Reagan Dunn Joins Chorus Calling for Resignation of Assessor Accused of Stalking; Advocates Appeal Ruling Upholding Burien's Sleeping Ban
Today's Afternoon Fizz.
1. King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who was the only council member absent from last week's 8-0 vote demanding the resignation of King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson, took a "point of personal privilege" at Tuesday's council meeting to say that he, too, believed that Wilson should resign over allegations that he stalked and harassed his ex-fiancée, Lee Keller.
The no-confidence motion notes that the claims against Wilson include allegations that he "improperly used county resources to engage in the stalking," potentially including the use of private information he's able to access through his job as the county's tax assessor.
"Assessor Wilson has been accused of extremely serious allegations in a domestic dispute, including stalking, harassment and improper use of county resources for the purposes of stalking," Dunn said. "While all of this is disturbing, the real linchpin for me is the allegation of improper use of county resources. ... I find that all of these allegations are extremely disturbing, and Mr. Wilson's public behavior to be inconsistent with the professionalism expected of an elected official. Had I been able to vote for Resolution 16829, I would have voted yes."
In text messages to Keller, Wilson repeatedly claimed to have Dunn's support.
Keller has obtained multiple restraining orders and filed several petitions for dissolution of her partnership with Wilson over the past two years, providing documentation of Wilson's actions, which include calling and texting her incessantly, tracking her movements and the location of her car, and calling the workplace of a man she dated to falsely accuse him of sexual assault in an attempt to get him fired. Last Friday, a judge denied Wilson's request to have the latest restraining order lifted.
Wilson has not denied Keller's allegations, many of which are documented in text messages that are part of the public court record. However, he has claimed that his behavior "never posed a threat to" Keller, and has weaponized a photo the two of them took during a brief reconciliation in May to claim that Keller is being irrational and blackmailing him for rent money. (A text message in the court record shows that she asked if he could help with rent on one occasion during the period when they were speaking to each other; previously, they had lived together).
In the post, Wilson noted when and where the photo was purportedly taken—"after I bought her lunch," he adds—and says an unnamed local reporter agreed with him that Keller looks happy and unafraid of Wilson in the image.
"I have never posed a stalking threat or harassed Ms. Lee Keller, my former fiancé. I have posed no danger to her whatsoever," Wilson wrote, adding later, "Ms. Keller was never at any danger from me." Wilson is still trying to get a judge to lift Keller's protection order against him "[b]ecause of the looming August primary," he wrote. Wilson is running for county executive.
Wilson also thanked the Seattle Times for its editorial opposing the county council's unanimous vote of no-confidence in him, which grudgingly allowed that, "to be sure, such accusations are disturbing" before arguing that "due process" should require independently elected officials to keep quiet about his behavior.
2. The Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness has appealed a King County Superior Court ruling that upheld the city of Burien's total ban on sleeping in public, a law that effectively banishes unsheltered people from the city. As PubliCola reported, the Coalition and three plaintiffs who've lived unsheltered in Burien argued that the total ban on sleeping in public constituted cruel punishment under the Washington State Constitution, among other claims, because it bans people from engaging in a biological necessity—sleep—if they have nowhere to live except outdoors.
Elizabeth Hale, one of the three homeless plaintiffs in the lawsuit, died on May 30, about three weeks after the ruling that she and her co-plaintiffs could be arrested for falling asleep in public.
In a statement, Coalition director Alison Eisinger said, “Beth’s untimely death reminds us that real human beings bear the brutal costs of collective failure to respond to homelessness with urgency and enough resources. The Coalition on Homelessness joined this lawsuit because any law that excludes people from their community must be challenged. Washington state’s constitution must apply to all who live here, regardless of how much money we have in our pockets, or whether we have a place to lay our heads and call home.”