Election housecleaning?

The labor arbitrator's ruling reinstating Nicole Way as King County's supervisor of mail ballots was too generous.

The sloppiness in her operation, as described in the arbitration documents, was so bad in the 2004 election that this state almost didn't have a governor. In the interest of the people of Washington, the arbitrator should have ruled for the employer.

The lawyer for her union, Teamsters Local 117, argued that she was made a scapegoat for the failings of her superiors. Those failings were real enough but, judging from the documents, so were hers.

The lawyer also argued that there were no warnings or pro-gressive discipline, but only an investigation and a firing. This is common in public-sector union cases, in which it often seems impossible to discharge an employee.

Warnings and progressive discipline are fine things, but some matters are so serious that a second chance is not reasonable. The 2004 election, which was won by 129 votes, was one of those matters.

It required a housecleaning in King County Elections, which a labor arbitrator now impedes.