On the brink of adding two more council members to its conflict of interest investigation, the Bellevue City Council voted to table the motion, effectively freezing any activity relating to the investigation.
The 4-3 vote to table the issue means that no work can continue until it goes back to council. Staff had drawn up a contract worth $49,500 to Jeffrey B. Coopersmith, of Seattle law firm DLA Piper. The topic halted after City Attorney Lori Riordan advised the council against taking a vote that would represent three council members deciding on whether they should be investigated.
The council held an hour-and-a-half long executive session to kick off Monday’s meeting, followed by an impromptu discussion over a scope of work for the outside investigation of Council Member Kevin Wallace over his company’s failed dealings with GNP Railway to operate along the BNSF corridor. Mayor Don Davidson suggested that Council Members Claudia Balducci and Grant Degginger be added to the investigation to quell the accusations from members of the public that they are conflicted in their votes on light-rail issues.
“I just want to put all three of them to bed, one way or another,” he said. “It’s the only way I can heal this council.”
Davidson spoke of Balducci’s involvement with the Sound Transit Board of Directors, and the position she could be put in should the transit agency engage in legal action with Bellevue over East Link. He spoke of “contracts” Degginger’s firm had with Sound Transit between 2002 to 2004, but did not elaborate, saying “I am not the judge; I am asking for this gentleman we are hiring to look at it.”
Degginger and Balducci were both frustrated by the mayor’s suggestions. Both members had previously been vetted by the city attorney, but accusations from citizens that their professional involvements indicated conflicts of interest persisted. The two council members fired back, saying the proposal to add them was just a political ploy to take the heat off the real issue, whether or not Wallace erred in his failure to disclose his business dealings.
“It’s a pretty desperate attempt by some people to advance a political agenda,” Degginger said of the allegations against him. “And to obviously deflect attention from somebody else. That’s the low level of discourse that we’ve fallen to in a fairly short period of time here, and it’s pretty sad.”
The accusations back and forth over conflicts of interest have driven a wedge through a council known for its conciliatory and collaborative tone. Members of the public have accused the three council members of conflicts of interest for some time, but it began to creep into council discussion last year. An argument over light-rail last September turned into a shouting match between Balducci and Wallace, leading to the city attorney holding an extensive workshop on conflicts of interest just a few weeks later.
The investigation was to focus on a Memorandum of Understanding that Wallace Properties brokered with GNP to invest $500,000 in the company’s attempt to operate rail from Snohomish to Redmond, with a later stated goal of expanding south to Renton. Wallace Properties would help fund raise for GNP in exchange for the ability to assist in developing land near the line. The documents became public in bankruptcy court. According to the MOU, expanding south through Bellevue would only happen if Wallace consulted the city attorney related to conflicts of interest. Wallace said he would have done so when the time came.
Wallace reiterated his desire to cooperate with an investigation, and he supported the idea of adding the two council members to the list of those to be investigated.
“So that it’s not politically motivated, there needs to be some fairness, addressing all the issues that have been raised, not just the ones against me,” he said.
Balducci felt the discussion came for political reasons, not because her position on the Sound Transit board would in any way benefit her or compromise her decision making on light-rail issues.
“This is really about the positions I’ve taken, not what my job is, but the votes I’ve taken.”
Conflict of Interest Investigation Contract
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