King County, Women

In Unanimous Vote, King County Council Calls for Assessor John Arthur Wilson, Accused of Stalking, to Step Down


By Erica C. Barnett

The King County Council voted late Tuesday afternoon to approve a motion stating they have “no confidence” in King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson and calling on him to resign. As PubliCola reported exclusively last month, Wilson’s ex-partner Lee Keller has accused him of stalking and harassing her and obtained a restraining order against him for the second time this year.

Councilmember Claudia Balducci, who sponsored the motion, said Wilson’s behavior since the new accusations came to light was classic DARVO, a term used to describe the way many men accused of mistreating women during MeToo behaved. DARVO stands for “deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender,” and Balducci said Wilson has done everything but deny the allegations against him: He’s denied he did anything wrong, attacked people who have criticized him and demanded he resign, and pretend that he himself is the victim.

“The only way to remove an elected official from office is through a recall election, which is not in our power to initiate or to do,” Balducci said. “But I believe we should make very, very clear that we have a line, and this behavior is beyond that line.”

Balducci was one of the only elected officials to call out Wilson publicly the first time he was accused of harassing Keller, in January, when the Seattle Times reported that Wilson had found Keller when she was hiding from him, refused to leave or stop texting and calling her, and even tried to get someone she dated briefly fired by calling his boss and falsely accusing him of sexually assaulting Keller. She didn’t call for his resignation at the time, she told PubliCola, because ““I was concerned at the time that the focus should be on survivors and supporting survivors.”

Councilmember Jorge Barón said he had supported the council’s decision to give Wilson a week to respond to the call for him to step down, but said he did not agree with Wilson’s defenders who have said the council should let the allegations work themselves through the court system before passing judgment.

“I think it’s important to note that this isn’t a judicial proceeding,” Barón said. “This is about our assessment, about whether this elected official has sound judgment … and the confidence of this body, as representatives of the residents of King County, to continue to carry out [his duties]. And I believe that the answer to the questions is clearly, no, we don’t have that confidence because of the way that Mr. Wilson has acted.”

The vote came after the council withdrew to a conference room for a nearly 40-minute executive session.

Since we first reported on the allegations against him, Wilson has been defiant, telling other reporters he has no plan to step down and putting up self-pitying posts on Facebook. In one, he posted a photo of a church in Seattle and said going to church “gives me a chance to ask God for forgiveness for those who I might have hurt and to forgive those who are bearing false witness against me. May that person find peace,” he concluded—an apparent reference to Keller.

In another, he wrote that it was “[g]reat to have friends that stick by you and don’t simply parrot what’s being said by the chattering class. #Onward!!!!”

In a third, he posted a photo of a plaque displayed at former state House Speaker Frank Chopp’s memorial, of a famous quote from a Theodore Roosevelt speech now known as “The Man In the Arena.”* The excerpt, which is frequently quoted by politicians frustrated with their critics, is about how critics, “those cold and timid souls,” stay on the sidelines and point fingers while the man of action strides forward to victory or valiant defeat. “This quote from Teddy Roosevelt seems particularly timely for me,” Wilson wrote on June 1.

“After seeing a glimpse of what accountability for unacceptable behavior looks like during the MeToo movement, I refuse to have to continue to operate in a society that just expects women to deal with stalking, harassment, assault,” Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda said. “I refuse to tell my daughter that she will have to continue to grow up in a society that just expects that of women. … So I hope that this act today will be one more effort to ask him to step down and to see that he has lost the trust of this body.”

The motion passed unanimously, with only Reagan Dunn—a Republican council member who was present via Zoom earlier in the meeting—absent.

* Politicians love to quote this one partial (partial!) paragraph from this one fucking speech, which is in reality almost 9,000 words long and probably took at least an hour to read out loud. The speech, “Citizenship In A Republic,” is a lengthy jeremiad against extremism in political and personal affairs, with a populist tilt favoring men who do “the rough work of a workaday world.” Unsurprisingly for such a long speech, it’s a bit all over the map—there are references to pioneers conquering an “Indian-haunted land” and Gamaliel the Old (had to look that one up), and at one point TR encourages his audience to “perpetuate the race” by having as many children as possible. What the speech does not encourage is grandiosity or self-pity, which is usually the context in which it is quoted.

homelessness

Burien Officials Excoriate Councilmembers Who Opposed New Restrictions on Church-Based Encampments
Image via City of Burien

By Erica C. Barnett

Back in May, the Burien City Council voted down legislation that would have imposed new conditions, including time and spatial limitations, on churches that want to host homeless encampments on their property.

The vote itself was a bit of a debacle, with both City Manager Adolfo Bailon and Mayor Kevin Schilling claiming—inaccurately—that the legislation had passed. In fact, it failed on a 3-2-2 vote, with Councilmembers Sarah Moore and Hugo Garcia abstaining and Stephanie Mora and Linda Akey voting no. (Jimmy Matta, Alex Andrade, and Schilling voted yes.)

The bill, with its five pages of pointed “whereas” clauses, was aimed at curtailing encampments like the one former councilmember Cydney Moore helped establish at Oasis Home Church in December 2023, which Bailon and city attorney Garmon Newsom III tried to shut down.

The legislation would have required church-based encampments to be open no more than six months in any calendar year (with a mandatory three-month waiting period before they could host another encampment); required extensive neighborhood outreach and a code of conduct, among other permitting conditions; and mandated large setbacks and view-obscuring fences so that Burien residents would not have to see their homeless neighbors. The proposed ordinance even dictated internal encampment details like mandatory spacing between “tent groups” (a term the bill did not define.)

Fresh off that embarrassing defeat, Bailon wrote an email to council members suggesting that the council members who voted against the bill or abstained from voting had “violated their oath of office to uphold state law” by not voting for the legislation, Moore disclosed at last week’s council meeting.

The email claimed that the ordinance—which imposed conditions on churches beyond those already in effect under state law—was necessary for the city to be “in conformance with an established state law. It is my duty to inform you that votes cast in abstention and opposition to Ordinance 861 (on May 19) are a violation of your oath of office, specifically to the section where you have sworn to uphold the laws of the State of Washington,”

The email, signed by Bailon, concluded, “Please keep in mind your oath of office and duty to Burien and Washington when casting votes in the future.”

Noting that the council has the right to vote however they choose, or abstain from voting, on legislation, Moore said, “for the city manager to claim that I do not have the right to vote as I choose and as I believe serves my constituents, was to question the purpose of me on the council and the council and the ability of any of us to fulfill our duties.”

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Moore then explained her decision to abstain from voting, saying that while she supports having rules on the books regulating church-based encampments, the letter of the law would have made it harder for religious organizations to host homeless people on their properties. In the absence of a local law, the state law regulating such encampments, which includes many requirements but is not as restrictive as the proposed law in Burien, applies.

A King County judge upheld Burien’s total ban on sleeping outdoors in the city last month.

“When I read through the proposed ordinance and discussed it with people who have studied state law and who have established various types of shelter, I came to believe that the ordinance added restrictions that would likely limit the actual ability of churches to help the city address this crisis,” Moore said.

Responding to Moore, Schilling piled on to Bailon’s criticism of the council, saying “what you were elected to do” is vote yes or no, and abstaining for reasons other than a conflict of interest is essentially “saying, ‘I’m not even here.'”

A review of Burien City Council minutes from 2024 and 2025 shows that most council members have abstained from votes in the past, including Schilling. Moore, Andrade, and Matta abstained from votes about rescheduling council meetings; Garcia and Moore abstained on several votes related to Burien’s disputed minimum wage ordinance; and Matta abstained from legislation about electing a deputy mayor and a proposal to reduce the number of times the council must consider legislation in public before passing it. Schilling himself abstained most recently in December, when he declined to vote on a list of 2025 proclamations.

City Council, housing

Cathy Moore: City Isn’t “Listening” to Homeowners Who Want to Keep Their Neighborhood the Same
Aerial shot of Maple Leaf Community Center, courtesy City of Seattle

By Erica C. Barnett

City Councilmember Cathy Moore complained bitterly last week over the fact that—despite her frequent demands and a Change.org petition with more than 1,500 signatures—the Maple Leaf Neighborhood Center will remain in the mayor’s proposed update to the city’s comprehensive plan.

The designation would allow moderate density—3-to-6-story apartments— in an eight-and-a-half-block area directly adjacent to an existing commercial center. Despite its diminutive size, Moore has characterized the proposed center as a death knell for the area, saying she was not willing to “sacrifice my neighborhood” to allow rental housing in the area. (Moore lives elsewhere).

Moore spoke for ten minutes straight at last week’s meeting, at times seeming near tears as she described what she characterized as an  abandonment and betrayal of her district by the city’s Office of Planning and Community Development.”

“I just remain incredibly disappointed,” Moore began. “I remain incredibly disappointed that the tremendous amount of public feedback that was given to OPCD was not really taken fully into consideration. And I would take issue with the characterization that you really listen to everybody.”

Moore went on to describe all the dense housing, including affordable housing, that’s going up along busy streets and next to light rail—”a tremendous amount of growth”—saying that this type of housing is “fantastic” and “supported by everybody” currently living in the district. Maple Leaf, she said, was an exception, “the only [neighborhood] in which there has been strong, vocal, consistent opposition.”

Boundaries of the proposed Maple Leaf Neighborhood Center

What about the neighborhood’s drainage capacity, transit access, the traffic all those new apartments would cause? Why hadn’t the city “walk[ed] the district” with residents who opposed allowing more people to live in the area?

“You’re not listening,” Moore said, “and  I don’t understand, why is it? Is it because somebody is trying to put the screws to the council member for [District] 5 with some ideological position? … There has been an absolute hardcore resistance to this.”

At the very least, Moore continued, OPCD should “walk the damn neighborhood center with us and explain to the 1,400-plus people [who signed the online petition] why you’re unwilling to reconsider the boundaries, why you’re unwilling to look at other places that might be more appropriate and actually have people walking to the light rail that is so vital to our community.”

Michael Hubner, the mild-mannered OPCD planning manager who typically does the presentations at the council’s comp plan committee meetings, pointed out gently that the department has, in fact, done multiple walks with residents through every neighborhood center, including Maple Leaf, while mayoral staff Krista Valles pointed out that sometimes city departments make decisions individual council members don’t like. “It’s not that we haven’t been listening. We’ve just arrived at a different conclusion,” Valles said.

In other words: A legislator may really, really want something to happen, but sometimes they just don’t get their way.

Moore’s anti-apartment diatribe, which came during her first public appearance after announcing her resignation last week, was another example, among many, of her obvious frustration with how the legislative process works—even when something seems obvious to her, she doesn’t always get her way.

The version of the comprehensive plan the council is considering is much more modest than the proposals most of the current council including said they supported on the campaign trail in 2023, with half as many neighborhood centers and much more modest density increases than the preliminary alternatives OPCD floated that year.

Last year, the city’s Planning Commission declared that an earlier version of the plan would worsen inequities in the city and fail to address Seattle’s affordable housing crisis because it didn’t allow enough rental housing in enough areas. Advocates for housing, including many renters, have been saying the same thing about the comprehensive plan for years now. Moore has never demonstrated much of an interest in listening to them.

City Council, Elections, housing, Police

This Week on PubliCola: June 8, 2025

Debating protests, Cathy Moore steps down, big spending by new SPD chief, and more.

By Erica C. Barnett

Monday, June 2

Cathy Moore Will Step Down After a Year and a Half On Council

City Councilmember Cathy Moore announced she would step down after a year and a half on the council; because she waited until just after the 2025 election filing deadline, her appointed replacement will serve until at least November 2026. Moore has complained frequently about the negative public response to many of the council’s proposals, including her own bills to roll back the city’s ethics code and eliminate some eviction protections.

Seattle Nice: Should Left-Wing Counterprotesters Alter Their Approach?

On the podcast, we discussed the tactics of counterprotesters who let a far-right anti-LGBTQ group know that their hateful belief are out of step with Seattle values. David thought protesters should moderate their approach to appeal to swing-state voters; I countered that this was a losing approach and that no one should have to be polite when faced with eliminationist rhetoric.

Wednesday, June 4

New Records Shed Light On Investigation that Led to Former Police Chief Diaz’ Ouster

Newly released records from the investigation into former police chief Adrian Diaz and his former chief of staff, Jamie Tompkins, shed new light on efforts by Tompkins and Diaz to discredit SPD staffers who believed Diaz had hired, and created a new position, for Tompkins because they were having an affair.

Seattle Nice: The Seattle City Council Is Un-Cathy Moored

On this week’s emergency podcast, Sandeep and I (David’s out of town) discussed Moore’s decision to resign and what it means for the council going forward. Sandeep continues to find Kshama Sawant and her protesters annoying; I argue that they’re a far less potent force than when Sawant was on the council, and that what Moore really appears bothered by is the fact that her ideas are unpopular.

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Thursday, June 5

Cathy Moore’s Opinions on Growth and Housing Aren’t New. What’s New is That Most Voters Disagree With Them

In a rare appearance of my old The C Is For Crank column, I argued that Moore is a throwback to a time when NIMBY (not in my backyard) homeowner views were dominant at City Hall. That time is past, and Moore’s views are broadly unpopular—which is why she’s getting pushback against not just her proposal to roll back eviction protections but her opposition to allowing apartments in more parts of her district.

Barnes’ New Hires Top $1 Million, SPD Will Pay $30,000 for Training on “Stratified Policing”

Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes has added at least five new executive-level staff to the department, at a price tag of well over $1 million for salaries alone. SPD will also spend $30,000 training officers on “stratified policing,” which Barnes implemented as chief of Madison, WI. The big spending comes at a time when even the police have been told to implement a civilian hiring freeze to help close a massive budget shortfall.

New Anti-Graffiti Bill Would Fine Violators $1,000 Per Tag

City Councilmember Bob Kettle is sponsoring a new anti-graffiti bill that would establish a civil penalty of $1,000 for every “graffiti violation,” defined as “a single piece of graffiti, including but not limited to a graffiti tagger name or design, in a single location.” Graffiti is already a gross misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to a year in jail.

Friday, June 6

Hacks and Wonks Podcast: New Info in Police Chief Investigation, Cathy Moore Says Sayonara to Council, and More

I was this week’s guest on the Hacks and Wonks podcast, where host Crystal Fincher and I talked about the news that Moore is stepping down, the latest revelations from the Diaz-Tompkins investigation, King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson’s refusal to step down amid stalking and harassment allegations; and Sawant’s entrance into the race against US Rep. Adam Smith (D-9).

 

podcasts

Hacks and Wonks Podcast: New Info in Police Chief Investigation, Cathy Moore Says Sayonara to Council, and More

By Erica C. Barnett

I was this week’s guest on the Hacks and Wonks podcast, where host Crystal Fincher and I talked about the news of this very news-heavy week, including the news that City Councilmember Cathy Moore is stepping down and the latest revelations from the investigation that led to the firing of former police chief Adrian Diaz late last year.

As I reported earlier this week, newly released investigation documents, including interview transcripts, recordings, and handwriting samples, add more evidence to the case that Diaz hired and promoted a woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair, Jamie Tompkins. (Tompkins resigned before the investigation was complete and stopped cooperating with investigators; she’s since sued the city, alleging harassment.)

Tompkins has promoted an alternative version of the rumors about her relationship with Diaz—a conspiracy that involves forgery, planted evidence, coordinated false testimony from all three of Diaz’ security staff, and police officers following Diaz surreptitiously around the county, forcing him to sweep his car and office for “bugs” and switch vehicles frequently to make himself harder to track.

I mention these details not to say that they’re individually implausible, but to contrast them with the story that investigators found likely to be true: That Diaz had an intimate relationship with Tompkins, that he created a new position for her (with duties that were unclear to others at SPD), and that both of them lied about it to investigators—which, for Diaz, represented a serious form of police misconduct, for which he was fired.

We also talked about City Councilmember Cathy Moore’s announcement that she’s stepping down and what that means for the council; King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson’s refusal to leave his position or drop out of the King County Executive race despite credible stalking and harassment allegations against him; and former city councilmember Kshama Sawant’s entrance into the race against US Rep. Adam Smith (D-9).

Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts.

 

City Council

New Anti-Graffiti Bill Would Fine Violators $1,000 Per Tag

By Erica C. Barnett

City Councilmember Bob Kettle, who chairs the council’s public safety committee, is sponsoring a new anti-graffiti bill that would establish a civil penalty of $1,000 for every “graffiti violation,” defined in the proposal as “a single piece of graffiti, including but not limited to a graffiti tagger name or design, in a single location.” The new penalty would apply not just to taggers but to anyone “who assists or encourages another person or entity” to draw, write, or paint on public or private property; the city attorney would have three years to pursue penalties against anyone accused of violating the ordinance.

Graffiti is already a gross misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to a year in jail, so Kettle’s proposal represents an expansion of the city’s authority to crack down on something that is already criminalized. The strategy is similar to the local drug criminalization law the council passed at the behest of City Attorney Ann Davison in 2023, which doubled down on existing state law by empowering Davison’s office to prosecute people for simple possession and outdoor drug use.

We reached out to Kettle to find out why he’s sponsoring the bill, but did not hear back.

To state the obvious, it’s unlikely that most taggers—who aren’t generally pulling six-figure salaries—will be able to pay thousands of dollars in fines. (While state law caps the potential fine for graffiti at $5,000, the potential fines under Kettle’s legislation are unlimited.) The legislation includes an option for people to work off their fines by doing graffiti abatement for the city, but also notes that any unpaid fines or restitution will go to a collection agency, meaning that people fined for graffiti in Seattle could end up in a crushing cycle of debt.

According to a staff memo on Kettle’s bill, the city attorney’s office believes it can fold graffiti enforcement into its existing work without adding more attorneys.