Complaints say that commerce officials helped PUD score a grant

  • By Dan Catchpole and Jerry Cornfield Herald Writers
  • Friday, October 2, 2015 9:24pm
  • Local NewsLocal news

OLYMPIA — A state ethics board is investigating several current and former Department of Commerce officials based on complaints filed this summer.

The complaints allege that they used their state positions to help the Snohomish County Public Utility District get a $7.3 million clean energy grant from the state. The PUD then spent the grant money on no-bid contracts with 1Energy Systems, a company that now employs two of the former commerce department officials under investigation.

The state Executive Ethics Board has not disclosed who filed the complaints.

The allegations came out of the PUD’s own ethics investigation earlier this year into its no-bid contracts with 1Energy Systems. The independent investigator found that PUD officials and 1Energy’s founder, Dave Kaplan, broke the district’s ethics policy by failing to take adequate steps to avoid the appearance of favoritism.

Kaplan is named in the complaints. He is a former consultant for the commerce department and a former PUD employee.

The complaints, filed in mid-July, also name former state Commerce Director Rogers Weed, former Deputy Director Daniel Malarkey and Michael Carr, who helped launch the state’s Clean Energy Fund while working at the department.

Carr is now an attorney with UniEnergy Technologies, a PUD subcontractor through 1Energy Systems.

Weed left the department in February 2013 and five months later joined 1Energy’s board of advisers. In April 2014, he joined the company as an employee.

“From my side, I had no involvement whatsoever in the Clean Energy Fund while in state service,” he said in an email to The Daily Herald. And “my duties at 1Energy do not involve any interaction with the Clean Energy Fund program.”

Malarkey was involved in setting up the grant program and helped put together the PUD’s grant application, which did not mention his involvement.

Nonetheless, Malarkey “took deliberate steps to understand the state’s ethics law and advisory materials to ensure that he complied with them” before leaving the commerce department for 1Energy in September 2013, Weed said.

Malarkey could not be reached for comment.

“He concluded that his proposed role at 1Energy was fully supported under state law because the contracts in question were not negotiated or administered for more than six months after he left Commerce, the contracts were not directly with 1Energy and he has no role at 1Energy in fulfilling the provisions of those contracts,” Weed said.

Complaints were also made against current Commerce Director Brian Bonlender and Assistant Director Tony Usibelli. Two other former department officials — an IT manager and a clean energy industry lead — were named as well.

Last May, Bonlender asked the Executive Ethics Board for an advisory opinion on the role of former employees and the PUD grant.

“We withdrew our request knowing there would be a full investigation,” said Nick Demerice, the commerce department’s assistant director for external relations. “It’s in their hands at this point.”

Demerice said they’ve provided the board’s investigator with “a great deal of information” including personnel files, email records and full forensic images of computer hard drives.

Bonlender ordered a variety of policy changes after questions surfaced about the role of former employees now working for 1Energy.

Contracts have been rewritten to require additional disclosure from contractors of any past state employees on their payroll.

Also, agency executives completed extra ethics training “above and beyond” what every state employee must complete, Demerice said.

“We’ve certainly beefed up our efforts so those people who are leaving the agency understand their responsibilities,” he said. “The onus to comply with the ethics law is on the individual leaving the department.”

Ethics investigations can take from six to 12 months, depending on the allegations’ complexity, available resources and the ethics board’s caseload, said Ruthann Bryant, an Executive Ethics Board official.

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Cassie Franklin, Mayor of Everett, delivers the annual state of the city address Thursday morning in the Edward D. Hansen Conference Center in Everett, Washington on March 31, 2022.  (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
At Everett mayor’s keynote speech: $35 entry, Boeing sponsorship

The city won’t make any money from the event, city spokesperson Simone Tarver said. Still, it’s part of a trend making open government advocates wary.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.