Opinion
Sims nomination mocks Obama’s transparency claims
Examiner Editorial
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May 1, 2009
President Barack Obama has settled on a train-wreck of a nominee for Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). On Tuesday, the Senate, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee approved Ronald Sims in a voice vote. They did so despite having credible information indicating financial mismanagement and ethical transgressions, including two egregious abuses of a state freedom of information law.
Sims has been King County Executive in Washington state since 1996. Under his watch, local government was fined after it failed to produce documents concerning construction of the Qwest sports stadium. The Supreme Court of Washington, in a blistering ruling on the case issued this past January, said officials illegally withheld documents from requestor Armen Yousoufian. “The unchallenged findings of fact demonstrate King County repeatedly deceived and misinformed Yousoufian for years,” Justice Richard Sanders wrote. “King County told Yousoufian it produced all the requested documents, when in fact it had not.”
Sims told Sen. David Vitter, R-LA, during his confirmation hearing last week that he couldn’t comment on his role in the stadium case due to continuing litigation. The next day, though, Sims discussed the case at length in a television interview, denying that he concealed any records and claiming he wasn’t even linked with the affair. In fact, Sims was cited by name as respondent in the case. Sims’ cartoonish performance before Vitter points to other disturbing aspects of his record.
King County is also being sued for allegedly misusing funds set aside for wastewater treatment. In an effort to secure approval from Snohomish County to make room for a sewer treatment plant, King County agreed to pay for improvements that would be funded from the wastewater fund. If the court sides with plaintiffs, King County will have to spend tens of millions of dollars to reimburse the fund, according to Americans for Limited Government (ALG), a conservative group opposed to the Sims nomination.
Sims was also in the middle of accusations of voter fraud in the 2004 governor’s race between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Chris Gregoire. King County counted hundreds of ineligible ballots. Gregoire eventually won by a mere 133 votes after multiple recounts in which local officials repeatedly “discovered” additional lost ballots. Last week, King County reportedly paid $225,000 to settle an FOI suit brought by conservative blogger Stephan Sharkansky concerning recount documents that officials refused to give him for three years. So why would Obama, who promises unprecedented transparency in government, even think of nominating this guy?
