King County Municipal League ratings draw early protest

Get ready to boast or bemoan, politicians.

Monday, the King County Municipal League will release its ratings that rank candidates from being unfit for office to outstanding.

For a century, the league has been doling out comparisons between candidates for elected office, striving to be a trusted source of information for voters.

But is the volunteer-led, nonpartisan, nonprofit league really unbiased?

That question has been asked repeatedly throughout the organization's history, and this year is no different.

State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, who's running for re-election in the 31st District, chose not to participate in the rating process this year because she says it's not fair. Roach is one of 11 candidates — of 122 evaluated — who did not participate for one reason or another.

Her protest came after she requested to see a list of the volunteers who were going to interview her. A volunteer e-mailed her the list, although sharing that information is against league policy.

Of the 11 people on the list, seven described themselves as Democrats, one said he was conservative but gave no party, one said her political viewpoint was "center," one said he was an independent conservative, and the last gave no information. No one identified as Republican.

"The person at the desk made a big mistake by letting us know who was on the panel," Roach said. "Nobody believes a Republican can go into a bastion of Democrats and come out well."

Roach has participated in the league ratings on seven occasions while running for office. In the past 16 years, her ratings have dropped from very good to adequate. The possible ratings a candidate can receive include outstanding, very good, good, adequate and not qualified. But she said her declining ratings have nothing to do with her decision to boycott the league this year.

Gabe Meyer, the league's co-chair, said it's common for Republicans to accuse the league of having a liberal slant, or vice versa. But he asserts that party affiliations of the volunteers don't skew the evaluations.

On its website, the league says volunteers seek to understand a candidate's potential to be effective and serve the community. "Political affiliation or the stance a candidate has on any particular issue are not considered," the website says.

Meyer insists the evaluation process is sound because it has many ways to control any partisan influences.

The first task in that process — and one of the most challenging — is finding enough volunteers to prepare for and conduct the evaluations. The league recruits from right- and left-leaning groups, Meyer said, to staff the five committees that do the work.

Of the hundred or so volunteers this year, Meyer said he turned down about a dozen because they were involved in campaigns, which is not allowed. Other volunteers decided not to help when they realized they must refrain from partisan discussion and influences.

Meyer said the league also allows candidates to recommend persons to fill committees, but Roach sees that as biased, too. She said the organization once asked her to recommend volunteers, but she said she doesn't think it's her job to round out its panels.

"They are admitting their panels are not balanced by the very fact that they invite me to put people on it," Roach said.

Kelly Goold, a project manager for Seattle Parks and a Democrat who was on the committee that rated candidates for Roach's Senate seat this year, said he thought the volunteers reviewed the candidates fairly.

"There was an effort put into not discussing political ideology," he said, adding that there was some partisan talk but it was very limited.

Jake Beattie, another Democrat on the committee, also said politics didn't enter the process. Beattie is the executive director for Bike Works.

"It's a great deliberative process," he said. "It's not about the issues, it's about the effectiveness a candidate will have in office."

Candidates are evaluated on four criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character and knowledge.

The volunteers attend a training — open to the public — that explains the evaluation process and emphasizes that political biases are not tolerated, Meyer said.

Candidates being evaluated are asked to fill out a questionnaire, supply references and attend an interview with one of the five committees.

Volunteers then research the candidate by looking through newspaper clippings, public records and other sources of information. They also call the references and other people familiar with the candidate.

The committee produces a rating and sends it to the league board — made up of 22 members — for review.

Matt Richardson, a Republican, and Ron Weigelt, a Democrat, are both running against Roach in the Aug. 17 primary. Both were interviewed by the committee and said they thought the process was fair.

Toby Nixon, a former Republican state representative who has been rated by the league five times, said the league seems to have a natural bias toward Democrats because the two groups have similar philosophies — that issues should be solved by the government rather than by individuals or the private sector.

However, he said the league has been fair to him. The last time he was rated, in 2008, he received a rating of outstanding.

Part of that, Nixon said, is because he researched the league process, attended the committee-member training and read past questionnaires filled out by candidates who got an outstanding rating.

"You could say I'm gaming the system, but I'm really not," he said, adding that he just spent more time preparing than most candidates.

Meyer said the names of the volunteers who participated in evaluations are released every year with the ratings — but their party affiliations are not.

Meyer said the league doesn't normally release that information because it would cause undue controversy.

"It would bring it back to people thinking volunteers might be biased," Meyer said, "but I'm convinced they're not biased."

Carly Flandro: 206-464-2108 or cflandro@seattletimes.com