Scoop du jour: Voters now have many items in front of them

George Le Masurier

Scoop du jour

SOME ELECTION ITEMS — Nobody pays much attention to the Pierce County Auditor until election time, and then only if there’s some type of controversy or mistake in tabulating the results. That said, could you even remember the name of the King County Auditor at the center of the media storm in the 2004 governor’s race? Not me.

But I do know the name of Pat McCarthy, because she successfully made the move from the auditor’s humble quarters to the big office of Pierce County executive.

And you might know the name Jan Shabro, who was appointed to fill McCarthy’s term as county auditor until this fall’s election because a Republican-dominated County Council made what many thought was a blatantly partisan decision.

Shabro’s critics would say she hasn’t done much since to dissuade voters of that perception, even though the auditor’s position was recently made non-partisan.

After taking office, she hired a former chair of the Pierce County Republican Party, Deryl McCarty, as chief deputy auditor. McCarty helped form a PAC called Sound Foundations, of which Shabro and other notable Republicans, including the peninsulas’ Tom Huff, are “fans” on Facebook, and that will presumably benefit Republican candidates. Shabro has made a personal contribution to the PAC.

None of that is illegal, and probably not unethical. But the public has to trust that the auditor will run elections in a non-partisan manner.

And it has not helped Shabro’s cause that her direct report didn’t understand the county’s own revised Code of Ethics, which specifies that no Pierce County employee can donate more than $100 to a campaign.

Public Disclosure Commission documents show McCarty donated $800 to Shabro, then had the money returned. Later, his wife donated $800.

Recently, Shabro had her name put on the primary ballot envelope. She also reduced the space in the voter’s pamphlet for the auditor’s race, thus denying her opponent, Julie Anderson, a chance to become known while giving herself a full page to write a warm welcome to readers.

Not everyone thinks all of this is appropriate. Could Shabro be giving herself an unfair advantage in this election?

Voters will have to decide for themselves if her actions pass the smell test.

FIRE DISTRICT 16 — Key Peninsula voters once again denied Fire District 16 a lift of its levy, strapping the fire and medical service for cash and diminishing their own level of service.

You can probably argue many reasons for this lack of support, but some believe it’s directly related to the conflict on the FD16 Board of Commissioners between Allen Yanity and Jim Bosch.

Yanity has openly and successfully campaigned against the levy several times. His antics on the board have resulted in a criminal conviction for slugging Bosch with a coffee cup and a sanction by an association of Pierce County fire commissioners.

But Bosch isn’t blameless for his part in disgracing the fire district’s reputation.

The voters of the Key Peninsula must ultimately separate the stupid business at the commissioner meetings from real needs in their community.

In the upcoming election, they can pass the levy lid lift and provide more service for themselves. They can also throw Bosch out.

In the next FD 16 commissioner election, they should throw Yanity out, as well. One step at a time will return a sense of professionalism and pride in Fire District 16.

GIG HARBOR — The most interesting race in the city is the challenge to incumbent Tim Payne from former city administrator and local boy, Mark Hoppen. Most people thought Hoppen would run for mayor against Chuck Hunter, who fired Hoppen after winning the mayoralty in 2005.

Perhaps Hoppen realizes that, while the mayor runs city hall, he doesn’t make city policies. The city council controls that, and the mayor only gets to vote if there’s a tie.

If Hoppen gets elected, one more vote strengthens the majority of Young, Ekberg, Malich and Franich. And the city would lose Payne’s independent voice.