I am grateful for the Herald’s Feb. 14 report on the “mischief and malice” regarding Aaron Reardon and his cronies (in spite of the Herald editorial board’s endorsement of Reardon for his re-election as Snohomish County Executive.) The situation regarding Reardon has stunk from the very beginning. When it was discovered that Reardon was allegedly having an extramarital affair partly funded on the taxpayers’ dime, the Snohomish County prosecutor’s office kicked the can down the road to Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks because of a potential “conflict of interest.” How ironic that it turns out that Snohomish County Prosecutor Mark Roe himself was a victim of Reardon’s alleged “dirty tricks.” Banks, in turn, sat on his hands and did virtually nothing to investigate Reardon. The Washington State Patrol who also “investigated” the case came up with nothing. Of course, Reardon was allowed to hide behind his lawyers and his protective staff members and was never interviewed by anyone, which shows that the State Patrol needs to stick to investigating car accidents.
It is no secret that Aaron Reardon has political ambitions to move up the political ladder in Washington. He is counting on two things: (1) That his lack of a moral compass and political integrity will not matter to voters in Washington because he has a “D” by his name and (2) that we will actually believe him when he says that he had “no knowledge” of these Nixonian dirty tricks that were being perpetrated by his staff Kevin Hulten, Jon Rudicil, et. al. How nice to know that Snohomish County can have its own “Watergate.”
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, we as hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens have a right, no, an obligation to demand honesty, integrity, accountability, fiscal responsibility and morality from the men and women we elect to represent us and oversee our tax dollars. We can’t just click our tongues and shake our heads and quietly accept (and keep voting for) politicians (at every level of government) who lack the above qualities.
Mike Shouse
Edmonds
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