OLYMPIA — Aaron Reardon, the former Snohomish County executive, has hired a lawyer as he prepares to face charges of repeatedly violating state laws in his 2011 re-election campaign.
Reardon tapped attorney Jim Johanson, of Edmonds, a longtime friend, to defend him when the state Public Disclosure Commission conducts a hearing on the allegations in April.
That proceeding had been penciled in for late February. But Johanson requested a continuance in a conference call with commission Chairwoman Katrina Asay earlier this week.
He said he had only been retained a few days earlier and not seen the documents on which the civil charges were based. He asked for a delay so he could “get up to speed” in the case.
“I’m not aware of all the issues involved,” Johanson said. Reardon, who resigned in 2013, did not take part in the call.
The hearing was reset for April 28. Johanson and commission staff will confer again in mid-February to sort out details on how the hearing will be conducted.
In December, PDC staff filed civil charges against Reardon and his former aide, Kevin Hulten, for using public resources in the campaign in which Reardon defeated Republican Mike Hope to secure a third term.
Reardon is accused of improperly using his office and county cellphone to conduct campaign business. A lengthy PDC investigation concluded Hulten, hired by Reardon as a legislative analyst in early 2011, spent large blocs of his time at work doing campaign-related activities.
Investigators found Reardon used county phones to make hundreds of calls to campaign staff and prospective donors. It also found evidence of Hulten using fake identities to attack Reardon’s political enemies, including Hope.
After the 2011 election, The Herald pored over county phone records and Reardon’s office schedule. The analysis found he made more than 1,000 calls on his government cellphone to campaign staff and those who gave money to his re-election.
PDC staff performed a similar analysis, including Reardon’s calls with his campaign consultants. They tallied up 50 hours and 20 minutes worth of usage by Reardon on his county cellphone for campaign purposes.
The civil violations carry monetary fines of up to $10,000 for each instance of the offense. The five-member citizen commission could decide that every time Reardon used his office, or that phone, it amounted to a new violation.
Meanwhile, the commission also could deal with Hulten in April. A date hasn’t been locked down as PDC staff have been unable to confer with him about the timing.
Johanson represented Hulten in a 2014 criminal case stemming from his actions at work following the 2011 election.
Johanson told Asay in the conference call Tuesday that he was not representing Hulten on the PDC charges and had no idea if he had a lawyer.
In 2014, Hulten admitted to wiping the contents of a county-owned laptop used to target Reardon’s political enemies with a barrage of public records requests and attacks on social media. Hulten pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, paid a fine and spent five days on a Skagit County work crew.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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