OLYMPIA — A lawyer for Aaron Reardon has told state officials he’ll try to reach a settlement of civil charges that the former Snohomish County executive repeatedly violated election laws.
“I hope we can resolve it,” Edmonds attorney Jim Johanson said in a conference call with officials of the state Public Disclosure Commission. The Tuesday call, which included commission Chairwoman Katrina Asay, was to map out what will occur before the case reaches commissioners April 28.
Amid discussion of witness lists and motions, Johanson spent several minutes asking about the process of getting an agreement before commissioners that could eliminate the need for a hearing. At one point, he even suggested he and Chad Standifer, an assistant attorney general assigned to represent PDC investigators, could get something done before the commission’s next meeting in March.
“My focus is on listening to interviews (of witnesses) then try to work out a settlement,” Johanson said.
Standifer told the commission chairwoman that he and Johanson are “exploring a resolution that I can’t talk about.”
Meanwhile, Kevin Hulten, Reardon’s ex-aide who is also accused of repeated violations during in the 2011 election, told PDC officials he’d like to resolve his case before it reaches his June 23 commission hearing.
“It is my intent to continue to cooperate with this process as much as possible and to work towards a conclusion hopefully before the hearing if at all possible,” Hulten said in a separate conference call conducted Tuesday.
Both cases arose from the 2011 election in which Reardon won a third term as county executive when he defeated Republican Mike Hope.
In December, after more than three years of investigation, PDC staff filed civil charges against Reardon and Hulten for extensive use of public resources in that campaign.
Reardon is accused of improperly using his office and county cellphone to conduct campaign business. Investigators found evidence Reardon used county phones to make hundreds of calls to campaign staff and prospective donors.
Hulten, hired by Reardon as a legislative analyst in early 2011, was charged for using county-issued computers and phones to carry out campaign-related activities. Investigators also found evidence of Hulten using fake identities to attack Reardon’s political enemies, including Hope.
The civil violations carry monetary fines of up to $10,000 for each instance of the offense. That means the five-member citizen commission could decide that every time Reardon or Hulten used their phone for a campaign-related call amounted to a new violation.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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