"They're excuse?"

I'm guessing ... spell czech?

Goldy, valid points aside, for the love of all that is holy, proofread. "They're excuse?" You're better than that.

See, this is why the Times is officially a paper.

They actually have a second person proofread stuff.

"The Stranger's was the most informed, engaging, and policy-oriented editorial endorsement interview they had."

The Seattle Times as an editorial voice is a joke. A mouthpiece for the brain-damaged and morally challenged Blethen family. That the Times board is ill-informed, biased and ignorant of policy is a real shock.

Right.

@1, @2, @3 OH MY GOD! You found a typo in a thousand word post, minutes after posting! Please let that be the focus of the comment thread.

(FYI, I ALWAYS find typos in my posts after I post, which is why I generally proof and reproof them after they go live. Generally, gimme 10 minutes, and then start making fun of me.)

@4 Gillian and Anna meticulously copyedit the paper. We do not have the resources to copyedit Slog, as much as some of us need it.

We don't get paid to post them.

If you want to be treated like the Times, then have another person view your page and run a basic spellcheck. But by posting such things, you let the unwashed masses incorrectly presume that the Times is a real paper, since they meet a higher bar than you do.

It's all well and good to call out the Times for it's agenda bias in selecting who to endorse for Auditor, but can you honestly say that the Stranger didn't use its own agenda bias in their selection of Pridemore vs Miloscia? Miloscia's lukewarm attitude towards SSM and abortion couldn't have helped his chances (it didn't with the King County Dems) despite the fact that none of that stuff has any relevance to the auditors position.

So come clean SECB, are you really saying that Miloscia's poor gay/women's rights record had no effect on your choice? Considering he was arguably the most qualified Democratic candidate (i.e. he actually has auditing experience), it certainly couldn't have been lack of credentials or ability that hurt him.

All you grammar and style nazis need to take a break.

And Will in Seattle again proves he is a putz. The Times is not a newspaper, most days it is no more than a pamphlet.

@8 I'd say Miloscia, Pridemore, and Kelley were all qualified. Watkins has a decent resume too, but it's unverifiable, and he was awfully loose in his use of the word "audit" vs. "engagement" to describe his actual experience.

Pridemore got our endorsement because he was the only candidate who didn't seem to want to operate the office with an agenda. And unlike Miloscia, Pridemore better understood that performance audits of different agencies require different skills.

But please, call up Miloscia and see if he had any complaints with our interview. I'm sure he would have preferred to have received our endorsement, I betcha he'll tell you he got a fair hearing, and that social issues never once came up.

@7 - This coming from the dimwit who regularly posts "facts" that he pulls directly from his ass without the slightest attempt at research.

@6: Goldy, contrary to what you and your very delicate feelings seem to believe, this is a glass-house-stone-throwing sort of issue. A great deal of what you publish on Slog revels in the professional shortcomings of others (McKenna is a a crappy lawyer, the Times is a crappy paper, etc.). Typing teh instead of the is an understandable typo; making the their/they're/there mistake after the fifth grade is inexplicable. When a professional writer writes something like "They're excuse?", approves it upon proofreading, and then publishes it, he invites ridicule. Nobody called you a crappy writer. They just teased you mildly. Grow a thicker skin, sweet pea, and bear in mind that you dish out far worse.

And yes, I see the stutter that made it past my own proofreading. Oops.

Yes, making typos in blog posts is exactly the same as making endorsements based on irrelevant partisan issues.

Piling on! "Cut and dried," not "cut and dry."

Otherwise excellent. I'd like to print this post, roll it up, and cram it up Bruce Ramsey's butt.

You call Watkins a mud-slinging far-right-wing "tea bagger" (Christian who believes in Constitutional values and fiscal responsibility in government), but when the mud is part of the public record I would call it "mud bringing" rather than mudslinging. The public has a need to know about Kelly's documented fraudulent funds transfers, tampering of evidence, questionable business schemes, tax evasion, and hiding approximately $3.8 million from creditors, because the state auditor will be overseeing the spending of public money.

You may think Watkins is insufficiently qualified to be state auditor, but retiring auditor Brian Sonntag has said he thinks Watkins is in fact very well qualified. (Kelley initially lied about Sonntag endorsing him early in the campaign.) I think 23 years experience in a variety of businesses, including auditing experience and management of hundreds of employees, sufficiently qualifies Watkins for state auditor. The fact that Watkins has no similar character issues makes him a far more favorable and trustworthy candidate than Troy Kelley.

You call Watkins a mud-slinging far-right-wing "tea bagger" (Christian who believes in Constitutional values and fiscal responsibility in government), but when the mud is part of the public record I would call it "mud bringing" rather than mudslinging. The public has a need to know about Kelly's documented fraudulent funds transfers, tampering of evidence, questionable business schemes, tax evasion, and hiding approximately $3.8 million from creditors, because the state auditor will be overseeing the spending of public money.

You may think Watkins is insufficiently qualified to be state auditor, but retiring auditor Brian Sonntag has said he thinks Watkins is in fact very well qualified. (Kelley initially lied about Sonntag endorsing him early in the campaign.) I think 23 years experience in a variety of businesses, including auditing experience and management of hundreds of employees, sufficiently qualifies Watkins for state auditor. The fact that Watkins has no similar character issues makes him a far more favorable and trustworthy candidate than Troy Kelley.

Has anyone published a Chrome extention that would just block all Will in Seattle comments from being visible on SLOG? Because that might make SLOG comments readable again.

That is all.

Troy Kelley was a member of ALEC. How's that add to his "professional experience?"

I am a Chelan County supporter of James Watkins. I appreciate the indepth interview process at the Stranger. That said, there is no reason to believe that your interpretation of the candidate's answers was as thorough and complete as you might think. I found the 3 Democrats in the race to be strong on political experience and short on the real experience. I failed to find the agenda that you argue Watkins has. The only candidate that outgoing auditor, Brian Sonntag, noted was particularly well qualified is James Watkins. He said nothing about the other three candidates regarding this race. That makes a point worth listening to. Thanks

Goldy is correct on how my interview went.

We do differ on the "requirement" that one needs agency specific skills for all performance audits. It is advantages, but certainly not required. One does not need specific skills unless one was to dig down and audit in the weeds on a specific program or technical audit. For the limited amount of money the SAO has, the ROI on these audits will be small.

For quality, process, ISO, planning, Baldrige, process and other management audits that I am promoting, specific agency skills are not required. I mentioned that I personally audited (Baldrige) a hospital, but have no hospital agency skills. I do have management and quality skills.

I am sure most auditors would agree with my assessment. I am not sure why this difference of opinion was enough to disqualify me.

Sonntag has said that everything he said about Kelley is "as true today as the day I said it," not to mention you are all misquoting Sonntag in what he said about Watkins. I encourage you to go back to the original article and look it up....

Kelley has the most private AND public sector experience and is the only one who has done any verifiable audits, as an audit team leader for the SEC. He also chaired JLARC, where he reviewed and directed performance audits which is way more than Watkins has done in the field.

A few things here: Kelley has the most private and public sector experience. He is the only one with any verifiable auditing experience as an SEC audit team leader, and the chair of JLARC where he reviewed and directed performance audits.

Also, everything Sonntag said about Kelley is "as true today as it was the day I said it" according to Sonntag. And these Watkins folks have misquoted what Sonntag said about him (go look at the original article).

Finally, Kelley is endorsed by all major business and labor groups, law enforcement and education, and has an array of bipartisan endorsements of elected officials (including Rep. Miloscia).