Armen Yousoufian's Blog

After 30 years in business/investment real estate, I added "citizen activist" to my resume in 1997 when I requested sports stadium documents of King County Executive Ron Sims. After being "stonewalled", I sued, winning more at every stage, up to the state Supreme Court. Documents disgorged by Sims (after 4 years denying they existed!) revealed rigged studies. Sims misled the public on the stadiums. Other issues found me (e.g. Critical Areas Ordinance). Google “Armen Yousoufian” for more.

About Me

Name:
Location: Vashon, Washington, United States

I was born and raised in New York City. I took classical violin lessons for 10 years and studied astronomy. I built telescopes, grinding the mirrors from scratch. I was a nerd! I considered a career in classical violin but chose astrophysics. I majored in Physics at Rutgers University for 2 years, then switched and graduated in mechanical engineering. I moved to Seattle in 1969 to work on missiles for Boeing, got an MBA from Seattle University, and became a business and real estate entrepreneur for over 30 years. In 1997 I became involved in open government activism when I asked King County Executive Ron Sims for sports stadium documents. I was stonewalled. I sued under the Open Records, or Public Disclosure, Act. I won the case in King County Superior Court, but still didn’t get all the documents, nor recovered my legal fees, which the law said I was entitled to be reimbursed. I appealed and won more in the Court of Appeals and the court of public opinion. But I still didn’t get all the documents! I appealed again and won yet more in the Washington State Supreme Court. But I still don’t have all the documents! While that fight goes on I have become involved in new issues.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Armen Yousoufian, Disenfranchised Voter

See the link below to the amazing story of what happened to my absentee ballots in the primary and general elections in 2005. This is after I have voted in King County in virtually every election for over 30 years without incident. As others reported - if it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone. It also happened to Larry Phillips, then Chair of the King County Council, as well, about a year earlier, as widely covered in the major papers. But Larry's votes got to count - mine did not... Not to mention the more outrageous circumstances in my case - including the fact that it didn't happen just once (Larry Phillips' situation). In fact, the same foul-up with my votes occurred in two consecutive elections, notwithstanding that both times I phoned to check on my ballots and was told all was OK. And this entire episode, the misrepresentations to me, etc. was never reported by any of the reporters I told the story to. Why not? Why did Larry Phillips story of King County elections errors get reported and not mine? How many others did this happen to as well?

http://www.soundpolitics.com/archives/005923.html#005923

posted by Armen Yousoufian | 10:17 AM

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