Reply #58: In the Northwest: A governor's race full of partisan sound and fury

[dzika]

In the Northwest: A governor's race full of partisan sound and fury

By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST


-snip-
Well-placed Democrats were privately predicting last night that the
hand recount in King County will give Chris Gregoire a tiny lead,
with the county yet to count disputed ballots being fought over in
court.

Not so long ago, Republican State Chairman Chris Vance was
excoriating the Democrats for going to court over the recount.

"King County is doing the right thing by including Democrats and
Republicans in the counting process, and I am amazed that Christine
Gregoire has the gall to challenge this plan in the state Supreme
Court," Vance declared.

At another point, Chairman Vance reiterated his antipathy to post-
election lawyering: "John Kerry did the right thing by choosing not
to drag the presidential election into court. Slade Gorton made the
same choice in the 2000 election. I hope Christine Gregoire will
follow their example."

Yet, the election is back before the Supreme Court today.

It is the Republicans who have gone to court to stop King County
from counting 735 ballots discovered during the second recount.

The voters played by the rules. County election workers rejected
their ballots due to erroneous belief there were no matching
signatures by which to verify the ballots.

Link:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/204758_joel22.html