Keep calling, people. I just did.
Posted by Michele at October 29, 2009 12:27 PMI've informally observed Dow since his private practice days and have concerns as well. One that struck me was his thanking of his fellow State Legislators upon passage of his first legislation. He made the point of emphasizing the extraordinary length of the bill, a catch phrase for ambiguous law subject to selective enforcement - an attitude he seems to be consistent on.
Posted by Douglas Tooley at October 29, 2009 12:29 PMThe MSM was only too happy to pander to lurid curiosity re: the KIRO lawsuit. Yet now when the shoe is on the other foot, it's just "rumors"?
What do these documents show that is so damaging to Dow Constantine, that they can't be reviewed until after the election?
Posted by boing boing at October 29, 2009 12:46 PMTyler K. Firkins
Primary Areas of Practice
Catastrophic injury, wrongful death, government liability, civil rights, medical malpractice, commercial litigation, education law, constitutional law, and criminal defense.
It is silly to point to one case and say that it's his specialty. He also represented a high-profile case regarding child abuse. Are you sure Jane Doe isn't a child that Dow Constantine brutally assaulted?
Jane Doe doesn't want to release potentially damaging information to the press. The courts agree with her. You are simply making up claims of sexual harassment. You are making them up. You're playing pretty dirty politics, Mark.
Posted by John Jensen at October 29, 2009 01:45 PMYour citation of Mr. Firkins specialty areas includes "Government liability" do you mean like governments involved in lawsuits over sexual harrassment? Particularly supervisor/subordinate cases.
Posted by Smokie at October 29, 2009 02:10 PMYou seem to know quite a bit, so PLEASE tell us more.
Timeline: January 2009
Ron Sims is rumored to be tabbed for a job in the Obama Administration.
Dow's calendar shows meetings with campaign types... and of course they want to know if there are any stories from the past that could HURT him...
And COINCIDENTALLY OF COURSE at same time he notes that he needs to find an attorney for [name deleted but could it be Jane Doe?]
Said attorney just coincidentally being an old college classmate of Dow's...
And public records are suddenly under restraining orders?
With NO explanation from Dow. None.
SO - SINCE YOU KNOW SO MUCH:
Has Dow been accused of sexual harassment or has any county employee complained of offensive behavior?
Have any threats been made to Jane Doe to coerce her into silence?
Oh, and just for the heck of it:
You seem to post on every blog I come across. Continuously. All day long. How do you enjoy your government job?
We do not know the contents of the documents. They could be an empty allegation. For Mark to go full-on accusing Dow of having "wandering hands" is dirty and pathetic. Susan Hutchison doesn't share the values of King County voters, and she's going lose. The polling looks bad. So things get dirty.
Posted by John Jensen at October 29, 2009 02:18 PM@6 - Interesting point. Seems Constantine and Firkins graduated from University of Washington in the same year: 1985. Coincidence? Perhaps.
What does Constantine's campaign mouthpiece Sandeep Kaushik have to say about this? Anyone? Anyone?
Posted by lulu at October 29, 2009 02:25 PM"Susan Hutchison doesn't share the values of King County voters,. . . "
Oh really? And what values are those Mr. Jensen?
Posted by G Jiggy at October 29, 2009 02:25 PMI did. I linked to the same page you did.
G Jiggy, Oh really? And what values are those Mr. Jensen?
For one, she's just wrong on light rail and doesn't have a real handle on how to fix Metro's budget crisis. Transit is very important to me, and she has illustrated a lot of ignorance on the subject whereas Dow is a wonk on the subject.
I don't expect you to agree with me. But KC approved ST2 last November by 60%, and always approved Metro revenue increases by an overwhelming percentage. These are values that King County has that Susan doesn't share.
Posted by John Jensen at October 29, 2009 02:29 PM"Jane Doe" is worried that release of her complaint will harm her employment. Yeah, the predator who harassed her is on the verge of a big promotion. She should be more savvy, though. IF Dow wins and IF she is fired, then her settlement prospects zoom into the seven figures. Courts (one hopes) don't exist to protect politicians. Maybe I'm one of the few people who still thinks that. :)
Posted by AD at October 29, 2009 02:49 PMAs they concern public employees, they are required to release these documents. Buying 2 weeks does exactly what for Jane Doe anyway? Nothing. The senile judge was either incompetent or just the usual democrat shill on the bench quashing a public interest story before a major election takes place. If you don't like having public employees having allegations made by them or against them made public, it's simple...
...find a job in the private sector where such matters are dealt with in a more discreet manner (i.e. don't work for a public institution). Realease the documents now.
Hurrah for libel! You have no proof of this.
Posted by demo kid at October 29, 2009 03:17 PMThats a new level of twisted supporter you have there Dow!
Posted by Smokie at October 29, 2009 05:01 PMNote to Dow campaign, no more booze and dope at the staff blog parties.
Posted by Smokie at October 29, 2009 05:12 PMLove of light rail is a "value"? Sheesh.
Look John, there is no way that Hutcinson, an outsider can know all about the niggling little details of transportation. Dow's been steeped in it for years. Did it ever occur to you that Dow is the problem with Metro? He's been at KC for long enough to cure Metro's problems but hasn't. Time for a real problem solver to take a swing at it and that problem solver is Hutchinson.
Like I've said before, Dow is part of the problem. Why re-elect him and continue the decline? Makes no sense to me.
Posted by G Jiggy at October 29, 2009 05:15 PMSure they are, they're public employees. One is lying which makes it public 'need to know' information. If they weren't required to reveal the information, there would have been no need to have a judge step in with a restraining order and could have told the reporter to go pound sand. Think for a change, mike.
it protects her privacy until after the election. that's nothing?
Yes, in the scheme of things, it's nothing. It changes nothing. The only thing it could affect is the public, in the light of the allegations, choosing not to elect a perverted superior who enjoys chasing his female subordinates around the table instead of doing the work he's paid to do.
wow. you should say that to the commisioner's face - or are you just a big coward, all talk and no walk?
I'd say it to whomever needed to hear it. This judge is a fool and an imbecile or he's simply doing his democrat party duty and protecting a fellow party shill from embarrassing revelations from seeing the light of day. Take your pick, mike.
Posted by Rick D. at October 29, 2009 05:19 PMThey suddenly realize they are down over 15 points in the polls and feel the need to use operatives like Griswold to spread completely unsubstantiated rumors of sexual harassment about her opponent. Classy, very classy.
Fortunately, it will have little, if any, effect.
First off, a large number of voters have already cast their ballots thanks to the mail-in system. I love it for precisely this reason. It limits the value of these kinds of scum-bag tactics.
If you've got something negative, something that can be substantiated, get it out early, so it can be vetted and the opposition can respond and everyone gets a chance to hear about it.
A good example might be something like, say your opponent was fired by a former employer for doing things like calling in sick when they were really out river rafting.
Or suppose your opponent forgot, or just didn't bother to vote in the last 40 elections.
Or suppose your opponent just flat our lied about her political contributions over the last several years in an attempt to mask her party affiliation in a non-partisan race.
Secondly, there are no swing voters tuning into Sound Politics, for useful info on how to cast their ballots. In this venue, you most likely had your mind made up and your ballot marked long before this ever came up.
But we love it all, wonderful entertainment. I'll have to plan on being at Susie's election night party. It promises to be a gas.
I know the niggling little details of transportation. I am just an informed citizen. I do not need to overlook Hutchison's inability to be informed.
She suggests putting light rail over SR-520, to preserve lanes on I-90. Never mind that those HOV lanes will be moved to the outer spans -- no net loss of lanes. Never mind that her plan would delay rail to the Eastside by years, delay the SR-520 bridge by years, and cost hundreds of millions more. Never mind that the SR-520 to Husky rail infrastructure would be an engineering nightmare -- and trains wouldn't be able to go directly downtown because of capacity issues. So everyone would have to transfer at Husky stadium -- still creating capacity issues.
The executive appoints 10 of the 18 Sound Transit board members. It's this type of completely uninformed policy position that makes a vote for Hutchison untenable.
Did it ever occur to you that Dow is the problem with Metro? He's been at KC for long enough to cure Metro's problems but hasn't
Metro's has some efficiency gaps, as a recent audit revealed. It's important we fix those. Either executive will do that, but Dow will actually know what's going on. The biggest revenue problem is the dependence on the sales tax that came after Eyman's car tab initiatives passed. Given that Dow is interested in transit whereas Hutchison isn't, who do I expect to be more focused on the issue? Dow.
And look, not everything is solved by kicking down the doors of a building and installing an unqualified news anchor to run the biggest county in the state. When you hear her talk about Metro's revenue crisis of $100mn a year, she focuses on $2mn in avoided fares. 2% of the problem. (Collecting those fares would require costly enforcement, and a lot of folks who evade now just wouldn't ride -- meaning you're not going to recover $2mn or anything close to it.)
These are complexities and nuances in policy that I understand. I know Dow understand them too, because he is a transportation wonk. Hutchison doesn't understand these issues. Transportation is important to me, and the severe policy problems would prevent me from voting for Hutchison.
I think that's good enough reason for my vote. It's a smarter rationale, I think, than THROW THE BUMS OUT!!!
Posted by John Jensen at October 29, 2009 05:30 PMIt could be nothing. absolutely. So Dow will be on the airwaves tomorrow asking "Jane Doe" to come forward and lift the restraining order ASAP so he can clear his name. If he doesn't and he doesn't make public assurances that the "Jane Doe" will be given the full protection of the HR system at King County, we must assume there is something to it.
Posted by Smokie at October 29, 2009 05:41 PMAu contraire, mike. Thanks to Markgriswald's new post, it would appear that even Dow Constantine disagrees with you on this point.
"Frankly, I'm an open book. I've lived in this community 48 years. Everything I've done as a public official is a matter of public record. ... I want to make sure we carry that spirit forward." ~ Dow Constantine
Where's your spirit, mike?
Posted by Rick D. at October 29, 2009 05:44 PMThere I put in a paragraph for you John.
Posted by Smokie at October 29, 2009 05:45 PMModified for John:
...And look, not everything is solved by kicking down the doors of [the whitehouse] and installing an unqualified [1st term senator with no experience] to run the [greatest country in the free world].
Funny, john. inexperience didn't seem to bother you when voting nearly a year ago and for an office vastly larger in scale and responsibility. It's simply breathtaking the disconnect liberals have with logic and reality.
Posted by Rick D. at October 29, 2009 05:55 PMOh wait so I vote on the issues instead of making things up based on a lack of evidence? Wow, I sure am one uninformed voter.
Posted by John Jensen at October 29, 2009 06:05 PMHOPE AND CHANGE
CULTURE OF CORRUPTION
DRAIN THE SWAMP
BUSINESS AS USUAL
I wonder how our resident Leftists feel about those phrases now... After all, they were all for using an untested, unknown, inexperienced back-bencher to head the Presidential ticket in 2008. Not good enough for King County?
Posted by Shanghai Dan at October 29, 2009 06:13 PMI often wonder the same thing, particularly when they repeat the same talking points we received today in a Dow Constantine mail piece.
One thing is pretty obvious from this comment thread. Liberals aren't exactly happy campers right now.
Oh, I almost forgot. Liberals are never happy.
Posted by Bill Cruchon at October 29, 2009 06:58 PMLife is good.
Posted by Rush Limbaugh Fan at October 29, 2009 07:30 PMCheers.
Posted by scottd at October 29, 2009 07:38 PMIt is for that reason alone that I am holding my nose and voting for Hutchison. As Democrats we need to start holdig our own accountable or we will eventually face a huge election loss as voter disgust reaches a tipping point.
Posted by Loyal Democrat at October 29, 2009 08:02 PMIf the predatory tactics of Dow Constantine upon a female subordinate is the "share[d]...values of King county voters...", that's a very telling statement about the depravity of king county's values. What's even more depraved is the unabashed excuses spewing forth from ideologues that will overlook such discretions in order to advance their political ideology. Pathetic.
Posted by Rick D. at October 29, 2009 08:21 PMYou can twist it any way you want there John-Boy but Dow is part of the problem. He's been in the drivers seat (budget committee) for at least 6 years and the county is a basket case. Broke, disorganized, hostile to affordable housing and corrupt. OK, you like riding the public transportation (in fact you seem to like it a little too much, you know what I mean?), I get that, but Hutchinson isn't going to close down your freebie. You seem like a bitter clinger holding onto your buses and trains as a defense against a clean candidate. Scary.
Bill @ 36:
"I often wonder the same thing, particularly when they repeat the same talking points we received today in a Dow Constantine mail piece."
The mailers is where they get their objective facts.
They're figgin' boobs. Every last one.
I'm a King County voter and Susan Hutchison shares my values far more than Dow Constantine.
Hutchison has solutions to the problems that Dow created.
Dow claims to be the guy that can get us out of the mess that he and Ron Sims created.
We voted for those buses and trains, G Jiggy. I'd prefer candidates listen to the voters and the experts, and not decide to cancel light rail because Kemper Freeman is rich.
Posted by John Jensen at October 30, 2009 10:19 AMWhat are you talking about? I cited in detail my issues on Hutchison's transportation plan. Not a single person here besides me has made ONE POLICY POINT.
Posted by John Jensen at October 30, 2009 10:22 AM