THE EXAMINER: Sims Nomination Mocks Obama’s Transparency Claims.

Sims has been King County Executive in Washington state since 1996. Under his watch, local government was fined after it failed to produce documents concerning construction of the Qwest sports stadium. The Supreme Court of Washington, in a blistering ruling on the case issued this past January, said officials illegally withheld documents from requestor Armen Yousoufian. “The unchallenged findings of fact demonstrate King County repeatedly deceived and misinformed Yousoufian for years,” Justice Richard Sanders wrote. “King County told Yousoufian it produced all the requested documents, when in fact it had not.” . . .

Sims was also in the middle of accusations of voter fraud in the 2004 governor’s race between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Chris Gregoire. King County counted hundreds of ineligible ballots. Gregoire eventually won by a mere 133 votes after multiple recounts in which local officials repeatedly “discovered” additional lost ballots. Last week, King County reportedly paid $225,000 to settle an FOI suit brought by conservative blogger Stephan Sharkansky concerning recount documents that officials refused to give him for three years. So why would Obama, who promises unprecedented transparency in government, even think of nominating this guy?

Good question.