Stolen Fair and Square

So now it’s official – Christine Gregoire stole the election fair and square. The leftist Seattle Weekly phrased the Democratic position best. The winner is the one for whom the most votes were counted, not the candidate for whom the most legal ballots were cast. Christine Gregoire’s insatiable ambition has been temporarily slaked, and Dino Rossi’s will temporarily remain unfulfilled. If we learned nothing else from the last seven months, it’s that the election was all about them, and not about public service or any other lofty aim. It was raw, selfish ambition, undiluted by nobility.
There was one star in this drama - Chelan Superior Court Judge John Bridges. I think that George Bush should nominate him to a federal judgeship. In denying Dino Rossi’s challenge to the 2004 Washington gubernatorial election, he exhibited a level of judicial restraint that Democrats generally condemn as “extremist.” And yet, how could they filibuster the guy who kept Christine Gregoire in office?
If only the country had more judges like Judge John Bridges, this would be a better world. After acknowledging that at least 1,678 illegal votes were cast in the last election, he recognized the limits of his authority, and did not claim to know which candidate profited from those votes.
Was there fraud in King County? Occam’s razor indicates there was. There was certainly incompetence. After all, more ballots were counted than could be accounted for by the number of voters entering the polling places. But likelihood is not the same as certainty and even so, whom the fraud benefited could not be divined. Yes, the apparent fraud occurred in a Democrat-dominated county, and the fraud almost certainly inflated Gregoire’s tally. But, it cannot be proven. Nationwide, the felon vote breaks for Democrats by roughly a 10:1 ratio. Hundreds of Washington felons voted in the last election, but perhaps criminals in Washington are different from New York’s. Unlikely as that is, Judge Bridges would have been arrogant to assume that he knew for sure.
It’s almost overwhelmingly probable that Rossi won the majority of legal votes cast in that election. But, unless it can be proven beyond the shadow of a doubt, Judge Bridges could not have substituted his hunches for the vote count.
Was the Washington electoral system a mess that invited abuse? Yes it was. And yes it is. A few reforms were enacted during the last legislative session. In fact, had those laws been in place before the election, we would probably have a different governor today. But, Judge Bridges noted that it was not within his authority to change the law. It was the responsibility of the voters who can either enact the needed reforms by initiative or by electing representatives who will fix it. How’s that for radical thinking? In 2000, the Florida Supreme Court never hesitated to rewrite election laws to serve Al Gore’s needs.
Before the trial, King County Executive Ron Sims declared that his office administered the election with an accuracy that would be the envy of any bank. That just exposes Ron Sims’ ignorance of the private sector. The president and chief financial officer that ran a bank so sloppily would be wearing stripes.
King County was found not guilty, but was not exonerated. King County’s acquittal resembled O. J. Simpson’s. Of King County, Judge Bridges found that those running the election were very much guilty of malfeasance. "It's inertia, it's selfishness, it is taking our paycheck but not doing the work."
But, in spite of his belief that King County’s bumbling may well have upset the outcome of the election, he resisted the temptation to overreach his power.
“With respect to proportional deduction, the court concludes that an election such as this should not be overturned because one judge picks a number and applies a proportional deduction analysis. To do so within the context of the facts of this case would constitute the ultimate act of judicial egotism and judicial activism that neither the voters, Mr. Rossi or Ms. Gregoire should condone.”
Well put.
A chagrined Dean Logan, King County’s Election Chief promises that his department “can and will do better.”
Perhaps it can. But, it should do it without him at the helm. And if Ron Sims does not replace him, the voters should take Bridges’ advice and change the occupant of that office.