"Transparency. T-R-A..." UPDATE!!!

"...Could you use it in a sentence?"

No questions for Ron Sims at Senate confirmation hearing

Posted by Keith Ervin

President Obama's nominee for deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development didn't have to answer any questions at his confirmation hearing this morning.

King County Executive Ron Sims, named to the Number 2 position in the housing agency, was one of seven nominees for posts at HUD, the Export-Import Bank and Treasury Department to appear before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

None of the nominees faced questions because committee members had to leave for a vote on the Senate floor after the nominees were introduced and made brief remarks.
Banking Committee members will submit questions for the nominees to answer in writing.

Although local critics have trumpeted recent court rulings that faulted Sims for failing to follow the state's Public Disclosure Act and struck down his rural land-clearing ordinance, he isn't expected to have trouble winning confirmation.

Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and the committee's ranking Republican, Richard Shelby of Alabama, said they want the nominees to be confirmed quickly so the administration can get up to full strength.

H/T Sound Politics

UPDATE (from Sound Politics, courtesy Glenn Reynolds):

Speaking of Ron Sims

King County News
by Stefan Sharkansky, 09:58 AM

King County has now settled my public records lawsuit for $225,000, one of the largest settlements for public records violations in state history.

The lawsuit stemmed from my December 2004 request for a list of all voters who voted in the November 2004 election. The county did not satisfy my request in full until January 2007.

The documents that they eventually provided to me revealed that county election officials unlawfully counted hundreds of ineligible ballots in the 2004 election: a multiple of Christine Gregoire's 133-vote "margin of victory" over Dino Rossi in the contested gubernatorial race. Documentation of these illegal votes was withheld from discovery in the election contest trial and not released to me until months after the trial. Consequently, the trial was conducted in ignorance of these potentially outcome-changing illegal votes.

Additional documents that were released last month in discovery for my case confirmed that county officials both knew more about the illegal vote counting than they had previously acknowledged, and also knowingly withheld responsive documents from me during 2005 and 2006.

The exceptionally large (for records cases) settlement, which King County offered before trial, clearly recognizes the county's culpability in this matter.

King County Executive Ron Sims, who is ultimately responsible for any records violations under his administration, appears to be on track for confirmation as Deputy Secretary of HUD. Sims is also well known for the Yousoufian public records scandal.