If King County Assessor Scott Noble pleads guilty tomorrow to felony vehicular assault, he would have to resign, setting up a special election in November to fill the last two years of Noble’s term.
That leads me to ask why the assessor is an elected office. We no longer elect a coroner, clerk, treasurer or county superintendent of schools. Instead, appointed professionals handle those functions. The function of assessing land values should also belong to an appointed professional.
We should elect policy makers like the county executive and County Council members and let them appoint qualified people to run county departments.
Can we voters really make informed choices for assessor, sheriff and elections director in addition to county executive and a representative to the County Council?
No. Let’s put an initiative on the ballot to propose a charter amendment to make the assessor an appointed rather than elected office.
I see no more reason to elect an assessor than a coroner.
Two referenda, two tough sells
Two groups will seek your signatures on referenda over the next few weeks. Both referenda will have a hard time qualifying for the November ballot.
Referendum 70 is an attempt to repeal the national-popular-vote law. That’s a law that would allow Washington to join with other states to give its presidential electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. It would take effect only if states with a majority of electoral votes approve such laws. Washington would be the fifth state with such a law. Proponents see it as an easier way to make the president popularly elected than amending the federal Constitution.
R-71 seeks to overturn the everything-but-marriage additions to the state domestic-partnership law.
Both laws would take effect July 25 unless referendum sponsors can gather 120,577 valid signatures to suspend either, pending a public vote in November.
Having two referendum petitions at once is rare. We’ve had only 71 referendum filings in 96 years.
Since the first initiatives and referenda were filed in 1913, we’ve had 1,050 numbered initiatives to the people, but only 71 numbered referendum measures.
Sponsors of both referenda face uphill battles. Referendum petitions are confusing because they look as though a signer is in favor of the measure. In addition, R-70 seeks to overturn a confusing law, and R-71 seeks signatures from a divided constituency.
Not all opponents of same-sex unions support Referendum 71.
Pastor Joe Futen of the Cedar Park Church in Bothell opposed filing the referendum. He told R-71 sponsors he thinks the referendum would lose in November, weakening opposition to a future gay-marriage proposal.
Other conservatives believe that concern about current economic conditions will push social issues aside this year.
Evan Smith can be reached at entopinion@heraldnet.com.
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