everyone else. Sure, Dunn used it for political advantage, but calling attention to this problem is not a bad thing, if it means the problem gets FIXED.
RR@64 I don’t think losing his SS# will hurt Mark the Retarded Redneck. . . ever since TRW 86’d him he’s had to use a prepaid Visa Card. The AM-PM learned early on to only take cash or M.O.’s from him for them.
ROGER I DOESNT NEED TO THINK I GOT I ANGER, ANGER, ANGER THATS RIGHT. I ASLO GOT A FLAG ROGER, A FLAG! AND A DOG! MY DOG BIGGER THAN YOUR DOG!
Obviously Dunn didn’t read Logan’s letter, or he didn’t care about the response if he read it.
1. If Dunn really was concerned about his constituant’s privacy concerns, there were certainly better ways of handling them. A quiet conversation with Logan, listening as Logan explained his problems, and then pushing for state legislation allowing the redacting of documents and funds to pay for the process would be the FIRST approach.
2. If Logan (or his successor) refuses reasonable requests after enabling legislation authorizes him to redact the information, THEN Dunn is free to go to the media.
As Logan’s letter and the Pierce County Auditor’s comments indicate, this isn’t a new issue for them. The records have ALWAYS had this information in them, its just that identity theft has only recently become a problem. They have been trying to resolve the “personal identifier” problem for a while now, without advertising the vulnerability to those who might be inclined to use it but didn’t know of its existence. Dunn’s stunt managed to remove that little problem for the identity thieves.
But with all the efforts to prevent anyone from having access to our social security numbers and birthdates, why hasn’t the real problem ever been addressed: there is no profit in obtaining this information if the credit card companies didn’t make it so easy to use it! Certainly there are simple technologies and techniques available which can prevent someone from opening credit in your name without your consent! Even debit cards require you to enter a PIN number to access your account, but credit card companies don’t even require that before a new account is opened in your name. Why? Because it might slow down their business sales!
I’ve lost the link, but there was an article recently where a reporter took a credit card application he received in the mail. He tore it up several times, wadded up the remains, and then spread it out on his table and then taped it back together. He then filled out the application, but instead of using his address, he used his brother’s address. He then mailed in the reconstructed form, and within a couple of weeks his brother called to tell him that the credit card arrived in the mail. The credit card company processed it with no questions asked – despite the obvious attempts to destroy the application. Why? Because the processors don’t have a duty to check out the applications, only to input the information into the computer and issue the cards!
Why hasn’t Congress done anything about this egregious neglect of basic business responsiblity? Need we even ask – this Congress is bought and paid for by the credit industry. This Congress even decided to protect credit card companies who issued credit cards to high-risk customers, at usurious interest rates, because it needed to inforce “personal responsibility” – making it a no-risk business proposition for them.
There’s no question, not one, that this was purely a political ploy. How do I know? Republicans don’t do ANYTHING that isn’t politically motivated. EVER!
Once again King County administration is a soup sandwhich.
As far as the KC taxpayers that support such nonsense: There is a fine line between tolerant and stupid.
D’oh!
Once again, King County does administratively as other counties do. The sole reason the wingnuts complain is that King County elects Democrats.
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Rabbits don’t wear shoes or sleep in beds, idiot!
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“Our … brothers in the military … know … they are denied the right to vote.” Commentby RUFUS Fitzgerald Kennedy— 6/27/06@ 10:53 pm
You got that right, Dufus! Republicans “won” Ohio for Bush by the contemptible tactic of sending registered letters to the homes of soldiers deployed to Iraq, then challenging their voter registrations, and there was nothing these disenfranchised soldiers could do about it — they didn’t even know they couldn’t vote!
“African-American Soldiers Scrubbed by Secret GOP Hit List
“The Republican National Committee has a special offer for African-American soldiers: Go to Baghdad, lose your vote. A confidential campaign directed by GOP party chiefs in October 2004 sought to challenge the ballots of tens of thousands of voters in the last presidential election, virtually all of them cast by residents of Black-majority precincts.
“Files from the secret vote-blocking campaign were obtained by BBC Television Newsnight, London. They were attached to emails accidentally sent by Republican operatives to a non-party website.
“One group of voters wrongly identified by the Republicans as registering to vote from false addresses: servicemen and women sent overseas.
“Here’s how the scheme worked: The RNC mailed these voters letters in envelopes marked, ‘Do not forward’, to be returned to the sender. These letters were mailed to servicemen and women, some stationed overseas, to their US home addresses. The letters then returned to the Bush-Cheney campaign as ‘undeliverable.’
“The lists of soldiers of ‘undeliverable’ letters were transmitted from state headquarters, in this case Florida, to the RNC in Washington. The party could then challenge the voters’ registration and thereby prevent their absentee ballots being counted.
“One target list was comprised exclusively of voters registered at the Jacksonville, Florida, Naval Air Station. Jacksonville is third largest naval installation in the US, best known as home of the Blue Angels fighting squandron.
“Our team contacted the homes of several on the caging list, such as Randall Prausa, a serviceman, whose wife said he had been ordered overseas.
“A soldier returning home in time to vote in November 2004 could also be challenged on the basis of the returned envelope. Soldiers challenged would be required to vote by ‘provisional’ ballot.
“Over one million provisional ballots cast in the 2004 race were never counted; over half a million absentee ballots were also rejected. The extraordinary rise in the number of rejected ballots was the result of the widespread multi-state voter challenge campaign by the Republican Party. The operation, of which the purge of Black soldiers was a small part, was the first mass challenge to voting America had seen in two decades.
“The BBC obtained several dozen confidential emails sent by the Republican’s national Research Director and Deputy Communications chief, Tim Griffin to GOP Florida campaign chairman Brett Doster and other party leaders. Attached were spreadsheets marked, ‘Caging.xls.’ Each of these contained several hundred to a few thousand voters and their addresses.
“A check of the demographics of the addresses on the ‘caging lists,’ as the GOP leaders called them indicated that most were in African-American majority zip codes.
…
“These GOP caging lists were obtained by the same BBC team that first exposed the wrongful purge of African-American ‘felon’ voters in 2000 by then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris. Eliminating the voting rights of those voters — 94,000 were targeted — likely caused Al Gore’s defeat in that race.
…
“The party has refused to say why it would mark soldiers as having ‘bad addresses’ subject to challenge when they had been assigned abroad.
“The apparent challenge campaign was not inexpensive. The GOP mailed the letters first class, at a total cost likely exceeding millions of dollars, so that the addresses would be returned to ‘cage’ workers.
…
“Setting up such a challenge list would be a crime under federal law. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlaws mass challenges of voters where race is a factor in choosing the targeted group.
…
It is not possible at this time to determine how many on the potential blacklist were ultimately challenged and lost their vote. Soldiers sending in their ballot from abroad would not know their vote was lost because of a challenge.”
For complete story and copyright info, see http://www.gregpalast.com/mass.....o-soldiers
Fortunately, Washington has stronger laws to protect voters than Florida or Ohio, and we have a Democratic legislature that turned back GOP efforts to weaken our laws and make this kind of bullshit possible here.
Unfortunately, King County has a partisan prosecutor who refuses to do anything about GOP operatives who commit felons in the course of trying to take away our citizens’ right to vote.
So let’s summarize this.
King County is bound by state law to make these records publicly accessible.
Logan realizes that certain forms contain SSN type information and has them automatically removed from the on-line database and checks new records being added.
Logan also realizes other forms may contain that info anyways but they don’t have the resources(not for lack of effort) to check each and every one of the several million existing forms for that info. So, he puts in a reporting mechanism for people to remove it from the database.
Dunn discovers the problem. Instead of working to make sure KC has the resources to check records, he fires off a letter and runs to the press the next morning.
Which one looks like they’re making a good faith effort to protect your personal information?
80
While rabbit gets most of his info from democratic hack sites I get mine straight from the military. Like this
A recent report issued by the National Defense Committee, a nonprofit organization that supports the U.S. military and encourages veterans to run for elective office, recently found that 25 percent of ballots cast by military personnel in the 2004 presidential election went uncounted. Incredibly, that rate of disenfranchisement could be even higher due to the fact that the study relied on voluntary disclosure of information from local election officials.
Unfortunately, the issue of soldiers being disenfranchised during an election is nothing new. We all remember the 2000 Florida recount fiasco and the events surrounding it. During that election, the rate of uncounted ballots cast by members of the armed forces was even higher at a staggering 29 percent nationwide.
In Florida, which turned out to be the pivotal state in determining the winner of the 2000 election, around 1,400 military absentee votes were left uncounted, largely because of the role of lawyers working for the Democratic Party at local canvassing boards who followed a directive from the party to challenge all military ballots on the premise that they likely were votes for Republican nominee George W. Bush.
Although many lawmakers vowed that the level of disenfranchisement seen in the aftermath of that election would never happen again, it looks like it did.
According to the committee’s study, “Military and Overseas Absentee Voting in the 2004 Election,” the largest problem in managing military absentee ballots is not hostile attorneys, but rather what military historians call “the tyranny of distance” – the unavoidable difficulties inherent in getting ballots to our deployed military people serving overseas.
During the election in 2000, the study found that, 30 percent of military personnel did not receive their ballot in time to cast a vote. When you combine that figure with the number of votes that were tossed out for various reasons – including arriving to the absentee voters via snail mail past voting deadlines – you can see that the scope of the problem is enormous.
The challenge of getting ballots to soldiers was even worse during the 2004 election due to the post-9/11 deployments of military units to Iraq, Afghanistan and dozens of other countries in support of the Global War on Terror, the committee found. Units frequently on the move and mail delays caused by local threats such as the danger of roadside bombs made the task of getting ballots to the troops even more daunting.
However, military absentee voters once again in 2004 found themselves the target of partisan political maneuvering as had happened in Florida four years earlier.
Recognizing the fact that more time would be needed to count all of the military ballots arriving from overseas, the Pennsylvania legislature in 2004 requested that Gov. Edward G. Rendell authorize a two-week extension for the acceptance of military ballots to compensate for the issues surrounding the wartime situation in which our soldiers are now engaged.
However, in Pennsylvania in 2004, as in Florida in 2000, political operatives were motivated by their longstanding knowledge that a strong majority of military voters generally supports Republican candidates.
Rendell, a Democrat, initially refused the request to assist military absentee voters. But it later was discovered that he had launched an aggressive “get out the vote” information campaign within the state’s prison population, informing inmates of voting rights and providing them with absentee ballots for the election. Other studies have shown that a majority of the prison voting population supports Democratic candidates. The adverse publicity prompted Rendell to approve the extension for military overseas voters.
In Washington state, the U.S. Justice Department threatened to sue less than a month before the 2004 election because election officials had yet to even mail out absentee ballots to military personnel overseas. What may have been bureaucratic incompetence may well have altered the outcome of that state’s gubernatorial election.
The Washington state governor’s race between Republican nominee Dino Rossi and Democratic nominee Christine Gregoire turned out to be even tighter than the Florida presidential vote count in 2000. The Republican candidate won the first two re-counts but ultimately lost the third by 128 votes. With a total of 31,910 overseas ballots mailed out for that election, it’s easy to see that even a few lost, late or missing military votes made a huge impact in the election, ultimately deciding the race.
When it was time for Congress to ratify the 2004 election results and electoral vote count for the offices of President and Vice President during a joint session last December, two Democratic legislators challenged the results on the basis of voting irregularities and disenfranchisement. Was someone finally going to raise the issue of one-fourth of our deployed military men and women not having a voice in the democratic process? No.
The challenge concerned votes cast in the state of Ohio, which turned out to be the pivotal state in 2004 with enough electoral votes to swing the election and the Presidency to John Kerry. The challenge centered on disqualification of a newly created provisional ballot, not the military vote, and was nothing more than a symbolic protest by the party that had lost the presidential election.
It appears that once again the rights of military overseas voters are no longer an issue within the political establishment.
We should not have to still be struggling with this issue. Before the 2004 election, the Department of Defense launched an online voting system called the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE), designed to give military personnel deployed around the world the ability to vote instantly online. This would have obviously corrected the problems surrounding the reliance of postal mail for balloting, and put an end to the partisan shenanigans we saw in Florida with Democratic Party lawyers targeting military voters for ballot rejection.
Alas, DoD officials opted to shut down the SERVE program before the election due to security concerns dealing with the sensitive nature of the data and the possibility of illegitimate votes being tabulated. Since DoD manages to send thousands of classified messages daily around the globe, many of them stamped “Top Secret,” it is hard to imagine that these security and privacy concerns cannot be resolved.
It is ridiculous to have our troops filling out paper ballots and placing them in the mail in a day and age when publicly available technology allows you to take a picture and send it to someone on the other side of the world with a small cellphone. The disenfranchisement on the scale that we have seen in recent years is unacceptable, but it is definitely correctible.
If DoD officials take the time to develop a secure and dependable electronic voting system, some election results may be drastically different in the years to come – but unlike the number of contested elections we have seen since 2000, the results will more likely reflect the judgment of all of the voters – including those serving in harm’s way to protect our freedoms.
Contributing Editor Chad Miles is a U.S. Army veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 5th Special Forces Group during the 1990s. He founded the website WhoServed.com, which tracks the military service of previous and current U.S. government leaders, and is currently pursuing a degree in political science from the University of Michigan – Dearborn. He can be reached at chad@whoserved.com. Send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com.