Outburst prompts wake-up call for city code of ethics

Heated arguments and ethical investigations have plagued the Kirkland City Council in recent years - the Oct. 20 meeting was no exception.

The idea of a code of ethics for council members was once again floated but with no action taken.

During a contentious discussion over an apparent conflict of interest concerning three council members and the current investigation into Council member Bob Sternoff's city emails, Deputy Mayor Joan McBride suggested the council adopt a code of ethics like the City of Seattle's.

A code of ethics aims to unambiguously outline what council members can and can't do. Seattle's code covers disqualifications from acting on city business, improper use of position, and actions on violations and appeals among other issues.

Kirkland's need for a code of ethics was no more evident than during the council's discussion of information surrounding the investigator's hiring during the recent meeting.

The incident began as a concerned citizen made known a potential conflict of interest between three council members and Bill Sherman, the attorney who Kirkland Mayor Jim Lauinger hired, at a cost of $5,000 to the city, to investigate Sternoff.

The Kirkland citizen, doing her own research online, found a group picture from a 45th District Democrat picnic that included Council members Jessica Greenway, Dave Asher, and the mayor, alongside of Sherman, among others. Greenway denied knowing Sherman any more than being in the group photo. Evidence was also brought to the council that Lauinger twice, and Asher once, had donated to a Sherman political campaign.

"It was always my point to accept Bob's apology and let the issue drop. But others chose not to," said Council member Mary-Alyce Burleigh, referring to the 4-3 vote in favor of the e-mail investigation. "To now find that there is perhaps an appearance of fairness issue is concerning."

Burleigh later moved to drop the investigation but no action was taken.

Asher explained that he met the attorney when he was a foremen on a jury where Sherman was the prosecuting attorney. Impressed with his conduct during that case, Asher contributed to one campaign in 2007 and went to Sherman for advice on the hiring of the investigator. Asher said that Sherman gave him a list of people qualified for the job, which included Sherman.

Lauinger selected Sherman from the list of three to four names, a strong point of contention during the ensuing conflict.

"When did you expect to tell us you knew him," Sternoff said. "No one vetted him. Since when do we ever hire someone like that?

"There are plenty of lawyers in this city that would take the work."

The fact that Sherman is a part of an ethic's committee in Seattle incited Sternoff.

"Frankly, he should be ashamed of himself and he should know better," said Sternoff.

The debate was further sparked when Council member Tom Hodgson, the subject of multiple ethics issues recently, wanted to turn the focus back to the emails and the reason for the investigation.

"I made public what I did," said Sternoff. "I never said anything about ethics and Mr. Hodgson you are the last person to be talking about ethics."

The emails in question, from Sternoff to his girlfriend, contained sexually explicit language and threatening jokes toward other council members, with the majority being sent during council meetings.

More information

Seattle's 10-page code of ethics can be viewed on line at www.seattle.gov/ethics/etpub/et_code.htm.

• email
• letter
• print
• follow