[Capr-announce] CAO & Constantine recall over CAO issues in 1/19/05 Vashon Beachcomber; VMICC mtg

[ayousoufian at comcast.net]

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Subjects/News from Vashon and King County Council District 8 - the district of "Chairman Dow" - last year's chair of King County's "Growth Management and Urban Areas Committee" (GMUAC) that passed the Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) package of ordinances: 

#1. Dow Constantine recall (over CAO misfeasance, malfeasance, and/or violation of oath of office issues) was the "Headline/Top Story" in Vashon Beachcomber this past week ("Front Page/Lead Story/above the fold" and 4/5 of the way across the front page, totally dominating it); 

#2.  VMICC (Vashon Maury Island Community Council) meeting Monday night, January 17, 2005 included my announcement of Constantine's recall petition and my motion, which was put on the agenda, for full council to take a stand in favor of Constantine's recall at next month's meeting (consider coming to Vashon Island to witness the Monday night, February 21, public meeting and vote by islanders on the Constantine recall);

#3.  More anti-CAO letters to editor in Vashon Beachcomber (go to www.VashonBeachcomber.com and select letters;

#4.  New writers from urban West Seattle joining the ranks of citizens who see the CAO for what it really is (submittals to West Seattle Herald, Vashon Beachcomber, and Vashon LOOP newspapers to follow in later emailing(s).

Dear CAPR colleagues and anyone else I thought might be interested,

As the Thursday night, January 13, 2005, monthly CAPR meeting at the Issaquah IHOP restaurant, I announced that I planned to file legal papers the next day to start a recall of Dow Constantine, who, as 2004's chair of the GMUAC, participated in, and presided over, the passage of the CAO last year.  My petition for recall's charges include Constantine's actions related to the CAO that I believe involved misfeasance, malfeasance, or violation of oath of office.  The charges are set out in the petition itself, which was included in an earlier email and which I hope to have posted soon at a website being set up for the Constantine recall.  (I may also soon send an updated email with the petition and my commentary.)

The article below, about my recall of Dow Constantine over misrepresentations he made, and other improper actions I've attributed to him re: the CAO, was in this past week's (January 19 issue) Vashon Beachcomber.  It was very much "front page, above the fold" - it was at the very top of the front page, and went nearly across the entire front page, taking up 4 of the 5 columns.  The title was spread across 4/5 of the very top of the front page in big block lettering: "Yousoufian files recall against Constantine".  There were also pictures of Constantine and me - mine was first with the caption "He wants politicians to be held accountable" . Constantine's read: "He says there's no merit to the recall petition".  You can see the article by going to www.VashonBeachcomber.com or see it below.  

My actions to recall Constantine is major news on the island and is brought up with me wherever I show my face.  It is having  the effect of maintaining publicity on the CAO and getting more people incensed about what politicians have done by way of pulling the wool over the eyes of the public and fleecing rural property owners.  Many recognize the difference between pushing unpopular legislation versus going "over the line" and actively misrepresenting it.   It has also been mentioned on several radio programs in the past 10 days, including on Mike Siegel's show on morning radio, on "Republican Radio" yesterday, etc.  This is a "good thing" for our effort.   I've already been invited to address Kiwanis and other groups on the island, and expect to be on Mike Siegel's morning radio show (on KTTH, 770 AM radio, 6 to 9 AM) this coming week (was on the program on this subject briefly this past Thursday or Friday morning already, including an announcement by Mike Siegel of the recall of "Chairman Dow", etc., etc.).  I am also scheduled to be on the "Republican Radio" program next Saturday, January 29 during its 11 AM to 1 PM broadcast time slot.  (It's on AM 1300 radio in the Seattle area and other stations as well - go to http://www.republicanradio.com for details and select "Where to Listen" for broadcast frequency in your area, or to listen "on the web", or to hear the program from their archives after it airs next week.)

Meanwhile, more and more folks on Vashon, who have been quietly (or not so quietly) opposing the CAO, are adding friends and neighbors to the anti-CAO ranks on the island.  In turn, those people have been contacting me to be added to my emails, volunteering to host fund raising events, etc.   In mid-February, Rod and Laurel McFarland and I are scheduled to attend a fund-raising event one generous Vashon Islander (39 year resident) is hosting in his home for 25 couples.  The word and the level of participation in fighting the CAO and all the politicians involved in it is spreading exponentially.

All this is highly encouraging.

A number of those new folks upset over the CAO and the dangerous direction we are going in were among 20 or more people who attended this past Monday night's monthly general meeting of the Vashon Maury Island Community Council (VMICC) specifically to support me when I submitted a motion to have the community council discuss, debate, and vote on taking a position supporting the recall of Constantine.  This will happen at next month's VMICC meeting (February 21).  These meetings are normally attended mainly by people who seem to accept things like the CAO - including Dow Constantine's senior aide, Sharon Nelson, and the authors of many of the pro-CAO opinion pieces I've shared with you over the past months that have appeared in our island papers.  Normal attendance is 20 to 30.  At this past Monday's VMICC meeting, with the turnout of anti-CAO and pro-Constantine recall folks, it was nearly doubled (noted in the Beachcomber article).  Next month's public meeting should be very interesting (consider attending!).  Many who were at this past Monday night's meeting heard about the Constantine recall for the first time and seemed stunned that anyone would dare challenge their status quo.  Two nights later (on Wednesday night, January 19), there was a meeting of the VMICC's Land Use Committee, where Sharon Nelson was present again.  Again, this is a committee that normally has just a small handful of people attend, and is dominated by environmental extremists.  I had learned that the CAO and Dow Constantine's recall were on the agenda and decided I'd attend, and asked a few others to join me.  Even though they switched the meeting room location on us at the last minute (possibly in violation of the Open Meetings Act), and several of my friends couldn't find the meeting, we matched the others in numbers, and the meeting surely had a different tone than would otherwise been the case had I been there all alone to challenge what would have gone on.  As it turned out, we had an hour plus, at times heated, exchange with Sharon Nelson and others who were pro-CAO, or willing to make excuses for King County and Dow Constantine (this included a DDES employee present during the entire meeting).  Enough said for now on this topic - it could be a whole emailing of its own, and what happened that night and what was said may become the subject(s) of further legal action I may be taking, ethics complaint(s) I may be filing, and/or a Public Disclosure Act request ...).

And all this is only what has happened within days of filing the Dow Constantine recall petition!  Constantine can only hope the publicity, website, court rulings, etc. of his recall for misfeasance, malfeasance, and/or violation of oath of office don't get to be as much as what's been published re: Ron Sims (see links, etc. below).  He can only hope in vain.  Because of the credibility and media connections I've established over my nearly 8 years of exposing Ron Sims' violations of the Public Disclosure Act and the rigging of studies (to justify demolishing the Kingdome and public subsidies of Paul Allen's football stadium), I've had a "running start" in getting exposure of Dow Constantine's actions.

Finally, I will also take this opportunity to mention that I'd appreciate financial contributions to help me with the legal fees I've incurred for the recall.  I don't need a lot, and I'd be very happy if a whole lot of people just contributed $25 each - though I'd also be happy with larger contributions ($50, $100?).  I will also gladly take whatever you can contribute - and again, if enough people contributed just $10 each, that would work as well.  I've never done anything like this before so if I sound awkward asking for money, that's why.

The easiest way to contribute is to make a check payable directly to the attorneys I am using (same firm as we're using for the CAO litigation): "Groen, Stephens and Klinge, LLP, Attorneys at Law" and mail it to me at P.O. Box 950, Vashon, WA  98070-0950.  If you like, you can note on the check:  "For Constantine recall".    Note: this fund raising is completely separate from anything else involved with the CAO or CAPR, or the CAPR Legal Fund (which I am president of) or the legal effort to force the CAO ordinances to a public vote through the referenda we gathered petition signatures for.  It is also not subject to any PDC reporting or any other public reporting whatsoever.  It will solely to go to legal fees. 

Armen Yousoufian
(President, CAPR Legal Fund)
(For more info on what I've been up to re: successfully suing and exposing Ron Sims, "google" on "Armen Yousoufian", in quotes, for links to website, articles, audio or streaming video of television interviews and presentations, etc.

(fastest way to get to streaming video of my latest television appearance re: PDA lawsuit against Ron Sims is to link from a posting by my friend Stefan Sharkansky at the "SoundPolitics.com" website - go to:  http://www.soundpolitics.com/archives/cat_downtown_seattle_republican_club.html 
and then scroll down to 2nd through 4th paragraphs for November 24, 22, and 18 postings - link to streaming video is among the links you might find of interest)


 





Yousoufian files recall against Constantine 


By Anna K. Brinkman

Islander Armen Yousoufian filed a petition last Friday to recall King County Councilmember Dow Constantine, who represents Vashon Island and other communities within District 8 on the Metropolitan King County Council. 
Yousoufian’s petition lays out three charges against Constantine: that he intentionally misled the public about the controversial Critical Areas Ordinances in a commentary he wrote in the Nov. 17 issue of The Beachcomber; that he voted unlawfully to exempt public and not private schools from the CAOs despite legal advice to the contrary; and that he violated campaign finance laws by submitting his November finance reports on Dec. 15, five days after the Dec. 10 deadline. 
“My reaction is that when you lead, you’re bound to attract some folks who disagree with you,” Constantine said Monday of Yousoufian’s effort. “It doesn’t worry me. It annoys me. He has no legal basis for his petition; other than that, he disagrees with me on policy. It will waste taxpayer time and money, as it has to go to court, but I’m confident that a judge will recognize that it’s without merit and will throw it out,” Constantine said. 
Constantine is up for re-election this year. 
“My agenda for going after Constantine is not because I’m interested in his job. I don’t see myself running for County Council,” Yousoufian said. 
When asked whether he would seek some political office in the future, however, Yousoufian says his plans are not yet definite. 
Yousoufian, who successfully sued King County Executive Ron Sims and his office over a public disclosure act request, said he filed the recall petition to hold Constantine accountable for his actions. 
“I’ve had a number of calls asking if I have a political agenda — people saying, ‘he’s up for re-election this fall anyway.’ And ‘isn’t this going to divert our resources?’” said Yousoufian. But Yousoufian insists the move is not partisan and not an effort to get the job or designed to grant him exposure. 
“(Constantine) did things that I think are reprehensible. I think he ought to be held accountable for them. If he had been a Republican and (had) done this, I would probably have done the same thing,” Yousoufian said. “I believe politicians should be held accountable as quickly as possible. I don’t think he ought to be in office one moment longer than necessary,” he said. 
Still, Yousoufian says he doesn’t entirely enjoy the publicity. 
“The visibility is a two-edged sword. There are people who are going to walk up to me in Thriftway who love Dow Constantine and who used to think I was a nice guy who sometimes played the violin in church and who now are going to hate my guts,” he said. 
Yousoufian asked the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council Monday to let him speak and start a motion to support his petition. Council president Jim English allowed Yousoufian to make his motion at the end of the meeting during “new business” of the council, as is standard practice. The council is expected to vote on the motion at their next meeting at 7 p.m., Monday, Feb. 21. 
“This is a serious matter that is intricately related to the CAOs,” wrote Yousoufian in his e-mail to English. “Vashon and Maury Islanders should, in my opinion, be greatly concerned about this situation.” 
“This is a matter of principle,” said Yousoufian about the timing of his petition. He said he wants to inspire others to action and remind politicians of their duty to their constituents. He said he’d like them to realize they, “Don’t know what Armen Yousoufian’s may be watching.” 



© Copyright 2005 Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber 
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