King County Council Members Call for an Elected Auditor

Evergreen Freedom Foundation ^ | 7-25-06

[truth49]

Olympia—Jonathan Bechtle, Director of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s Voter Integrity Project, released the following statement in support of today’s press conference by King County Council members Reagan Dunn and Bob Ferguson on the need for an elected auditor:

“King County council members Reagan Dunn and Bob Ferguson deserve praise for their bi-partisan effort to restore effective leadership in the county elections division. Former elections chief Dean Logan’s tenure was marked by a record of mismanagement, a lack of transparency, a disregard for election laws, and an unhappy staff.

“The elections department needs a strong leader who has the authority to ‘clean house;’ a leader who follows the constitution and laws of Washington and who will be committed to transparency and fairness. This isn’t going to happen under the present system of Sims’ appointees. It only has a chance with a non-partisan elected auditor.

“An independent auditor would answer directly to the people, not to a partisan executive.

“With Dean Logan’s departure, fully two-thirds of the senior management positions in the elections office are empty, along with many support staff. This is a management crisis, and yet it is also an opportunity to make needed changes to the leadership structure. Having a nonpartisan elected auditor is the first big step in this process. Further steps would include making elections a stand-alone division, and giving the auditor greater authority to pick competent staff.

“Conducting elections is one of the few truly core functions of government and the people should have a direct say in how it operates. King County citizens should be allowed to choose their elections chief.”

Additional Information
Dunn and Ferguson: Let Voters Decide on Elected Auditor

[truth49]

ping