Sue Rahr Wants You to Spam Ron Sims
It’s no secret that King County Executive Ron Sims and Sheriff Sue Rahr don’t see eye to eye. Every decade, the King County Charter is reviewed and this year, Sims representatives and Rahr squared off over control of the department. Sims’ office went so far as to tell the committee reviewing the Charter that they really feel the Sheriff should return to an appointed, rather than elected, position. Rahr asked that control of contract negotiations with the guild representing her deputies be removed from the Executive’s office. Neither got what they wanted, but to any casual observer, there’s certainly no love lost between the two.
So it wasn't all that surprising when, after Sims announced a $68 million King County budget shortfall requiring nearly 9 percent cuts to all public safety agencies, Rahn went out campaigning against Sims’ suggestions for trimming the fat. Over the last few weeks, she’s focused on rural, unincorporated King County, the places where any budget cuts to the department will be felt most acutely, with a presentation on how that kind of hit will likely impact services. Some highlights:
* 100 deputies will be axed
* Property crimes valued under $10,000 will not be investigated
* Neither will most fraud, identity theft, and bad check kinds of cases
* Centralized drug investigations will go
* And cold case homicides will remain unsolved
Incorporated cities have contracts with the county for a police presence that earns the department money so that kind of service will remain unchanged. But everyone outside the borders is pretty much screwed, to use technical budget-speak, and it might be worse, Rahr said her office was informed this week that the shortfall might be closer to $73 million. The people living around Maple Valley aren’t happy about it.
“As soon as that gets out, we’re all gonna get robbed!” cried one man in a packed classroom at the Maple Valley library last night. About 70 people had crammed into the room to hear Rahr justify the cuts, encourage them to write Ron Sims demanding that he find a way to juggle the budget and keep it from happening, and, one can assume, deflect potential problems with her own reelection next year.
For the most part, her message fell on sympathetic ears. Bette Filley of High Valley says being outside the limits of Seattle, she doesn’t feel like she’s on Sims’ radar at all. There aren’t enough of them out here to matter much in an election, so why would Sims and the County Council bother with their needs, she asked. “I think the number one job of government is to protect the people, and I think Ron Sims is wrong to make these cuts across the board,” she declared last night. “Tell Ron Sims!” came a shout from the back of the room along with a spattering of applause.
Rahr encouraged everybody to flood his e-mail inbox with demands that he find a way to avoid such drastic cuts. “And all nine councilors,” she added.
Rahr also got in a couple of digs at Sims from the charter fight, noting that one of the biggest expenses she has is the health care package he negotiated for the deputies. She also noted that if she was appointed, she would never be allowed to come out to such a forum.
The digs were enough to inspire Rob Lowen, a retired Fairwood resident to raise his hand. “Yes?” Rahr asked, pointing in his direction.
“You ever think of running for Ron Sims office?” he asked.
Rahr laughed: “you’re my bosses and I have an obligation to serve you.”
Her not-saying-no response caught me off-guard. The shots at Sims have always seemed more about establishing responsibility for the problems in her department than setting up a run. I asked her about it at the end of the meeting. “No!” she gasped. “No, no, no. I should have been clear about that.” So Sims doesn’t have to worry about a direct challenge from his top cop, but I doubt she’ll be doing a lot of stumping for him next year.
3 comment(s)
seadog says:
Sue Rahr has not proven herself able to supervise the personnel she has already, nor has she prove herself able to manage the large size of the KCSO - she is the last person who should be given a vote of confidence. Lest you believe I am a supporter of Ron Sims, I am most certainly not. But when you look at the out-of-control KCSO officers who repeatedly violate existing procedure, cases in which occurred when Rahr was their direct supervisor or manager, she has shown that she and any other Sheriff that comes out of the guild/union should not be given budgetary control.
Posted On: Saturday, Jun. 28 2008 @ 3:24PM
MoreFenka says:
Good for Rahr! Sims clearly doesn't much give a hoot about the rural areas of KC (which he ostensibly has the most responsibility for). Look at the CAO, the Donut Hole controversy and now this massive cut in police services. He gets few votes from unincorporated areas. Shows we need to change how the County Exec is selected when the area he actually lords over really dislikes him & his policies (neglect & exploitation for the glory of King Ron...).
Posted On: Sunday, Jun. 29 2008 @ 10:49PM
Informed Voter says:
Regardless of your political point of view, keep in mind that there's a benefit in having both of them as separately elected officials. It's the way a democracy was designed to be. So if they want to fight over who should have responsibility for the deputies then let them share it! From what I've heard, that's all Rahr was asking for.
But could somebody please explain to me why our separately elected Sheriff has to ask Ron Sims for money. Does he have complete control over EVERYTHING? Just like any good "King", he's taken over control of the budget and the employees. Yet there's one thing he clearly doesn't want: responsibility for whatever mess he creates. Sims will happily hand that over to her! I wonder why she's so pissed off?!
Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 15 2008 @ 10:29PM