This Washington
Hague Responds to Stonewalling Charge
On Friday, we reported that voting rights activist George Cheung sent a letter to Republican King County Council member Jane Hague complaining about Hague's apparent opposition to his bid to be on the King County Citizens Election Oversight Committee.
Hague did not respond to our call on Friday for a response, but this morning, her office forwarded us the letter she sent to Cheung today.
Hague writes that she does not support Cheung because of his role as a partisan activist—he's a Democratic district PCO—and suggests he apply for one of the partisan spots on the oversight committee. (There are four overtly partisan spots on the committee —one each from the King County and state Democratic and Republican parties. However, one "bipartisan" seat has been held by Paul Guppy (a Cola ThinkTanker, by the way), from the conservative local policy group, the Washington Policy Center.)
Hague writes:
We have a call in to Elections Director Huff to get her take on Cheung's "partisan" status.
UPDATE: County Elections spokeswoman Kim Van Ekstrom says Huff told the council Cheung would be "a great candidate" for the vacant spot on the committee which focuses on minority voter issues. Asked if Huff had any concerns about Cheung's partisan background, Van Ekstrom said, "that wasn't part of the picture for her,"—which doesn't exactly answer the question.
It wasn't part the picture because Huff didn't know about it? ... care about it? Van Ekstrom simply repeated that Huff thought Cheung was be a great candidate for the minority-focused slot.
Cheung tells PubliCola that Hague, a Republican, is “stonewalling”—avoiding his calls and not responding to his emails.
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.
Hague did not respond to our call on Friday for a response, but this morning, her office forwarded us the letter she sent to Cheung today.
Hague writes that she does not support Cheung because of his role as a partisan activist—he's a Democratic district PCO—and suggests he apply for one of the partisan spots on the oversight committee. (There are four overtly partisan spots on the committee —one each from the King County and state Democratic and Republican parties. However, one "bipartisan" seat has been held by Paul Guppy (a Cola ThinkTanker, by the way), from the conservative local policy group, the Washington Policy Center.)
Hague writes:
I appreciate and admire your interest in serving, and given your close connection to the Democrat Party, I would recommend that you seek one of the partisan appointments. At this time, we are seeking someone who is not a political partisan.
We have a call in to Elections Director Huff to get her take on Cheung's "partisan" status.
UPDATE: County Elections spokeswoman Kim Van Ekstrom says Huff told the council Cheung would be "a great candidate" for the vacant spot on the committee which focuses on minority voter issues. Asked if Huff had any concerns about Cheung's partisan background, Van Ekstrom said, "that wasn't part of the picture for her,"—which doesn't exactly answer the question.
It wasn't part the picture because Huff didn't know about it? ... care about it? Van Ekstrom simply repeated that Huff thought Cheung was be a great candidate for the minority-focused slot.
