In what has unfortunately become too common in Washington State, a newspaper is calling for the resignation of a Democrat elected official. It is sad that the Democrats in our state seem incapable of encouraging the bad apples among them to voluntarily leave when their ability to lead is compromised.
This time it is Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist who has run into ethics trouble – just like State Auditor Troy Kelley, Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, and other Democrats before him.
As the Seattle Times opined, “The people of Pierce County deserve a credible and respected prosecuting attorney. Today, that is not the case.
“Mark Lindquist, the prosecutor since 2009, has managed to squander a once-promising career in public service. His unwillingness to accept responsibility for a dysfunctional office telegraphs his leadership style — and his values.”
Evidently Lindquist’s “values” include a “pattern of missteps and abuses (that) has triggered investigations by the Washington State Bar Association and the county ethics commission. Two whistleblower complaints throw light on a politicized office, a culture of vindictiveness, and prosecutorial offenses that undermine the public interest.”
Despite the controversy he has created, Lindquist (like Kelley and Reardon before him) is hanging on too long, hoping the attention will blow over, while claiming he still has an ability to serve. As the Times points out, it’s the public which suffers most from his lack of ethics.
“The animated death spiral of a politician, for all its predictable drama, diverts attention from the broader calling of duty and public service. Lindquist is the county’s most powerful local official. He has the power to prosecute. Unlike other elected officials such as the county executive and members of the county council, Lindquist administers justice — at least in theory.”
Given the serious ethics lapses Lindquist, which were “expertly untangled by The Tacoma News Tribune”, where is the outrage from other elected Democrats, demanding that he step aside?
Yet another Democrat scandal, being ignored by Democrats. A sad – but unfortunately typical – ending note to 2015.
Your not going to get a decent person out of Pierce county, they’re all Progressives and the world knows that all they have governing in Western Washington are corrupt Democrats.
Why do democrat voters in Washington tolerate the continuing pattern of political corruption? Reardon, Kelley, Lindquist, along with the undo influence of liberal payola from the like of Steyer.
Lots of union influence. I don’t know why blue-collar workers can’t see through the blatantly liberal political motivations of the unions who are supposed to represent them, or recognize that those politics limit their opportunities for advancement; but they can’t. The union parasites pick their pockets and use the proceeds to elect corrupt Democrat politicians who support “pro-labor” (read: pro-union) policies that are toxic to business innovation and expansion that could provide better-paying jobs.
I agree, organized labor in WS is one of the largest corruptors of politics. Since the unions have lost power in the private sector to increase membership numbers (membership has been declining for years), they’ve resorted to pushing politicians to make more and more state employment conditioned on union membership. SEIU and AFSCME, the most corrupt of public sector labor organizations, are pushing that agenda.
So has he been convicted or ? What was the outcome of any investigations against him? I mean are we to take the word of the Seattle liberal times just because they are calling for his resignation … Everything I read about the accusations against him seemed very subjective as far as I could tell. I guess I have always thought that he was doing a good job even though he is a Democrat and with that in mind even my friends who are policeman and conservative vote for him so.. Can you show us what you are talking about along with some empirical data etc so we can understand exactly what he did?