EVERETT — A Gold Bar blogger’s latest attempt to mount a recall campaign against Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe will be getting a court hearing soon.
Anne Block made a failed effort to recall Roe last year. This time, she’s claiming the prosecutor engaged in misfeasance in how his office has responded to a lawsuit she’s brought against the county and several current and former government employees.
An assistant state attorney general this week filed paperwork seeking a Snohomish County Superior Court hearing on whether the charges are sufficient to merit a recall election and whether a proposed ballot synopsis is adequate. A hearing must be scheduled by early March.
Block’s last recall attempt on Roe did not even get this far, in part because it was filed while he was seeking reelection.
Block now contends Roe acted improperly when his office agreed to spend up to $15,000 on outside legal counsel to represent Kevin Hulten, a former aide to Aaron Reardon. Hulten’s shadowy online harassment of Block and others not only contributed to his boss’ resignation as county executive, but also figures in a federal lawsuit Block filed against the county in early 2014.
Because Hulten’s antics also targeted Roe and others in the prosecutor’s office, he asked the San Juan County prosecutor for a legal opinion on whether Snohomish County was obligated to provide Hulten with a lawyer to represent him in Block’s civil suit. That prosecutor said Snohomish County was obligated to pay.
In recall pleadings, Block maintains that Roe misused taxpayer’s money.
Hulten in July was sentenced to five days on a Skagit County work crew after he pleaded guilty to evidence tampering. He loaded a data wiping program onto a county owned computer before it could be examined by a King County Sheriff’s Office detective.
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