Published: Saturday, August 21, 2010
Attorney says he was hired by anonymous person to dig up dirt on Snohomish County candidate
Information that was distributed about County Council candidate Stephanie Wright includes a lawsuit over credit card debt and a 10-year-old pot case.
Lynnwood City Councilwoman Stephanie Wright said she's disheartened that somebody hired an attorney to dig up dirt on her and her husband in an apparent attempt to undermine her bid to join the Snohomish County Council.
Wright is the front runner among three Democratic Party nominees to fill Edmonds Mayor Mike Cooper's former County Council seat. Cooper's former colleagues are expected to appoint his successor Tuesday.
The documents were e-mailed to media outlets Thursday night by an Edmonds attorney. They include information from a lawsuit over credit card debt, details about tax reports for a nonprofit where Wright is a board member and a 10-year-old marijuana case involving her husband.
Wright on Friday called the press package the attorney distributed out "an unfortunate attempt ... to detract from my experience and my qualifications."
Edmonds attorney Michael Brannan said the person who hired him to research Wright and share what he found insisted on anonymity. He would only say his client is "somebody who is really interested in politics as a concerned citizen" and not one of the candidates seeking the County Council post.
After sending the documents to the press, other copies were sent Friday to members of the County Council, he said.
Cooper was sworn in as Edmonds' mayor July 23. Because he is a Democrat, local Democratic Party officials got to nominate people to serve out his council term into 2011. It's one of five spots on the County Council.
The party ranked its choices based on votes by precinct committee officers. On July 31, Wright took the lion's share, beating Edmonds City Councilman D.J. Wilson 33-11. Lynnwood Planning Commission member Maria Ambalada also is in the running for the county appointment. She received one vote.
The documents about Wright show that American Express Centurion Bank sued her and her husband in Snohomish County Superior Court last year for nearly $27,000 in credit card debt. The current status of the debt is not shown.
Another set of documents suggest that the nonprofit Sound Strategies Consulting* failed to file tax reports. Snohomish County Democratic Party Chairman Bill Phillips said he, Wright and her husband are on the group's board of directors. Phillips said he would pay to have an accountant take a closer look at the group's tax filings.
"To the best of our knowledge, we've done everything correctly," he said. "We have absolutely nothing to hide on this."
Other records provided by Brannan detail the April 2000 arrest of Wright's husband on a charge related to arranging the purchase of three pounds of marijuana in Lynnwood.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
Interviews
Public interviews with candidates to fill Edmonds Mayor Mike Cooper's former seat on the Snohomish County Council are scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday on the eighth floor of the county's Robert J. Drewel Building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett.
A final decision could come the same afternoon, with a judge on hand for the swearing in.
The three nominees are: Lynnwood City Councilwoman Stephanie Wright, 38; Edmonds City Councilman D.J. Wilson, 35; and Lynnwood Planning Commission member Maria Ambalada, 74.
* Correction: This story was changed to correct the name of Sound Strategies Consulting.
Wright is the front runner among three Democratic Party nominees to fill Edmonds Mayor Mike Cooper's former County Council seat. Cooper's former colleagues are expected to appoint his successor Tuesday.
The documents were e-mailed to media outlets Thursday night by an Edmonds attorney. They include information from a lawsuit over credit card debt, details about tax reports for a nonprofit where Wright is a board member and a 10-year-old marijuana case involving her husband.
Wright on Friday called the press package the attorney distributed out "an unfortunate attempt ... to detract from my experience and my qualifications."
Edmonds attorney Michael Brannan said the person who hired him to research Wright and share what he found insisted on anonymity. He would only say his client is "somebody who is really interested in politics as a concerned citizen" and not one of the candidates seeking the County Council post.
After sending the documents to the press, other copies were sent Friday to members of the County Council, he said.
Cooper was sworn in as Edmonds' mayor July 23. Because he is a Democrat, local Democratic Party officials got to nominate people to serve out his council term into 2011. It's one of five spots on the County Council.
The party ranked its choices based on votes by precinct committee officers. On July 31, Wright took the lion's share, beating Edmonds City Councilman D.J. Wilson 33-11. Lynnwood Planning Commission member Maria Ambalada also is in the running for the county appointment. She received one vote.
The documents about Wright show that American Express Centurion Bank sued her and her husband in Snohomish County Superior Court last year for nearly $27,000 in credit card debt. The current status of the debt is not shown.
Another set of documents suggest that the nonprofit Sound Strategies Consulting* failed to file tax reports. Snohomish County Democratic Party Chairman Bill Phillips said he, Wright and her husband are on the group's board of directors. Phillips said he would pay to have an accountant take a closer look at the group's tax filings.
"To the best of our knowledge, we've done everything correctly," he said. "We have absolutely nothing to hide on this."
Other records provided by Brannan detail the April 2000 arrest of Wright's husband on a charge related to arranging the purchase of three pounds of marijuana in Lynnwood.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
Interviews
Public interviews with candidates to fill Edmonds Mayor Mike Cooper's former seat on the Snohomish County Council are scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday on the eighth floor of the county's Robert J. Drewel Building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett.
A final decision could come the same afternoon, with a judge on hand for the swearing in.
The three nominees are: Lynnwood City Councilwoman Stephanie Wright, 38; Edmonds City Councilman D.J. Wilson, 35; and Lynnwood Planning Commission member Maria Ambalada, 74.
* Correction: This story was changed to correct the name of Sound Strategies Consulting.
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