The Snohomish County Council has voted not to retain former councilmember John Koster as county ombudsman. The very public move against him came after union leaders complained about a letter by the Freedom Foundation that Koster signed.
After the letter was made public, Snohomish County Executive John Lovick wrote to the council, “How could any of our represented employees, or the thousands of our hard-working union member from our county, expect to be treated in a fair and impartial manner by an ombudsman who has published a letter that is so critical of their union leadership?” But when has Koster made any partial decisions that are related to his anti-public union stance?
Koster was chosen for the ombudsman position because he is a dedicated public servant and known, by Democrats and Republicans, to be trustworthy and honest. It is also never been a secret of Koster’s stance on public-sector unions, but has it affected his job performance? We should be honest about the fact that there are many involved in both partisan politics and non-partisan positions throughout public service. There are elected officials who work in various governmental positions and it does not affect their jobs; it is called being professional.
After Monday’s vote on the ombudsman position, a lack of character was shown by members of the County Council. Councilmen Klein and Somers voted to retain Koster, the right vote, because there is no evidence of him not performing his job well or doing anything improper. Councilman Brian Sullivan went the political route by voting against a Republican holding the position, not a surprising vote by one who plays party politics regularly in the council. The truly disturbing vote was by Councilman Terry Ryan, who voted to abstain. I am absolutely stumped by a non-vote. Ryan apparently runs away from tough votes of character. He took no stance, very cowardly. I also have issue with Councilwoman Wright not being at the meeting when a person’s job is on the line and the position investigates issues that citizens have with county government.
It is unfortunate that the Snohomish County Council has no courage or cannot see beyond their political futures to do what is right for the residents. We have a county executive that requests removal of an honest man like Koster but ignores council members when accusations against Deputy Director Mark Ericks occur about his threatening them. The people of Snohomish County deserve leadership that makes honorable and courageous decisions, unfortunately that is not the case right now.
Todd Welch
Lake Stevens
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