Was Ryu’s letter inappropriate?

Published 9:49 pm Thursday, October 7, 2010

Last week, I wrote about criticism of Shoreline City Council incumbent Ron Hansen and his responses. Now, I have criticism of council incumbent Cindy Ryu.

Three people have sent me copies of a letter that Ryu wrote in her capacity as mayor, recommending CleanScapes, Shoreline’s trash removal contractor, for a contract with the city of Kent.

Because Ryu wrote the letter on a letterhead with all seven council members’ names on it, Councilmen Hansen and Keith McGlashan and Councilwoman Doris McConnell all have said that Ryu should have first sought council approval.

Ryu wrote the letter Aug. 20, but McConnell told me that she didn’t know about it until a council meeting in September.

Councilwoman Janet Way, however, told me that such a letter from the council’s leader is routine.

Hansen said that Ryu’s letter looked bad because Ryu had accepted a $1,000 campaign contribution from CleanScapes.

Ryu did not comment on the letter. Councilmen Terry Scott and Chris Eggen did not respond to e-mails.

Republicans favor five Shoreline candidates

The 32nd District Republicans have voted to support four Shoreline City Council candidates and one Shoreline School Board candidate.

The District Republican Committee endorsed Hansen for re-election.

The committee listed Shoreline Councilwoman Ryu, council candidate Will Hall, council write-in candidate Wendy DiPeso and Shoreline School Board candidate Corey Murata as preferred candidates. The four were listed as “preferred” rather than “endorsed” because they did not identify themselves as Republicans. All four also won endorsement from the district Democrats.

The most surprising preference was probably for Ryu over challenger Shari Tracey. Ryu is active in the District Democratic Committee, and Tracey won a higher rating from the Municipal League. District Republican Chairman Dan Thwing told me he didn’t know why party precinct committee officers had favored Ryu, but that they gave Ryu more votes than Tracey. Thwing said that the committee considered both candidates to be Democrats.

Someone told me Monday that neither Tracey nor school board President Debi Ehrlichman, Murata’s opponent, sought endorsement from either party because they think party endorsements are improper in non-partisan elections.

All four of the preferred candidates had won endorsement from the district Democrats. The only diversion from the Democrats’ list was Hansen, whose opponent, Christopher Roberts, had been rated “not qualified” by the Municipal League.

While the Republicans gave endorsements or preferences to the four Shoreline City Council candidates and to school board candidate Murata, it made no endorsements or preferences for Lake Forest Park City Council. Thwing said that no Lake Forest Park candidates sought endorsement or preference.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@verizon.net.