George Cheung, Executive Director of the Win/Win Network (a get-out-the-vote nonprofit), sent a stern email to King County Council member Jane Hague this afternoon demanding "a formal explanation of your opposition to my appointment to the King County Citizens Election Oversight Committee (CEOC)." The committee was formed in 2004 after the Rossi-Gregoire recount fiasco to provide guidance to the King County Elections Office.

Cheung, a Democratic PCO in the 34th Legislative District, says he was encouraged to apply for a spot on the 13-member oversight committee by King County Elections Director Sherril Huff. Cheung says Huff urged him to apply because of his GOTV work with minority communities, particularly with Chinese voters who do not speak English. (After the 2000 Census, the federal government directed King County to pay special attention to language barriers for the growing Chinese, non-English-speaking population.) One spot on the committee designated as "representing the Chinese-speaking community" is currently vacant, and Cheung was slated to fill that spot.

Council members Hague and Larry Gossett are the two council members designated to sign off on CEOC appointments. However, Cheung tells PubliCola that Hague, a Republican, is "stonewalling"—avoiding his calls and not responding to his emails. He reports that he's met with Gossett, the chair of the council and  Democrat, who "had no problems" with Cheung's appointment.

Cheung has been active in the effort to create a majority-minority voting district in the state, which would favor Democrats, and says he thinks "[Hague] probably sees me as too outspoken."

We have a call in to Hague and Michael Alvine, the committee staffer for the CEOC.

Here's the full text of h is letter to Hague:

Dear Councilmember Hague,
I am writing to request a formal explanation of your opposition to my appointment to the King County Citizens Election Oversight Committee (CEOC). I just spoke with Mike Alvine, the King County Council central staff person for the CEOC, who told me he was recently informed by your legislative aide that you were opposed to my appointment.Here are the facts surrounding this situation:

1. On February 14, 2011, I met with King County Elections Director Sherril Huff. At this meeting, Director Huff encouraged me to seek appointment to the CEOC, specifically to the seat reserved for Section 203 (minority language rights) advocates. As I have been engaged in this advocacy work since 2003 and because there had been a vacancy for over two years, I agreed. I followed up by contacting Mike Alvine at the King County Council.
2. On March 12, 2011, I sent my resume to Mr. Alvine per his request to start the appointment process. On March 21st, he wrote that he would be contacting Councilmember Gossett’s staff and your staff to set up a “meet and greet”, as both of your consent is required for appointment. I assumed, from my phone conversations with him, that this was going to be a formality. However, I never received a response from your office.
3. On May 19, 2011, I sent an email to your office requesting a meeting to discuss what I understood to be concerns you had about my nomination. After some delay, your office scheduled a meeting with me on July 6th
4. On July 1, 2011, I received an email stating that Councilmember Hague had a conflict and was unavailable to meet. There was no attempt at that time to reschedule the meeting. I responded with an email the next day to reschedule, to which I have never received a response.

At this point, I am very disappointed by your lack of contact to discuss your reservations. As you can see from my resume that I submitted to you via Mr. Alvine, I am more than qualified to represent the interests of Section 203 advocates. I agreed to serve as a volunteer on the CEOC because I am committed to encouraging civic engagement, particularly in underrepresented communities. As the current make-up of the CEOC does not include a single person of color in a county where more than 1/3 of residents identify as nonwhite, I felt it was particularly important to bring other voices to the table. Your actions demonstrate a clear lack of interest, if not hostility towards increased civic engagement in Asian American communities. The fact that protections for language minorities is very likely to increase and that this position continues to be vacant (as it has been for the past two years), you are opening up the county to an investigation by the US Department of Justice and potentially costly litigation under the Voting Rights Act.

I eagerly await your response.

Sincerely,

George Cheung