wenBLOG

Yesterday the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (BOE) and it’s embattled Director Michael Vu came to an agreement on Vu’s much anticipated departure from the position he has held for the last 3 and 1/2 years. I must admit that I have been less than complimentary in my comments about the 30 year old Vu and his job performance, but over the last few months I’ve come to better appreciate the monstrosity that is the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and the impossible task it is to direct its operations.

Granted, Vu made mistakes. Early on it was apparent that he was unprepared to handle the political minefield that the board’s Director must negotiate. Additionally he showed a lack of the managerial skill needed to oversee the magnitude of elections in one of this country’s most populous counties. Finally when found to be lacking in these areas he chose to internalize the problems which only exasperated the people scrutinizing his performance.

The question at hand is, was it really Michael Vu’s fault? Yes from the standpoint that he applied for the job believing that he was professionally prepared for the position. But don’t we all seek a position higher than our last as we ascend the ladder of professional prize pursuit? A new job should be a challenge and most of us believe that we are capable of performing at the level requisite with the next step in our industry. Michael Vu was doing what most of us would do at the age of 27 - jump at the chance to perform on one of the nation’s largest stages in his chosen profession. Unfortunately for Michael, he was not up to the task.

So who is to blame for the failures at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. Certainly as I said previously, Michael Vu simply by position alone should carry some of the burden, but based on what was just said isn’t it conceivable that the blame goes beyond Vu? In what I’ve seen over the last few months and upon recollection of the past few years what becomes apparent is that the responsibility for the Board of Elections’ problems bears more blame than the average human has fingers with which to point.

Begin with the group empaneled to choose a new Director in 2003. This group eventually determined that 27 year old Michael Vu from Salt Lake City was qualified to take the helm at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. He certainly possessed the technical skills needed to move the county’s elections process into the 21st century, but that was only a small part of the job and something that the Director should not micro-manage on a daily basis. In fact the technology of electronic voting is so complicated that the Board now acknowledges a need for a full-time “vendor’s technician” who should work for the Board and deal with the multitude of issues that arise with the equipment. While Vu possessed the technical skills, it is particularly obvious that he lacked in the personal and managerial skills needed to do the job. Although age should not be an impediment for someone otherwise qualified, there is something to be said for the wisdom that comes with age and it’s value in leading organizations and working with others.

Next the appointed members of the Cuyahoga County Elections Board certainly should be on notice for their part in this mess. The members (appointed through the most partisan of practices - equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, chosen by their respective parties) are responsible for oversite of the Director and in turn the organization as a whole. They are meant to safeguard the public’s trust and during as well as prior to Vu’s tenure did little to deserve that trust. Throughout this fiasco, they have consistently sought scapegoats (though it should be mentioned that following the May primary debacle, it was the two Democrat appointees, Ed Coaxum and Loree Soggs, that sought Vu’s dismissal and the two Republican appointees,

Chairman Bob Bennett and Sally Florkiewicz, that voted to keep Vu on… what’s even more ironic about this is that Vu is a registered Democrat). Their scapegoating goes so far that two employees of the Board are currently appealing convictions for their part in a fraud (pre-screening and selection of survey ballots) perpetrated during the 2004 presidential election. Their fraudulent activities were apparently the preferred and long-adhered to practice at the BOE. The Board placed the taint of this fraud in Vu’s lap even though the practice was established long before he came on the scene. In the end, the Board sees Vu’s resignation as a method by which they can cleanse themselves of any inappropriate activities.

Many (but not all - let me be clear that I am not referring to all) employees at the Board are also to blame and by association the organizations most responsible for those employees’ recommendation for hire by the BOE (the Democratic and Republican parties). Practically all of the employees at the BOE came to their jobs through political connections and patronage. This does not mean that they were not qualified for their positions - in fact some are over-qualified for the jobs they hold. It should also be pointed out that a good number of BOE employees perform their responsibilities professionally and with integrity. It’s the employees that do not perform in a high quality manner or with any level of personal responsibility because they know their political ties will insulate them from any need to actually do a good job that are of concern. These are the staffers that float through their days letting the clock and not their tasks dictate their labor. It is this group of employees (and let me reiterate their appointive masters) that deserve some share of the blame for Vu’s failures.

I would be negligent if I did not include the county’s Board of Commissioners in this litany of failed responsibility. The commissioners in a bureaucratic practice of “you can pay me now, or you can pay me later” chose to wait to purchase the equipment necessary to implement a quality transition to electronic voting. By waiting they ended up creating a very narrow window for protocols to be developed and ultimately facilitated the May 2006 primary crisis. Additionally, they undermined the public’s confidence in the new electronic voting process and recommended that citizens vote absentee (it should be remembered that the biggest problem in the May primary carnival of disaster was the improperly printed absentee ballots - the same absentee ballots that the commissioners recommended voters use). The “pay me later” portion of this story is the incredible outlay of monies (over $10 million in additional expense) that the commissioners ulitimately provided to review the problems in May and then attempted to fix on the fly for the November General Election.

Who else should carry some of this blame? We shouldn’t forget former Ohio Secretary of State (and failed gubenatorial candidate) Ken Blackwell who treated the Secretary of State’s office as his own personal bully pulpit for ascendency to the governor’s office instead of actually providing adequate direction for local boards of election. While new Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner claims all of her inherited office’s shortcomings on Blackwell it should be noted that it is the office as much as the man that require attention. There are numerous statements in the record from Cuyahoga County Board of Election meetings where Vu and Board members noted the lack of guidance from officials within the Secretary of State’s office and those departmental authorities should be considered for their failure in assistance.

Finally what about us, the citizens and voters of Cuyahoga County? People like me who have been very active professionally as well as civicly in voting activities and who have known for years about the BOE’s shortcomings. We did little to draw closer scrutiny of the Board’s activities. It was only after the 2000 election cycle that we began to question the BOE’s operations and it was not until 2004 that we had any current empiracy by which to make accusations.

Who’s to blame? We all are. Sorry Michael we failed you as much if not more than you failed us.