Editorial
By Susan Etchey
Circulating on the internet and in some voter’s mailboxes is a letter written August 15 by State Representative Christopher Hurst denouncing three Enumclaw City Council members. The obvious target is incumbent Councilman Darrell Dickson. Hurst’s daughter, Kim Lauk, is opposing Darrell Dickson for Council Seat #2.
Hurst accuses Darrell Dickson, and council members Hoke Overland, and Juanita Carstens, of misdeeds and calls for code of ethics investigations: “I am asking the State Attorney General, State Public Disclosure Commissioner and State Auditor to conduct a thorough investigation into the personal finances and business interests of our council members as they relate to land use, decisions, and zoning proposals,” states Hurst.
Unfortunately for us, the Enumclaw voters, Hurst knows full well that with the slow progress of such investigations the final outcome will not be known until long after the city council elections are held on November 3. For the most part, the attacks in Hurst’s letter are directed at Darrel Dickson’s emails. Hurst claims to have read and interpret many of his emails, and then using snippets of quotes taken out of context, he twists their intended meaning. Hurst never seeks any reasonable inquiry or clarification from the author. Thus, Hurst’s accusations are made without the benefit of a thorough examination of the facts.
Recently Hoke Overland wrote numerous and thoughtful responses to the Hurst letter and then posted them on a popular public Facebook page entitled “Enumclaw” after the letter surfaced there a couple of weeks ago . Overland demonstrates that Hurst’s allegations are false. And, in addition, questions Hurst’s real motives.
So, how did Hurst access these emails? When you follow the paper trail the answer is obvious. On May 18 the City of Enumclaw received a public records request from a non-resident of
Enumclaw seeking all emails sent and received on the email account of City Councilman Darrel Dickson, dating all the way back to May 11,2011. It seems no strange coincidence that Hurst’s daughter, Kim Lauk, had just filed on May 15 to run against the incumbent, Darrel Dickson, for Council Seat # 2 .
Adhering to legal enforcement of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), two employees of the City of Enumclaw – AT TAXPAYER’S EXPENSE – were required to gather the emails. After many hours over several weeks a total of 7,846 Dickson emails were provided. That would include all emails sent to Dickson from citizens like you and me as well.
Who requested all these emails? None other than Hayley Rumback, of Arlington, Virginia. Rumback is a big time Washington, D.C. area political consultant. He specializes in “OPPOSITION RESEARCH” for numerous clients throughout the United States who employ his help to win their political campaigns.So, the question is who hired Rumback to research Darrel Dickson? And, at what cost? Where is the paper trail? What public disclosure is required for this kind of political activity? The question arises: was information from these emails obtained to help Hurst’s daughter, Kim Lauk, launch a smear campaign? Is there a violation of Washington States’ campaign finance laws concerning the request and purchase of those 7, 846 Dickson emails ?
The law reads: “No payment shall be made to any person required to report under RCW 42.17A.700 and no payment shall be accepted by any such person, directly or indirectly, in a fictitious name, anonymously, or by one person through an agent, relative, or other person in such a manner as to conceal the identity of the source of the payment or in any other manner so as to effect concealment.
The commission may issue categorical and specific exemptions to the reporting of the actual source when there is an undisclosed principal for recognized legitimate business purposes.”
Obvious clues to a possible Rumback-Hurst connection are statements made by Hurst twice in his own letter in which he states his suspicions of conflict of interest are based on a “small sample of emails.” (Out of more than 7,800 this could be called “cherry picking.”) The only way Hurst could have obtained any Dickson’s emails to make charges against him and other council members, would be by making a FOIA request himself, or hiring someone else to do it for him. Indeed, it seems apparent from the thousands of emails at his disposal Hurst’s purpose is an attempt to assassinate his daughter’s opponent in a smear campaign by deliberately creating doubt and suspicion.
Hurst portrays himself as a legislator with a keen insight and knowledge of the City of Enumclaw’s decision-making processes. Yet, as far as I know in the past three years Hurst has never attended the Community Economic Development committee meetings he references in his letter or sat in on a single city council meeting regarding the city’s land use, zoning or economic development issues. Let it also be known, that Hurst’s daughter, Kim Lauk, never attended such meetings regularly until declaring her candidacy.
Editor’s Note. The Enumclaw Echo is no longer functioning as a non-profit 501(c)3 with a Board of Directors. It is now a personal news blog produced by the editor, Susan Etchey. It was Etchey who filed a public records request on Sept. 4 at Enumclaw City Hall to investigate the source of the email leaks. Feel free to share her articles.
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