Some citizens want to recall a Kennewick councilman. The council argued over paying his lawyer

Kennewick taxpayers will foot the legal bills for a councilman facing a recall over an email he sent four years ago.

A bitterly divided Kennewick City Council voted 3-2 this week to pay the legal fees of Councilman Steve Young, the former mayor who is fighting a narrowly-focused recall effort involving a political fund-raiser.

His legal bill stands at $8,525.

The vote pitted the council’s moderate wing, which supports Young, against its conservative one, which doesn’t. The moderates prevailed.

Mayor Don Britain, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Lee and Councilman Paul Parish voted to pay the fees, with the mayor saying the charges are unfounded and that the city must defend its elected leaders against “frivolous” accusations.

Councilmen Matt Boehnke and John Trumbo voted no. Councilman Bill McKay was absent, and Young did not participate in the discussion or vote.

Boehnke, who is running to represent the 8th District in the Washington House, and Trumbo unsuccessfully tried to cancel the meeting altogether so the subject could be revisited when McKay was back.

Trumbo also unsuccessfully attempted to have the council discuss Young’s performance in a closed-door executive session.

Britain said he believes Young broke no law when he forwarded an email to City Manager Marie Mosley concerning a 2014 campaign event for Dan Newhouse, then running for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Rep. Doc Hastings.

“All of us who run for public office are subject to frivolous accusations and must defend ourselves,” Britain said.

The matter was added to the agenda Tuesday, the first business day after a Friday hearing about the recall case before Benton County Superior Court Judge Bruce Spanner.

Friday, Spanner dropped all but one of the accusations leveled against Young by James E. Wade, Vincent C. Rundhaug, Charles R. Tamburello and Robert L. McClary Jr. The judge said the charges were “factually insufficient” to support a recall.

He allowed one claim to advance, saying it’s up to citizens to decide if Young violated the Washington Fair Campaign Practices Act when he sent the fund-raiser message to Mosley.

State law says no elected official may solicit a contribution from an employee of the official’s agency. Moseley is hired and fired by the city council.

Young told the council he intends to appeal the decision to the Washington State Supreme Court.

The motives behind the recall remain murky. Wade, Rundhaug and McClary did not return calls Wednesday about their plans to gather signatures, the next step needed to get the recall on the ballot.

Tamburello’s current contact information was unavailable. All four are longtime Kennewick residents.

The dismissed claims were linked to a civil lawsuit Young lost as a Hanford manager in October 2017.

In that case, a jury found that Young aided Hanford contractor Mission Support Alliance in discriminating and retaliating against an employee, leading to an $8.1 million jury verdict.

The verdict is under appeal and Young has retired from the company.

Kennewick residents could be stuck with more than the legal bill. If the recall reaches the ballot, the city will pay the cost of the election too.

The amount depends on the timing and how many other issues are on the ballot, but the cost could be $20,000 or more, officials estimated.

The earliest it could appear would be in Feb. 12, 2019. The following ballot option in 2019 is in April.

The timing could prove tricky.

Young’s term expires next year. Filing week begins May 13, so any eligible Kennewick resident interested in the job could file for his position at that time.

His attorney, Bob Thompson, who also happens to be the mayor of Richland, said the recall makes little sense.

A drawn-out Supreme Court fight could easily push the recall question out to late 2019.

In theory, Young could run for reelection on the same ballot on which he is being recalled, Thompson said.

“Does it really make sense to spend the taxpayers’ money on something that is going to be decided by the voters in November of 2019,” he said. “I think it borders on the ridiculous.”

Tuesday, Young said he intends to seek re-election to his at-large seat but hasn’t made a final decision.

While the judge is leaving it to citizens to determine if Young violated campaign law, Kennewick’s city manager argued Tuesday that the 2014 incident is being misrepresented.

According to the recall petition, Young forwarded a message to Mosley at her city email account about a fund-raising luncheon for Newhouse. Mosley responded by email that she could not attend but wanted to contribute toward a $100 ticket so that someone else could sit at the table.

Mosley said the email was just one aspect of the conversation. Tuesday, she told the city council she spoke in person with the then-mayor. The exchange was not documented in email.

Young explicitly stated that he was not asking her to pay for a seat at the Newhouse event or to contribute to his campaign, Mosley said.

“I did not send a $100 donation to Councilmember Young. Nor did I send a $100 donation to Representative Newhouse,” she said.

Young has 30 days from the hearing to appeal to the state’s highest court.

This story was originally published September 5, 2018 at 6:55 PM.