OLYMPIA — A hearing is scheduled Thursday for a former Snohomish County employee accused of illegally using public resources to help get his boss, Aaron Reardon, re-elected county executive.
The state Public Disclosure Commission is considering civil charges brought against Kevin Hulten for conducting campaign activities on county computers on behalf of Reardon in 2011 and for a state legislative candidate in Pierce County in 2012.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at noon. Hulten, who now lives in California, is expected to participate by phone.
Commissioners will consider Hulten’s case two months after taking action against Reardon for multiple violations of the same state election laws in the campaign in which he defeated Republican Mike Hope to win a third term.
Reardon received the maximum penalty of $4,200 for conducting campaign-related business in the executive’s office and on his county-issued cell phone. Reardon paid the fine June 10.
Commission staff has not settled on a suggested penalty, but it won’t be higher than that imposed on Reardon, said Evelyn Fielding Lopez, the commission’s executive director.
“We will make a recommendation at the hearing after listening to what Mr. Hulten says,” she said.
It doesn’t seem equitable to seek a higher amount for Hulten, she said, because Reardon bears more responsibility for what transpired. After all, he hired Hulten.
Reardon announced his resignation in 2013, days after a series of stories detailing how Hulten carried out a covert campaign of on-the-job harassment and other mischief aimed at the county executive’s political rivals. Hulten’s misconduct began soon after he joined Reardon’s staff as a legislative analyst.
Hulten quit his county job after homemade pornography was found on one of the county computers he’d been using. Investigators also recovered electronic fingerprints that showed him digging for dirt and encouraging government investigations of Reardon’s political rivals, particularly Hope, then a state representative from Lake Stevens.
In December, PDC investigators completed their three-year probe that entailed poring through emails and phone logs, obtaining a forensic audit of Hulten’s laptop and interviewing a slew of individuals.
Commission staff attempted to interview Hulten, without success. He did not respond to their multiple subpoenas.
Hulten in April 2014 did submit 38 pages of statements and exhibits, in which he urged the election watchdogs to dismiss the case.
At this week’s hearing, assistant attorney general Chad Standifer, who represents PDC staff, intends to call four witnesses. Among them is Gary Haakenson, a former deputy county executive under Reardon who was Hulten’s supervisor.
Hulten will be able to cross-examine Haakenson and other witnesses and call his own witnesses should he want, Lopez said.
Commissioners are expected to render a decision following the hearing.
If the hearing is not completed Thursday, it will be continued to the board’s July meeting.
Hulten also became the focus of a criminal investigation. He was convicted of tampering with evidence after admitting he wiped data from a laptop used to target Reardon’s political enemies with a barrage of public records requests and attacks on social media.
He was unable to hide all his tracks, including a memo he wrote complaining about not being properly rewarded for engaging in successful political “black hat jobs” on Reardon’s behalf.
In the criminal case, Hulten 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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