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The City Attorney’s Non-Statement Statement

City Hall, Politics   September 24, 2010 at 3:52 pm Erica C. Barnett

City attorney Pete Holmes issued a statement today about council president Richard Conlin’s decision to sign off on a draft environmental impact statement for the deep-bore tunnel that says, basically, that he has no idea whether Conlin’s signature is valid for the purpose of keeping the city as co-lead on the project. Mayor Mike McGinn has said that only the executive branch (i.e., his department of transportation) has the authority to sign such documents; he had asked the state for an additional week to review the analysis.

Conlin said last night that he’d consulted with the city attorney’s office before making his decision; however, Holmes told McGinn last night that he didn’t know anything about it.

Seems like that’s still the case.

Holmes’ statement says:

The overriding question for the City of Seattle right now is whether the City should retain its co-lead status on the environmental impact statement that must precede construction of a deep bore tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, City Attorney Pete Holmes said Friday.

If the City forfeits its co-lead status, it could be hampered in assessing and responding to citizens’ comments on the environmental impacts of the project, and funding for the Seattle Department of Transportation possibly could be jeopardized.

In an attempt to preserve the status quo on the project, Council President Richard Conlin signed the draft EIS late Thursday because the state and federal government said they would recognize his signature as sufficient for those entities to move forward and issue the draft document to the public. Additional questions may arise as to whether the City Council can direct SDOT to retain co-lead status through legislative action.

The City Attorney’s Office is engaging all parties in discussions to find a constructive way forward.  Attorneys are researching legal issues as they arise in the course of these negotiations.

The weirdest thing about Holmes’ statement, besides its vagueness, is the fact that if Conlin is telling the truth—if he did, in fact, consult with DuComb before signing the environmental statement—the city attorney now appears to be backing off from the position that Conlin had the authority to sign the document.


  • Legal Eagle

    Another chapter is written in “Profiles in Courage,” by our City Attorney.

  • re-guest

    What would be interesting is what Conlin received in writing from DuComb. It is also interesting that Conlin didn’t speak with Pete.

    As soon as I heard about it, I wondered how any legislator could possibly sign such an agreement. Conlin didn’t need an attorney to tell him that he couldn’t play mayor for the minute.

    It is also not clear what Conlin asked. Did he ask if he could sign something that normally would require the mayor to sign it or did he ask if he could sign a letter to the state that they would accept and keep the process going?

    How could Conlin “misplace” the name of the other attorney, presumably the expert, that he was now relying on?

    Conlin has always been a snake in grass and is not to be trusted.

  • TJ

    He didn’t sign any agreement. In essence, he signed a cover letter acknowledging that the City has received the EIS.

  • Mongo

    The statement is actually pretty intense. The biggest legal question here is whether we – Seattle – lost our ability and privledge to co-lead giving up authority, funding and staffing to continue evaluating and influencing this incredibly important project. That would be very bad. Very, very bad.

  • gloomy gus

    You guys have really done good reporting on this today. Thanks.

  • re-guest

    Thought you were in Boulder – or that you inkster

  • Barleywine

    That is the question.
    I don’t know if they still allow it, but UPS and FedEx used to allow a neighbor to sign for a package. It didn’t mean that the neighbor ordered it, or approved and accepted the contents as. It didn’t take away any of the neighbor’s right to send it back.

    It was just square-filling, so that life could go on.

    But in this case I think it’s more than that.

  • Ericacbarnett

    I asked Conlin whether DuComb’s advice was in writing or verbal; he said it was verbal.

  • Jakers

    You mean oral? Verbal includes both written and oral, as long as it involves words, it’s verbal.

  • gloomy gus

    I believe one can infer the meaning without too much strain. You might brace yourself, too: “verbal” is becoming an ever more widespread substitution for “oral”, the use of which tends to draw inane comments of an even less welcome sort.

  • seandr

    You are confusing courage with foolishness. Don’t feel bad, it’s a common mistake.