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Pointing fingers in firing of analyst

By Jerry Cornfield, Herald Columnist

Snohomish County's four Democratic councilmembers voted to fire senior policy analyst Ed Moats last week. Not because of his performance but his politics: He's Republican.

They didn't say that's the reason. They didn't say anything. Their motives are easy to read, particularly since the chairman, Dave Somers, first tried to get Moats canned in 2006.

Moats is not naive. He is one of five specialists whose job security hinges on which political party controls the most council seats.

He got hired six years ago when Republicans held the majority. Now, Democrats are the ruling party and, well, these things happen.

Did his firing happen legally?

Councilman John Koster, the lone Republican, doesn't think so. He abstained from voting Wednesday and told his colleagues he considered their action "null and void" because he believed they violated the state's law on open meetings.

This law, in a nutshell, is intended to keep elected officials from meeting secretly to discuss and decide matters.

It outlaws conduct of what the attorney general calls "telephone trees," where members repeatedly call each other to form a majority opinion.

Koster said in the council debate Wednesday that such "serial caucusing" did occur. He recounted how Somers called him March 14 to tell him he planned to terminate Moats, who is Koster's analyst on the operations committee.

"You told me, 'I have the votes.'" Koster said. "Mr. Chair, I'd like you to tell me how you had the votes."

Bolstering Koster's argument is the termination letter Somers sent to Moats on March 21 that set May 1 as the final day.

"We have appreciated your efforts on behalf of the Council, but have determined the need to make changes to the Council's staff," Somers wrote.

Koster wondered how Somers came up with the "we" when the council had never discussed Moats' status as a group until taking the vote this week.

Somers and Councilman Dave Gossett, speaking after Koster, didn't clear away the cloud of suspicion with their comments.

Somers said he had spoken with council members about Moats and said their responses indicated a "desire for change."

Gossett said Somers asked him about removing Moats. Gossett said he didn't think it was a good idea but relented when he learned from Somers a majority of council members wanted to do it.

Councilman Brian Sullivan, in an interview after the vote, said Somers approached him awhile ago about staffing -- without mentioning Moats. Sullivan said he recalled giving Somers a blanket OK to do what he thought was needed.

To Koster, this is a pretty good batch of circumstantial evidence of wrongdoing.

Not to Somers.

"There's absolutely no question that everything was done appropriately, in my mind," he said.

Moats is leaving this week. He may return with a lawyer.



Political reporter Jerry Cornfield's blog, The Petri Dish, is at www.heraldnet.com. Contact him at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.