Category: King County

King County

County Assessor, Charged With Stalking, Posts Taunting Pics as Council Again Demands His Resignation

By Erica C. Barnett

On Tuesday, the King County Council will take up a motion to send a letter to King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson demanding his immediate resignation. Wilson was charged late last month for allegedly stalking his ex-fiencée, Lee Keller. This will be the second such action by the council, which unanimously passed a resolution calling for Wilson’s resignation last year after Keller provided new evidence of Wilson’s harassment in a petition for a protection order and dissolution of their domestic partnership.

Wilson, who refused to step down, was arrested less than a month after that vote for showing up at Keller’s house in violation of the protection order. He’s now facing gross misdemeanor charges related to stalking and under a five-year no-contact order.

Last week, a judge reversed an order that would have required Wilson to wear an ankle monitor to ensure that he stays at least 1,000 feet away from Keller. The decision came after Wilson argued that he has a medical condition that requires him to soak both his legs every day, which would damage the ankle monitor.

Just hours after his hearing, Wilson appeared to brag about the ruling by posting a photo of himself, shirtless and in a tub, on Instagram and Facebook. The caption read: “What a great night to soak in the tub and let your cares float away”—an obvious reference to his victory in court hours earlier.

Three days later, Wilson did it again, posting another semi-nude photo of himself in the hot tub under the taunting caption, “Great to soak my legs after after (sic) a very productive and successful week.”

Wilson has claimed that a medical condition called lymphodema requires him to completely submerge both legs in water every day. In court, Keller said that for the four years they were together, he never had the condition in both legs. After deciding Wilson could go without the ankle monitor, Seattle Municipal Court Judge Andrew Simon advised Keller to figure out how record any calls from Wilson and to take screen shots if he contacts her by text or email.

The county council’s letter demanding Wilson’s resignation reads, in part,

You have been embroiled in a domestic violence dispute for over two years, accused of stalking and harassing a King County resident. The King County Superior Court found enough evidence to issue a temporary protection order as well as a restraining order to prevent you from contacting that same King County resident due to your repeated stalking and harassment. The petition for the restraining order also alleged that you improperly used county resources to engage in the stalking, which would be a violation of the public trust and unacceptable.

These allegations and court orders have caused irrevocable harm to the public’s trust and faith in you as a public servant and elected official. You have fully lost our confidence in your judgement and ability to perform the duties of your role. It is for this reason that the King County Council unanimously passed a motion calling for your resignation on June 10th, 2025.

When an elected official breaks the public trust like this, it’s not possible to effectively serve the public and execute the duties of their office free from distraction. Our residents rely on the Office of the Assessor to provide critical County functions and, at this point, they would be best served by your resignation.

The county council has no power to remove Wilson, an independently elected official; only the voters can do so, by holding a recall election.

Courts, homelessness, King County, Mayor Wilson, Transportation

This Week on PubliCola: April 18, 2026

Homelessness Authority Undergoes Forensic Audit, County Assessor Won’t Have to Wear Ankle Monitor in Stalking Case, and More News from this Week

Monday, April 13

Seattle Nice: Mayor Wilson’s Shelter Plan, King County Assessor’s Stalking Charges, an Ambitious Library Levy, and More

On the podcast this week, we talked about Mayor Wilson’s plan to build 500 new tiny house village-style shelter units by this summer; stalking charges against King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson; and the latest library levy, which will dwarf the most recent such levy at nearly half a billion dollars.

Tuesday, April 14

King County Assessor Says He Can’t Wear Ankle Monitor In Stalking Case

County assessor Wilson, whose term ends this year, failed to show up to a court hearing where he planned to argue that he couldn’t wear a court-ordered ankle monitor because of a medical condition. His lawyer cited scheduling confusion as the reason for his absence from the virtual hearing.

Burien Puts City Manager on Leave

The Burien City Council, which has a new progressive majority, placed controversial city manager Adolfo Bailon on administrative leave this week. Bailon recently fired Burien’s city attorney, who was reportedly helping the city council figure out the process for ushering Bailon out the door.

Bicycle Weekends Will Be (Almost) Every Weekend This Year

Mayor Wilson announced the dates for Seattle’s annual “Bicycle Weekends” event, in which the city opens up Lake Washington Boulevard in Seward Park to cyclists and pedestrians during summer weekends. Unlike her predecessor, who killed longstanding plans to install stop signs and speed humps on the dangerous lakefront boulevard, Wilson is expanding the safe-street program to include every summer weekend (except Seafair) and three holidays.

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Wednesday, April 15

King County Assessor Won’t Have to Wear Ankle Monitor in Stalking Case

King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson, who was arrested and charged with stalking after he showed up repeatedly at his former fiancée’s house in violation of a no-contact order, will not have to wear an ankle monitor, a Seattle Municipal Court judge ruled, due to a medical condition that Wilson said requires him to soak his legs nightly. The monitor would have alerted Keller if Wilson violated the order by coming within 1,000 feet of her.

Thursday, April 16

Mayor Wilson’s “Shelter Acceleration” Plan Moves Forward, With Some Questions Unanswered

The City Council approved two pieces of legislation to advance Mayor Wilson’s proposed shelter expansion this week and moved a third bill forward, clearing a legal path for the city to build larger tiny house villages on a shorter timeline and providing $5 million to help pay for the first of 1,000 new shelter units Wilson has said her administration will add this year. But the council had questions about how the mayor plans to make her shelter plans sustainable, given ongoing budget deficits.

Friday, April 17

As Seattle Goes It Alone on Shelter, Homelessness Authority Faces Forensic Financial Audit

The King County Regional Homelessness Authority will not oversee any of the new shelter contracts, the Wilson administration confirmed to PubliCola. KCRHA is currently undergoing a forensic audit into its accounting and budgeting practices, a sign of strong concern from both the city and King County, its two primary funders.

Courts, King County

King County Assessor Won’t Have to Wear Ankle Monitor in Stalking Case
Seattle Municipal Courthouse in downtown Seattle.

By Erica C. Barnett

King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson, who was arrested and charged with stalking last year after he showed up repeatedly at his former fiancée Lee Keller’s house in violation of a no-contact order, will not have to wear an ankle monitor, a Seattle Municipal Court judge ruled Wednesday. The monitor would have alerted Keller if Wilson violated the order by coming within 1,000 feet of her.

Wilson—who failed to show up at his scheduled hearing yesterday, citing confusion about the date— told Seattle Municipal Court Judge Andrew Simon that he has a medical condition, called lymphedema, that requires him to soak both his legs every day; the ankle monitors the city uses are not supposed to be submerged in water. Addressing the court this morning, Keller said that in the four years she was involved with Wilson, she had never seen him soak both his legs because of this condition.

Wilson’s attorney, John Polito, suggested he was being targeted because he is a public figure. “If his name was John Smith, I’m not sure he would be here in this position,” Polito said. (Wilson has refused to resign from his elected position).

Simon said he saw no other choice than to reverse the previous order that Wilson wear an ankle monitor. He asked Keller if she has a smartphone, so that she’ll have “a way of recording any phone calls in the moment.” He also advised her to take screen shots if Wilson attempts to contact her by email, text message, or over social media, “and of course, then you can report that to the city.” If Wilson violates the order, Simon said, he’ll be arrested again.

“He will not be violating this order, and if he does, he will incur this Court’s wrath… its legal wrath,” Polito said. Wilson agreed emphatically, saying. “Let me assure you, I will have absolutely no contact with Miss Keller for as long as I live. We are done.”

In a statement, Keller said, “My only goal is to be protected from further contact with John Wilson.  I expect he will obey the court’s very clear order and refrain from contacting me.”

From a 2025 conversation between John Arthur Wilson (messages in white) and Lee Keller. Source: Case file

According to Keller, Wilson contacted her repeatedly after he was arrested for stalking her last year. She provided two screen shots of messages Wilson sent through a shared scheduling app on March 27, shortly before she obtained a new protection order against him last week. The messages referred to an event Keller was attending that night; while she was there, she said, he posted a Facebook reel that showed him at a bar two blocks away.

Keller first obtained a protective order against Wilson in 2024. At that time, she accused him of creating fake social media personas to contact her after she blocked him; taking photos of her without her knowledge and texting them to her; tracking her whereabouts, and showing up at her home uninvited. That August, Keller said, Wilson contacted the employer of a man she had dated to falsely accuse him of sexually assaulting her in an attempt to get him fired.

Although Keller and Wilson briefly reconciled, she got another protection order against him the following year, after he refused to stop contacting her despite her pleas to leave her alone, according to Keller’s account. In one message, Wilson responded to Keller’s all-caps demand that he leave her alone by saying “never,” then continuing to text her. In an effort to get that protection order overturned, Wilson attempted to paint Keller as vengeful and unstable. He was arrested outside her house three weeks later.

Even before Wilson’s arrest, the entire King County Council demanded he resign his elected position as county assessor. His term ends in December. Wilson’s next court date, for a pre-trial hearing, is scheduled for May 5.

Courts, King County

County Assessor Pleads Not Guilty to Stalking, Must Wear Ankle Monitor in Five-Year No Contact Order

By Erica C. Barnett

King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson will have to wear an ankle monitor and stay 1,000 feet away from his ex-fiancée, Seattle PR consultant Lee Keller, while he awaits trial on the two charges of violating a no-contact order Keller obtained against him last year. Wilson pled not guilty to both charges; his next pretrial hearing is scheduled for May 5. The no-contact order is for five years, expiring in 2031.

Wilson was arrested last July for showing up repeatedly at Keller’s home while a no-contact order was in effect. Keller accused Wilson of stalking and coercive control; the two reconciled briefly while the restraining order was in effect. Before his arrest, Wilson used a photo taken during that period in which Keller was smiling to argue in court that he posed no danger to her and that the order should be lifted.

According to a Seattle Municipal Court spokesperson, the company that provides GPS monitoring to the city, Sentinel, has to inform the court if a defendant violates a no-contact order. In domestic violence cases, the victim can opt in to an app that alerts them if the person under the order comes within 1,000 feet of wherever they are. Keller said she plans to use the app.

Keller told PubliCola by email that she’s “deeply grateful to the Judge, the Seattle Police, the City of Seattle and the prosecuting attorney’s office for their careful work around this. I feel better knowing there are people keeping track of his whereabouts. I just hope this is not prolonged and that my protection order stays in place for the longest period possible. And that he now understands the seriousness of breaking the law.”

The no-contact order prohibits Wilson from messaging, emailing, or calling Keller or from speaking to or going near her even if she “invites or allows you to violate the order’s prohibitions.” It does not prohibit Wilson from creating social media posts that subtly allude to Keller, which she has accused him of doing in the past.

Wilson appeared virtually at Wednesday’s hearing, and said little more than “I’m more than happy to comply with the no contact [order].”

The King County Council voted unanimously last year to demand Wilson’s resignation. Assuming he remains defiant—last month, he stood up and waved when a speaker at a Downtown Seattle Association event invited elected officials to stand for applause—he’ll be in office for the rest of 2026. He is not running for reelection.

City Council, Density, homelessness, King County, legislature

This Week on PubliCola: April 4, 2026

Wilson and Zahilay Push Forward on Housing Rivera Wants to Audit HSD, and More.

By Erica C. Barnett

Monday, March 30

Ron Davis, Running for the State House on an Urbanist Platform, Says North Seattle Is Ready for a Change

Ron Davis, who ran for City Council in 2023 and narrowly lost to Maritza Rivera, is hoping his North Seattle neighbors will get behind his explicitly urbanist agenda in his attempt to unseat longtime 46th District state Rep. Gerry Pollet and his slow-growth agenda.

Tuesday, March 31

Hannah Sabio-Howell Says It’s Time to Replace Longtime Legislator Jamie Pedersen

Just south of the 46th, renter and labor activist Hannah Sabio-Howell is making the case that 20-year incumbent Sen. Jamie Pedersen is no longer serving the progressive 43rd District well. Sabio-Howell argues that Pedersen is out of touch with Seattle’s renter majority, and favors compromise too much at a time that demands urgent action on affordability.

Wednesday, April 1

County Executive Floats Countywide Housing Levy, 500 New Housing Units or Shelter Beds by Mid-2027

King County Executive Girmay Zahilay announced a new plan to add 500 units of “shelter and housing” in the next 500 days, or by mid-August 2027, and will convene a work group to discuss a potential countywide housing levy. Some of the new shelter or housing could be on county-owned land, similar to the strategy Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is using to cut down on the cost of new tiny house villages in Seattle.

Thursday, April 2

Mayor Wilson Says She’ll Accelerate Comprehensive Plan and “Go Bigger” on Density

The mayor announced this week she wants to accelerate the remaining phases of Seattle’s comprehensive plan update by one year, add more density within a “reasonable walk” of transit stops, and restore and expand the proposed neighborhood centers—nodes of density inside traditional single-family areas. We spoke with Wilson about her vision to update her predecessor’s anemic proposal.

Friday, April 3

Councilmember Wants “Audit of Human Services Contracts.” That’s a Big Ask.

City Councilmember Maritza Rivera wants the City Auditor to do an audit of all Human Services Department contracts, she announced this week, in light of a damning King County audit that found evidence of waste, misuse of funds, and potential fraud. But “audit the human services contracts” is a big request for the city’s small audit office, and Rivera doesn’t have council support lined up.

Afternoon Fizz:

Rivera Plays Grinch to Library Supporters, Saka Holds Committee Hostage for Extended NBA Rally

After a parade of library supporters told Rivera’s select committee on the library levy the city should go beyond Wilson’s $410 million levy proposal, she said she would not be supporting a single amendment to the plan. “It would be fiscally irresponsible to increase the proposal given the city’s other needs,” she said.

And Rob Saka turned his transportation and Seattle Center committee into a 90-minute rally for bringing an NBA team to Seattle, asking hard-quitting questions like “what color do you want the team uniforms to be” and “how excited are you for the Sonics.”

Coming next week: The city council will have a full day of meetings to discuss the latest updates to the city’s Comprehensive Plan on Monday. The pro-housing Complete Communities Coalition is having a rally at City Hall to support more apartments in Seattle (RSVP here); Tree Action Seattle is urging the anti-housing homeowner contingent to show up too, telling their supporters that “street trees are not a solution”—only private lawns are.

 

homelessness, housing, King County

County Executive Floats Countywide Housing Levy, 500 New Housing Units or Shelter Beds by Mid-2027

By Erica C. Barnett

In an announcement that echoed Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s proposal to add 500 new shelter units by this summer, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay said Tuesday that he’s launching a new plan to add 500 units of “shelter and housing” in the next 500 days, or by mid-August 2027, and will convene a work group to discuss a potential countywide housing levy. Some of the new shelter or housing could be on county-owned land, similar to the strategy Wilson is using to cut down on the cost of new tiny house villages in Seattle.

Other elements of the “Breaking the Cycle” plan include improving performance metrics, reducing regulatory barriers, and better data collection and distribution.

“We want to know where are people falling through the cracks, where are services not connecting, and which programs are actually helping people stabilize,” Zahilay said at a press event Tuesday morning. “And then we’re going to use that information to make better decisions about how we invest public dollars by shifting resources to more programs that are delivering results.”

The overall plan, which Zahilay is calling “Breaking the Cycle,” consists largely of work groups that will report on ways to improve the responsiveness and effectiveness of existing county programs. Three months into his term, Zahilay is laying out a process, not presenting a finalized policy agenda or proposing legislation.

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But the two marquee elements of Zahilay’s announcement—the 500-bed commitment and the potential housing levy—do raise questions whose answers will determine the success of his plan. Will housing units (and shelter beds) that are already in the pipeline count toward the 500-unit goal, as the Urbanist suggested? How many will be housing, and how many will be shelter? Both these issues came up when former mayor Bruce Harrell promised to add 2,000 “units” of shelter or housing over four years, declaring victory even when the city ended up with less shelter overall, and claiming credit for projects that were begun under his predecessor’s turn. Zahilay’s proposal is, pointedly, for “net” new beds or units, so presumably he’s eager to avoid a “mission accomplished”-style Pyrrhic victory.

During an onstage conversation with Wilson and Housing Development Consortium director Patience Malaba at the HDC’s annual fundraising luncheon on Tuesday, Zahilay noted that the county has to rely on two main revenue sources: Sales and property taxes. (In 2024, Zahilay—then a King County Councilmember—proposed spending $1 billion of the county’s debt capacity on bonds to pay for workforce housing; that plan has not come to fruition).

“We do have to take a hard look at weighing those tradeoffs” between higher taxes and more housing, Zahilay said. “Of course, we need more revenue to fund critical services, especially to our most vulnerable neighbors—and we need to be careful about what kind of impact that has on cost of living.”