Robert Hill Appointed to Pierce Transit's "Against" Committee for Ballot Proposition
UPDATED
Pierce Transit’s sales tax increase proposition will be on the ballot in November. In preparation, PT asked for volunteers to write the “for” and “against” statements that would appear in the voter’s pamphlets.
Yesterday’s Pierce Transit Board meeting selected those committees and there was a bit of a surprise. The two names considered for the “Against” committee were Ken Paulson, occasional political candidate and father of a teacher killed in front of her school by a stalker in 2010, and Robert Hill, a once-upon-a-time regular attendee of government meetings and current resident of the county jail where he’s serving time for intimidating a judge among other charges.
As the organization putting forward the proposition, Pierce Transit selected Robert Hill as one of the names representing the “Against” side.
Pierce County Councilman, and former Pierce Transit Board Member, Tim Farrell said to the news, “I hope they reconsider the decision.” He further stated, “I think that these decisions need to be made by the auditor or someone less partisan. We should take it out of the hands of the people that are trying to take the action.”
Ken Paulson and Robert Hill on the same committee. We really don’t know what else to say …
Robert Hill on Exit133: SEARCH
Update
We received the following statement from Derek Young (the Gig Harbor Derek that’s on the PT Board and not me):
First, I agree with Tim that it doesn’t make much sense that an agency requesting a ballot measure would also appoint the pro/con committees for the voters’ guide. However, that’s exactly what state law requires and until the Legislature changes it, that’s what we’re stuck with. The Auditor can make the appointments if the agency fails to do so, but we have to make an effort. In this case we had three people come forward in favor and two against. The law is silent on the question of whether or not we can reject someone unless there is a large field that needs to be narrowed down. Mr. Hill remains a qualified voter so several of my fellow commissioners felt we were compelled to appoint him to the committee.
I voted against because I generally believe that if the Legislature grants us authority, we have broad discretion to implement as we see fit and they would limit that authority if they felt the need to. Although I strongly support this proposition, I didn’t want to Mr. Hill’s presence on the committee to unfairly discredit the no campaign. I also assumed, that lacking context for the appointment, people would wonder what the Pierce Transit board was up to.
Filed under: Transportation, Legislation, Pierce County, Transit, Elections
18 comments
A Anita Latch July 10, 2012
As laughable as this seemed at first I must agree with Tim Farrell, the decision of who will write the official opposition statement to the transit ballot measure should not me selected by the body trying to pass the measure. Appointing Robert the Traveler Hill to write the opposition statement makes a mockery of the process. That diminishes us all.
M Marie July 10, 2012
WTF
C Chris K July 10, 2012
The appointments were made from the pool of people that applied to be on the ballot measure con committee. Don’t blame the agency for following the law.
J Jesse July 10, 2012
This is what unethical looks like — in case you didn’t know.
P Peter Peter July 10, 2012
This appears to be an issue of not enough applicants. The board may not have had a choice. Where’s Fredo? Wouldn’t he be a rational voice for this committee?
C Chris K July 10, 2012
Did some checking:
These WERE the only TWO applicants to apply.
If the board did not appoint these two, you could imagine Robert Hill filing a lawsuit against Pierce transit wasting public dollars.
Keep this in perspective, people.
F fredo July 10, 2012
heh, thanks for the comment Peter Peter
J Jesse July 10, 2012
I agree with Farrell when he said: “I think that these decisions need to be made by the auditor or someone less partisan. We should take it out of the hands of the people that are trying to take the action.”
Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly for transit but this whole debacle looks really bad any way you slice it.
P Peter Peter July 10, 2012
@Chris – Who are you lecturing?
Whether this decision is by choice or by some legal quandary, it looks bad. How do we give our elected officials some discretion? Do we want them to have it?
J Justin Camarata July 10, 2012
Chris K, the lack of applicants is another compelling reason to have these committees appointed by the Auditor or someone else without a vested interest in the outcome of the measure.
R RR Anderson July 10, 2012
THE TRAVELLER RIDES AGAIN!
WORLD MASTER-DEBATER DAY!
R RR Anderson July 10, 2012
also interesting trivia, the stalker that killed the teacher was a cartoonist!
J Jenny Jenkins July 11, 2012
It is sad that there were only two people who stepped up for the committee – with all the anti-tax sentiment out there you’d think more people would care enough to apply.
It’s also worrisome is that the system is set up so appointments are made by the group making the proposal. What a weird system.
F fredo July 11, 2012
PT claims they wanted people to come forward to participate in writing these for/against statements for the voters guide. The fact that only three people came forward would lead a reasonable person to conclude that the effort to achieve a healthy level of participation was not equal to the task.
Somebody from PT could have read some of the blogs at the News Tribune, Exit 133, and feedtacoma and got some good leads on folks who might have an interest in the issue.
By limiting the number of folks involved in the statement writing PT is actually able to better control the message.
Voters needn’t worry. I’ll be publishing a complete rebuttal to the pro-tax statement right here on exit 133 before the election.
C Chris July 11, 2012
Wait, wait, hold on a minute. Doesn’t anyone remember all of the nasty, misleading and BIZZARE whack job con statements from Will Baker and Co. when Tacoma measures were on the ballot for schools or parks or street repair? I don’t recall there being an issue when he was serving on those committees, or the City appointed him to serve on them.
“Since 1992, [Will Baker] has been booked into the Pierce County Jail 19 times.” -Seattle Times, 2004
How different is this situation from that one? Oh that’s right, I forgot, it’s Pierce Transit.
Where was this kind of outrage when Tacoma lost a seat on the Pierce Transit Board to Milton? Where was the disgust from Exit133 when a well-organized group of small cities [Fife, Gig Harbor, etc.] ganged up on Tacoma and seized a disproportionate amount of political power after the transit boundary revision?
J Jesse July 11, 2012
@Chris: I think you should contact Derek and ask him if you can submit an article for Exit133 every once in a while. Today, however, the alternative outrages you speak of are not the topic at hand.
P Peter Peter July 11, 2012
@Chris – A couple of points to your paranoid rant –
1. The economic conditions right now has everybody looking at all municipal spending with increased scrutiny. Asking for money now is very different than a few years ago when Metro Parks came asking.
2. Was Will Baker in jail when appointed? It may not change the actual outcome, but it is a difference.
3. I don’t think I’ve ever seen “disgust” or “outrage” from Exit133. They leave that to us to go there. Like Jesse said, if there’s something you want to discuss, just email them.
M Miss Priss July 11, 2012
Maybe Pierce Transit could phone Dale Washam and see if he wants to take the ‘pro-’ position; he and Hill might be a good team. … Or not…
I assume, and hope, that Pierce Transit has the option of keeping the process open for a while, to give time recruit serious indivduals to write these serious opinions. Instead, they’ve got a notorious local joker in Hill; Mr. Paulson I’m not familiar with, other than the tragedy involving his daughter.
It’s clearly ridiculous— an arrangement worthy of either Mr. Hill or Mr. Washam— to have the entity which is requesting the ballot measure be the same entity which selects the pro- and con- contributors for the voters’ guide. This is pure craziness, and, indeed, diminishes us all.
So where and how did Pierce Transit recruit these gentlemen? How hard did they look for responsible commentators?