You can’t fault the King County Municipal League for lack of transparency. Below is a memo we got yesterday from state Sen. Pam Roach, a Republican running for re-election in the 31st District.

From the looks of it, this conservative Republican will be facing a panel of two conservatives, one centrist, three liberals, two “very liberal” liberals and two who describe themselves as “left of center.” Seven identify themselves as Democrats, none as Republicans.

 
I was contacted by the Muni League to set an interview date. In the past I have gone in with all the extraordinary things that I have done for constituents, district efforts led, my efforts in Honduras, local endorsements…etc. I spent hours gathering things up..driving to the interviews (sometimes as far north as Fircrest) and I was never the token Republican “superior than my opponent” candidate.

After they left several messages I decided to call them. I told the nice young-sounding lady that in the last interview there were two trial lawyers on the interview panel and my opponent was, in fact, a trial lawyer. That, I said, did not seem too fair to me. I asked if I could see this year’s panel members assigned to my race….. I can’t believe she actually sent it! 

Here’s the response from Brit Sojka of the Municipal League of King County:

—–Original Message—–
From: CEC Coordinator
To: pamroach@aol.com
Sent: Mon, Jun 14, 2010 10:55 pm
Subject: List of Municipal League Committee Members

Hello Senator Roach,

I am very sorry that I wasn’t able to continue our conversation earlier today.  As requested, I’ve provided information on the candidate evaluation committee members you would be meeting with below.  

Name
Profession
Party Affiliation
Political Viewpoint

Matthew John McCauley
UW Law Student
Democrat
Left of Center

Dr. William DeGrace
n/a
None
Conservative

Jacob Vela
Student
Democrat
Very Liberal

Jasmine Tolle
Student & Accounting
None
Center

Laraine Volkman
retired
Democrat
Very Liberal

JOHN NICON
RETIRED
Democrat
Liberal

Kelly Goold
Project Manager, Seattle Parks
Democrat
Liberal

Jake Beattie
Executive Director, Bike Works
Democrat
Left of Center

Nola-Jean Bamberry
educator
Democrat
Liberal

Daniel Magill
High School Teacher, Seattle Public Schools
Independent
Conservative

Helen Gorsuch
Retired
no info
no info