King County Charter Amendment No. 4 Additional Qualifications for Elected Officials

Full text is here.

This would allow the County Council to establish additional qualifications for certain elected positions. (For instance, requiring that a Sheriff have law enforcement experience.)

I fundamentally think that any position that really and truly requires very specific qualifications should be an appointed position, not an elected position. If however a position is made an election position, regardless of the job description, then the voters should have full and total authority to vote in whoever they want. (I’d even disagree with age and citizenship requirements and such… if it is an elected position, let the voters decide… let them vote for a ripe watermelon if they really want to for that matter.)

Voters may sometimes be stupid, but the nature of a democracy is that if the voters want something, they get it… and often it is exactly what they deserve when they make a stupid choice. But the whole point is that it is the choice of the electorate. And MOST of the time, they make decent decisions.

This change is unnecessary and stupid. And it is only even being considered because there are elected positions that should not be elected positions in the first place.

My vote:

NO