At first Alex Hays didn't think the e-mail was out of the ordinary. Given that Hays will manage the campaign to approve three amendments to the Pierce County Charter, he expects to get questions about the measures such as this:

Mr. Hays,

I recently heard from a friend that you were going to be the campaign manager for the efforts in favor of Pierce County Charter Amendments 1, 2, & 3. I was wondering if you could provide me with more information on the amendments. I know they have to do with term limits, moving county elections to odd years, and ranked choice voting, but which one does what? Do you guys have a website yet? Where would I go about donating if I decide I agree with your positions?

Scott Mateyka
Tacoma, WA

But then Hays noticed that the message signed by Scott Mateyka came from the e-mail account of Erik Connell. A little web search found an Erik Connell who should probably know a bit about ranked choice voting. He is a "democracy fellow" with FairVote, the leading national advocate of ranked choice voting.

And Connell was described as a University of Puget Sound graduate whose focus at FairVote is instant runoff voting.

"In the coming weeks you’ll see that these guys will say anything to preserve their experiment," Hays wrote of IRV advocates.

I sent an e-mail to Connell and asked if the Scott Mateyka e-mail, in fact, came from him. If so, why hadn't he identified himself as an advocate for IRV?

Here's what he wrote:

Yes, that was me. I just was curious as to what was going on with the opposition and came up with this approach spur of the moment. Kind of boneheaded, I realize. I certainly didn't mean to be underhanded, but just to get answers to some elementary questions.

He then offered to brief me on the virtues of IRV and the No on 3 campaign.

I guess this all means he isn't going to be donating to Hays' campaign.