He reminds me of the man who murdered both his parents, and then when sentence was about to be pronounced pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.

Abraham Lincoln

A troubling-but not surprising-aspect of the trumped up rhetoric to save the Lora Lake Apartments is the unmitigated hypocrisy of two of King County's most powerful political leaders.

Executive Ron Sims recently stated his intent to withhold funds for construction of transit-oriented development in Burien if the city proceeds with long-agreed-on plans to demolish the affordable housing complex.

Burien needs to redevelop the area beyond Sea-Tac International Airport to expand its economic base.

Never mind that most of the threatened funds have been appropriated by the county council.

Or that Burien has almost twice as much affordable rental housing, based on a percentage of apartments, than does the rest of King County.

Furthermore, if Lora Lake were to remain open, the quality of life for residents would diminish measurably when commercial jets start using the nearby third runway.

Yet, as former Burien Mayor Kitty Milne noted last week, low-income housing like Park Lake Homes-a development in the North Highline unincorporated area, over which Mr. Sims presides-has been torn down and replaced with higher-income rental and sale units.

Not to be outdone, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels got into the act.

The result was City Light's termination of discussions for the sale of an old substation, located within the apartment complex, to the Port of Seattle, which operates the airport and owns the Lora Lake property,

Yet the Seattle Times recently reported on a trend in Seattle to convert reasonably priced apartments into more expensive condominiums. The primary focus of that story was on West Seattle-where the mayor lives.

Their hypocritical power plays are designed to achieve political ends through dubious means rather than accomplish actual good. As such, they are an abuse of power.

The case of the Lora Lake Apartments also should be a wake-up call for residents of the North Highline unincorporated area who prefer annexation by Seattle rather than Burien.

Mr. Sims and Mr. Nickels-and other politicians who are reacting without knowing all the facts-have betrayed their predisposition for cramming every affordable housing unit possible into South King County.

If North Highline residents really believe the character of their community won't be changed with a concentration of affordable housing should Seattle and the collectivists who run city hall annex the unincorporated area, then I have a six-lane tunnel under the waterfront to sell them.

IN THE wake of the thrashing King County Republicans took at the polls last November, party activists need to regroup, reassess their strategy and begin an ongoing grass-roots effort to expand their base.

Two elements are critical to the success of this endeavor: agreement on a set of bedrock conservative principles, and development of a "farm team" of candidates for public office.

Avid Seattle Mariners' fans know that much of the success enjoyed by the team so far this season is the direct result of rebuilding its recently depleted farm system.

King County's-and Washington's-minority party needs to replicate this baseball fundamental.

The party needs to encourage good candidates to run first for city council, school board and district commission seats.

After a term or two of service at the local level, then they will have a proven record-and the name recognition-to challenge for higher office with a much improved chance for success.

It was, therefore, disappointing to note the number of elective offices locally that not only will have no primary contests in August, but no general election races in November.

The failure of Republicans to field candidates for these non-partisan positions this year is a missed opportunity to begin developing now that solid foundation on which the party can build for the future.

The views of Ralph Nichols are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Robinson Newspapers. He can be reached at ralphn@robinsonnews.com or 206-388-1857.