Snohomish Co. exec's staffer engineered records request ruse
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - A member of Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon's staff was behind public records requests targeting Reardon's political enemies, a statement from Reardon indicated.
The statement released Thursday night said legislative analyst Kevin Hulten apologized to Reardon for any distraction or embarrassment caused by an article in The Daily Herald. The story in the paper Thursday said the requests for emails, phone logs and other records targeted nearly 20 county employees and a private citizen seeking Reardon's recall.
Reardon's statement said Hulten's actions were his own and not at Reardon's direction.
Snohomish County Council members are still seeking an explanation from Reardon, The Daily Herald reported Friday.
A phone message seeking comment from Reardon and Hulten for this story was left Friday at Reardon's office and spokesman Christopher Schwarzen called back to say he was working on a response.
Aliases and various identities were created for records requests, The Daily Herald reported in Thursday's story. Anonymous Web pages, fake Twitter accounts and spoof email addresses were used to undermine Reardon critics. Couriers with money orders picked up records, so the person behind the request never had to show his face.
The record requests began during Reardon's re-election campaign in 2011 and appeared to be an attempt to dig up dirt on opponent Mike Hope. Reardon won a third term.
The campaign continued during a Washington State Patrol investigation into accusations that Reardon used country resources on his campaign and an affair. He was not charged.
In his statement, Reardon said he met with Hulten and Jon Rudicil, Reardon's staff assistant.
"Mr. Hulten apologized to me for any distraction and embarrassment caused by the article which ran in the Everett Herald suggesting that his outside and personal activities occurred at my direction. He informed me that his actions are private and did not interfere with his official responsibilities at the county. His motivations were his own. Any suggestion to the contrary is untrue. All county staff members have the same rights as any other citizen to request and review public documents - and they frequently do. The requests referenced in today's media account are for documents that are routinely requested of public officials by members of the public and/or the media," the statement said.
The statement released Thursday night said legislative analyst Kevin Hulten apologized to Reardon for any distraction or embarrassment caused by an article in The Daily Herald. The story in the paper Thursday said the requests for emails, phone logs and other records targeted nearly 20 county employees and a private citizen seeking Reardon's recall.
Reardon's statement said Hulten's actions were his own and not at Reardon's direction.
Snohomish County Council members are still seeking an explanation from Reardon, The Daily Herald reported Friday.
A phone message seeking comment from Reardon and Hulten for this story was left Friday at Reardon's office and spokesman Christopher Schwarzen called back to say he was working on a response.
Aliases and various identities were created for records requests, The Daily Herald reported in Thursday's story. Anonymous Web pages, fake Twitter accounts and spoof email addresses were used to undermine Reardon critics. Couriers with money orders picked up records, so the person behind the request never had to show his face.
The record requests began during Reardon's re-election campaign in 2011 and appeared to be an attempt to dig up dirt on opponent Mike Hope. Reardon won a third term.
The campaign continued during a Washington State Patrol investigation into accusations that Reardon used country resources on his campaign and an affair. He was not charged.
In his statement, Reardon said he met with Hulten and Jon Rudicil, Reardon's staff assistant.
"Mr. Hulten apologized to me for any distraction and embarrassment caused by the article which ran in the Everett Herald suggesting that his outside and personal activities occurred at my direction. He informed me that his actions are private and did not interfere with his official responsibilities at the county. His motivations were his own. Any suggestion to the contrary is untrue. All county staff members have the same rights as any other citizen to request and review public documents - and they frequently do. The requests referenced in today's media account are for documents that are routinely requested of public officials by members of the public and/or the media," the statement said.
If this is indeed true then Kevin Hulten should have to reimburse the county for some of the expense of fulfilling his request that were submitted using a fictitious name. Anyone who works in govt right now knows budgets have been cut due to the recession, so for him to do something like this shows a serious lack of good judgement and she he should be fired.
Most everything to do with politics is unclean. An idealist may run for public office but is too stupid to do right.
For anyone who actually believes his story..... well, I have some ocean front property to sell you in Ohio.Â
If Hulton was acting on his own and was making ordinary public record requests then why all the fake companies and offices that are just a po box. Reardon knew about this and still he acts innocent. They refused to answer the calls from the Herald for an interview so Reardon knew what was happening on Wednesday. The guy is a slime ball. The only thing he could dig up on Mike Hope was 11 years old. I hope Reardon gets recalled there have been too many problems with this guy for years starting with having his power to spend money stripped away by the county council during the Boeing roll out of the 787. He refused to tell the county council what this extravaganza would cost the county. He is a lose cannon and needs to go and be made to take his cohorts with him.
@taxpro Why does he keep getting re-elected then? He is on his third term.
@Surveyor1 @taxpro I wish I knew. I sure didn't vote for him. He deserves to be unemployed.
@Surveyor1Â @taxpro union support
Ducking the buck that should have stopped here.
While it seems a foregone conclusion that this guy is an idiot and should not be in office, he is correct in that public records requests are just that, public. They went about it in a way that tried to hide who was doing it, but you know damn well that his opponents were doing the same exact thing. THEY ALL DO. Republican, democrat, it doesn't make a difference.
Snohomish County needs to dump this guy. His core competence seems to be throwing people under the bus.
This guy still is in office? oops sorry its Snohomish County, never mind....
Reardon is nothing but a liar. That's EXACTLY why he hired Hulten AND Rudicil - to pull the same nasty stunts they did in the state house/senate.  Besides, you aren't much of a leader if you don't know what your staff is doing. I'd like to think Reardon's political career is over, but the democrats of King Co, whom he kisses up to, will probably get him elected to something else once his term at Snohomish Co is over. Too bad. He's an example of who we shouldn't have in government. He serves his own interests, not those of the people.
Politics! Nothing new.