October is closing out with heartbreak for Mariners fans, but big things are ahead. I will warn ahead of time that there will likely be an emergency Beehiv on the Attorney General’s Office proposed model rules update before the next one on 8 November.
Table of Contents
Reminder About the Model Rules Update
First, if you have not read the Attorney General’s Office proposed model rules update - please review the proposed rules. We have until 17 November to comment.
Second, I am waiting for comments from others about these model rules. I also made outreach to the Attorney General’s Office so stand by. For instance, I shared that since I cannot make the 6 November hearing due to depending on public transportation to/from Skagit County, I hope the hearing will have an online component.
Please stay tuned…
Bellevue City Hall Needs Transparency
This Tuesday, the Bellevue City Council is having under Council Business 25-648 Consideration of Appeal of Notice of Exclusion Issued by the Planning Commission Chair Negin Khanloo to Avrum (Alex) Tsimerman. The problem is the current agenda item as of 25 October only has the memo, not the notice of exclusion nor the appeal also.
Bellevue City Council Chambers - Public Domain via Bellevue City Government
Granted, I believe Tsimerman is a threat to representative/republican democracy. Tsimerman is a malicious hatemonger, among other things. But if you cannot stand up for democracy in between elections - like open courts - then do not expect democracy to be there for you when government wields its substantial powers against you. Like the power to exclude from parliamentary activities someone who is disruptive - a power protected in RCW 42.30, the Open Public Meetings Act several times, including in the circa 2022 public comment section.
I quote Heather “Newsbrooke” Brooke, Ph.D. who wrote in The Silent State,
All manners of good reasons may be put forth for such secrecy, but once the right of the people to see justice being done is eroded, it is not long before there is no justice at all.
May this serve as a warning to Bellevue City Attorney Trisna Tanus and Bellevue City Clerk Charmaine Arredondo to understand that the public must see justice being done for there to truly be justice. Even when the likely result of excluding Tsimerman is what I want, the result must be done the right way. That means showing what is mentioned in the October 28 memo as,
Council will be considering Mr. Tsimerman’s appeal by reviewing the notice of exclusion, including the reasons Chair Khanloo provided in issuing the exclusion order, and the written appeal, which was supposed to contain the basis for the appeal. The City Clerk has provided a copy of both the notice of exclusion and the appeal to Council. Council should not solicit any testimony or other information.
So the Bellevue City Council will be making a decision to exercise justice without making public the very evidence that could affirm or deny Tsimerman’s appeal. Obviously I filed a public records request for the missing data. But the data will likely come after the vote.
I want to conclude with this thought: With a Jewish relative, a role model/political Polaris who happens to be a Jewish American politician and a need to use public transit; it’s supposedly hard to demand justice for Tsimerman. But to not demand justice for Tsimerman - and Bellevue and Wahsington State - is to not demand justice for Tsimerman’s victims & the victors over Tsimerman also.
Public Records Officer podcast has new episode…
In case I need to remind folks, the newest and boldest podcast on open government just dropped another episode about Slack being used to get around public records law. Also Governor Bob Ferguson’s policies of secrecy.