Logan's resignation a challenge for county

King County Elections Director Dean Logan's resignation adds a recruiting challenge in an office already struggling to fill 11 other vacancies.

For Logan's boss — and biggest defender — County Executive Ron Sims, the departure also will delay a switch to all-mail voting. Sims had been pushing to make the change next year. Now, that won't happen until 2008 or 2009.

"I had full confidence with Dean and the elections team," Sims said Tuesday, "but the head of the elections team is now gone. As a result of that, I'm going to be far more deliberative."

Logan, after nearly two years of controversy over his performance, announced Monday he was quitting to become deputy registrar in Los Angeles County. His resignation is effective July 14.

Logan, who was state director of elections when Sims hired him in 2003 to clean up messes with absentee-ballot processing and voter registration, originally was welcomed by council members of both parties.

But for many Republicans and other political observers, Logan became the symbol for everything that went wrong in King County in the contested 2004 gubernatorial election. If a permanent replacement for Logan isn't found within a month — a near impossibility — veteran county administrator Jim Buck will fill in temporarily, said Sims spokesman Sandeep Kaushik. Buck has run elections during two previous transition periods and now works in Sims' office.

Logan, 38, said the combination of a great job offer and partisan politics on the County Council prompted his decision.

"County employees are not treated with respect. There's a lack of civility in the discussion," Logan said Tuesday. "I did reach a point when I no longer wanted to subject myself to appearing before the council and giving them the forum for them to be uncivil."

Logan's resignation came a year after he seemed to come through the worst of the criticism over the 2004 election. But, he said, he couldn't stomach continuing attacks, including criticism over his absence from a June 5 County Council meeting at which all-mail voting was debated. Logan had gone to observe a primary in Los Angeles as part of his job interview but led County Council members to believe he was at a state election conference.

Sims, who said he heard about the job offer to Logan last Friday, said he "never regretted standing by Dean."

"I was disappointed that he was leaving," Sims said. "Dean's really good. Outside the discussions we've had in our county, Dean's really highly regarded."

Sims also said Logan's resignation — which he blamed on partisan politics — will create a recruiting challenge.

"We could change more of the political environment here so it would be more attractive to people," Sims said. "As we move away from the 2004 election, I think the rhetoric will die down, but it's been pretty toxic regarding Dean."

Conny McCormack, Logan's new boss in Los Angeles, said his handling of the 2004 election was one of the reasons she hired him.

"There's nothing that really demonstrates how a person will respond unless you are under a situation with intense public scrutiny as he was in that election," McCormack said. "I was very impressed with his integrity, his resolve, his openness to solve problems that emerged."

County Councilman Pete von Reichbauer, R-Federal Way, welcomed Logan's departure in a statement Tuesday. "Los Angeles' decision [to hire Logan] is our gain," he said.

Councilwoman Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, offered a different assessment: "I think he's an extraordinarily talented, moral and dedicated public servant who became the scapegoat for the 2004 governor's election. When the Republicans were winning, there was no mention of Dean Logan's performance, but when he was losing, he became the scapegoat."

County Councilwoman Jane Hague, R-Bellevue and a former elections director, said Logan had strong technical competence but was "unable to put together and retain the team that he needed to provide the public with stable elections."

King County's vote counting in 2004 was marred by problems that included poor accounting.

Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges blasted King County's election administration but rejected the state Republican Party's claim that those problems justified a revote. Logan demoted his elections superintendent, Bill Huennekens, in June 2005 but hasn't been able to recruit a replacement.

Logan, assistant director Sherril Huff Menees and other managers have taken over Huennekens' previous duties. Other unfilled staff positions include assistant superintendent of voter services, information-technology manager and supervisor of mail-ballot processing.

"If you can't fill that position," Randy Matheson, vice chairman of the County Council-appointed Citizens' Election Oversight Committee, said of the superintendent job, "trying to fill the position that Dean Logan sat in is going to be an even greater challenge. That's bad news for the county; that's bad news for the voters."

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com