This story was originally posted this morning.
Seattle Port Commissioner John Creighton, who’s running unopposed for reelection, had a restraining order taken out against him earlier this year by a former girlfriend, Susan Robinet, who says she dated Creighton for four years.
The order, which required Creighton to stay 500 feet from Robinet’s workplace, residence, and school as well as Cal Anderson Park, where Robinet walks her dog, was issued on September 10 of this year. The order also restrained Creighton from “having any contact whatsoever, in person or through others, by phone, mail, or any means” with Robinet.
Robinet’s allegations are salacious and dramatic.
In her request for the order, Robinet alleges that Creighton contacted her “repeatedly” after they stopped dating, sent her “an excessive amount of texts (89 last week),” and told her he had been “pounding the 20 something receptionist” at her office. After Robinet told Creighton she had a restraining order with his name on it and told him never to contact her again, the request alleges, Creighton “threatened to come over” and continued to contact her by text and email “with statements like ‘Don’t be mad that I fucked your 2 friends,” the request alleges.
“I believe he is stalking me and I fear for my safety,” Robinet says in the request.
In a phone interview, Robinet said, “everything in the order is absolutely true.”
Creighton did not return calls to his cell phone for comment about the allegations. However, late in the afternoon, he issued the following statement:
The news reports involving myself and Susan Robinet reflect an unfortunate situation arising out of the sad end to a four year relationship. There were unbecoming, inappropriate actions by both parties during an emotionally charged time — regrettable written and verbal communications between two adults that while hurtful were never intended to harass— but most of the allegations are completely untrue, and the mutual dismissal of the petition reflects that fact. I view this as a private matter, and it is disappointing that it is playing out in the public eye. I am choosing to move past this matter and honor the agreement reached between the parties, even if this agreement isn’t honored in kind.
The fact that Robinet obtained a restraining order doesn’t mean the court upheld her claims as true, although her statements were made under penalty of perjury. Courts typically grant requests for restraining orders on a short-term basis to give the court time to hear the petitioner’s allegations in more detail. A temporary restraining order lasts two weeks, until the person requesting the order can have his or her claims heard by the court.
On her hearing date, Robinet requested that the petition be dismissed. She says she made a “private agreement” with Creighton, at his attorney’s request, that he would not contact her in exchange for a payment of $5,000. “If he bothers me again, I can go right back to the court,” she says.
“Five thousand dollars is complete crap to me,” says Robinet, a real-estate agent with Windermere. “That’s my monthly expenses. If I was out to extort him I wouldn’t ask for $5,000.” Robinet says she didn’t ask for the payment, which, again, she says was suggested by Creighton’s lawyer.
PubliCola is requesting an audio recording of the hearing.
Robert Meyers, Creighton’s defense attorney, confirmed that Creighton and Robinet made a “mutual agreement that they would not contact one another,” but would not confirm the terms of the agreement. “I can’t discuss that any further,” Meyers said.
