Thanks to a sensible decision by Kitsap County’s prosecuting attorney, Snohomish County will be spared a bit of political theater no one wanted.
Russell Hauge, serving as a special prosecutor in an investigation of Snohomish County Councilman Jeff Sax, has recommended that Sax not be brought to trial for leaking confidential legal documents last month. That’s good, because now the book can be closed on a regrettable incident rather than dragging it out indefinitely.
Hauge’s decision doesn’t absolve Sax of responsibility for a poor decision, nor does it mean he didn’t do something seriously wrong. In a letter announcing his recommendation to state Attorney General Rob McKenna, Hauge wrote that he saw Sax’s actions as “a relatively clear criminal law violation.”
Still, Hauge recommended against criminal charges, saying that a jury would be unlikely to return a guilty verdict.
Sax’s stunt, in which he surreptitiously gave a crumpled copy of a proposed legal settlement over the Brightwater sewage treatment plant to a fellow Brightwater opponent – a document that was marked confidential – may have contributed to his re-election loss. To the degree it did, that’s a strong enough message regarding such actions.
The leaking of confidential legal documents by a council member because he doesn’t agree with the direction a decision is headed mustn’t be condoned. Such actions undermine trust and orderly decision making.
Sax and his attorney may argue that the Snohomish County Ethics Commission’s ruling that Sax didn’t break county ethics rules was the final word in this case, but it wasn’t. Hauge’s opinion was. And even an ethics board member who ruled in Sax’s favor, Bill Higgins, said that Sax “didn’t break the law, but he definitely broke the appearance of fairness doctrine.”
What Sax did was wrong. That he won’t be prosecuted doesn’t change that.
Snohomish County has plenty of important issues to deal with – growth, transportation, law and justice – without having a divisive sideshow going on that benefits no one. Enough silly, partisan bickering between council members and the executive’s office already is in the air.
County leaders should be focusing on the most important priorities. Hauge’s decision makes that a little easier by removing a big potential distraction.
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