Kennewick councilman accused for 2nd time of ‘abusing his position’

Two Kennewick council members are accusing a fellow councilman of a pattern of abusing his position.

Longtime Councilman Paul Parish and recently re-elected Councilman Chuck Torelli filed the formal ethics complaint Nov. 5.

“Councilmember (John) Trumbo has demonstrated a pattern of abusing his position as councilmember,” said the complaint. “His continued behavior of using his title to infer an official capacity in his ‘investigations’ undercuts public trust.”

It’s the first ethics complaint filed under the city of Kennewick’s new ethics policy.

The city turned over the complaint to the city’s new ethics officer. He had not completed his review as of Wednesday.

The Herald obtained the complaint this week after filing a request under the state Public Records Act.

Trumbo told the Herald on Wednesday that he had not received the ethics complaint from the city nor been told who filed it, so he declined to comment on it.

Trumbo, who has been a councilman for five years, was censured by the council in April for representing himself as a councilman in his unauthorized investigation into unfounded rumors about Mayor Pro Tem Steve Lee.

He was removed from board and committee assignments for the rest of 2019 for “misuse of office.”

A majority of the council also adopted an ethics policy, and the new complaint was filed just days after the council hired Kennewick attorney Tom Atwood to serve as its $240-an-hour ethics officer on an as-needed basis.

The ethics complaint calls out Trumbo for representing himself as a councilman.

Torelli and Parish attached the Council Code of Ethics to the complaint.

They highlighted a sentence under the “Personal Integrity“ section that says, “The professional and personal conduct of officials must be above reproach and avoid even the appearance of impropriety.”

The complaint was filed after Trumbo contacted a person who bought State Sen. Sharon Brown’s Canyon Lakes home in Kennewick.

Both Brown and the person who bought her house complained to the city about the call, saying they didn’t understand why a sitting councilman would have questions about a private home sale.

The issue was briefly discussed at the Nov. 5 council meeting.

In a session that Trumbo asked to held in public, he explained that he identified himself to the woman as both a retired Tri-City Herald reporter and city councilman, but said it was to clarify why his name might sound familiar to a stranger.

After the caller seemed confused, he again clarified that he was not representing the city nor working for the newspaper, where he retired seven years ago.

During the October phone call, he asked questions about the house, repairs, a mechanic’s lien, the sale and the assessed value.

Brown said she was mystified about why Trumbo was asking about the sale of her home. She said her buyer was upset by his call and left disconcerted.

Trumbo declined to say at the council meeting why he was asking about the routine property sale. The council discussed the complaints by Brown and the buyer, but took no action at the meeting.

On Wednesday, Trumbo told the Herald he opposed the city’s new ethics code when it came before the council, saying the code’s process was not sufficiently transparent and that it places too much power with too few people.

The new ethics policy requires two council members to formally request that the city’s new independent ethics officer look into a complaint.

He told the Herald on Wednesday that he thought the council should have been given more say in selecting the ethics officer, rather than just voting for or against Atwood.

He also thinks that the council’s process should be to discuss and decide during a public meeting whether an ethics complaint should be made and sent to the ethics officer.

Depending on Atwood’s conclusions after reviewing the current ethics complaint, the council can issue reprimands, sanctions, remove the council member from boards and commissions or level a civil fine up to $1,000.