YAKIMA — A newly elected City Council member has apologized for not admitting his wife’s role in an anonymous Internet blog that criticized his opponent throughout the campaign, and his opponent says he plans to sue.
Rick Ensey, a property manager, defeated Councilman Ron Bonlender, a sandwich shop owner, with 52.5 percent of the vote last week in the nonpartisan race for a seat on the Yakima council.
The race was awash in partisanship, with Ensey criticizing Bonlender for being a Democrat and suggesting he was out of step with Yakima. Bonlender took Ensey to task for promoting an endorsement from the Yakima County Republican Party when he was competing in a nonpartisan race.
An anonymous blogger throughout the campaign repeatedly criticized Bonlender and Democrats on the Internet site InsideYakima.com. The blogger also referred to “rumors” that Bonlender had been arrested several times for investigation of drunken driving and that the arrest reports had been covered up by the police, city manager and local newspaper.
The blogger offered no evidence and a review of state records by the Yakima Herald-Republic newspaper found nothing to back up the claims.
Two days after the election, Ensey acknowledged his wife was the anonymous blogger.
Diane Ensey, who served as Ensey’s campaign treasurer, is a Web developer and professional blogger. The site was taken down the day after the election and the domain is now up for sale.
“I want to apologize to the people of Yakima for not disclosing before the election that my wife was the person behind InsideYakima.com. Clearly mistakes were made, and for that I am sorry,” Ensey wrote in a letter to the editor that appeared in Tuesday’s Yakima Herald-Republic.
Bonlender called the letter shallow damage control.
“He wants to say, ‘Let’s move on and sweep this under the rug,’ ” Bonlender said. “It’s not over when he says it’s over.”
Bonlender also said he likely will file a lawsuit against the Enseys. He also still wants a personal apology.
“A sincere apology,” he said.
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