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Local News Play Ball! McKenna tive affairs director, Hunter Goodman, that discussed various council business. But it also included information on what McKen- na deemed “External Business,” in which the councilman said he was looking to pur- sue the Republican convention invitation. 2002 had McKenna’s initials next to an item labeled “PFA.” Hand-written notes from that meeting indicate it was about Progress For America, a group designed to support the policies of President George W. Bush. Another folder in McKenna’s archives is dedicated to Progress For America materials and notes about McKenna’s efforts to raise money for the group. State laws related to using government offices for politi- cal work may no longer be applicable to McKenna’s files, since the statute of limi- tations for such laws is five years. However, he could be subject to an ethics complaint in King County, since those rules do not have explicit time constraints. Bruce Laing, who was McKenna’s Republican predecessor on the council and now chairs the King County Board of Ethics, declined to comment on the specific files found in McKenna’s archives. But he noted both the county’s ethics code and advisory opinions that explain what types of activities are improper. “It’s pretty specific. It’s pretty clear,” Laing said. One of those ethics opinions, published in 1996 not long after McKenna took office there, gives broad guidance to county work- ers about how to use various county facili- ties. When it comes to fax machines, for example, the ethics board said plainly that they “may be used only to conduct official county business.” “Facsimile equipment, telephone line, and paper are provided for transmitting and receiving correspondence to conduct offi- There are strong indications that McKenna himself was at least aware of how his District 6 office mixed campaign and government document In another memo, Goodman wrote to “District Six Staff” in January 2003 about items for discussion at a staff meeting. While the agenda included many council issues, such as a newsletter to constituents and an update on solid waste matters, it also scheduled staff to discuss “grassroots fundraising and candidate meetings” as well as McKenna’s re-election kickoff scheduled for March of that year. That re-election event is prominent in his files. His folders include lists of attendees, a map of where supporters would sit and a minute-by-minute schedule of events. Another memo for a staff meeting a year prior referenced work needed for a specific fundraiser. Another asks staff members what needs to be done to get a fundraiser going for McKenna. Another memo from Goodman tells District 6 staff that an “action item” is related to the 2004 cam- paign for governor: “what is our next step in finding our candidate?” One of the District 6 staff meetings from PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED continued from page 1 Two Rainier Valley Little League teams, Pepsi (green) and San Genro Foods (yellow), played Saturday, May 19 at Rainier Playfield. The kids between the ages of 9 and 12 are over halfway through the season. San Genro Foods won the game despite a late burst of offense by Pepsi in the final inning. cial business, and may not be used for pri- vate or personal business,” the advisory opinion said. Similar rules apply for other county facilities, though the opinions approve the use of county facilities for emergencies or if the use is brief, infre- quent, cost-free and unobtrusive. For personal use, the county ethics code says that no employee “shall request or per- mit the use of county-owned vehicles, equipment, materials or property or the expenditure of county funds for personal convenience or profit.” For campaign issues, the county ethics code largely mirrors state law and says that workers “shall not use or authorize the use of the facilities of King County” for person- al or ballot elections. Goodman said the campaign-related files in the archives were his and that they must have been accidentally brought in from the outside and co-mingled with the county records. He said it was an error but not an indication that campaign work occurred there. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Liquor continued from page 1 March upheld the initiative, but opponents appealed that ruling directly to the Supreme Court. Mary Tennyson, a senior assistant attor- ney general, defended the initiative. She told justices that the $10 million dedicated to public safety issues followed a historical practice of devoting some liquor proceeds to local governments. And she argued the fees were not mis- leading because the initiative clearly states how those costs are set and who pays for them. Liquor distributors were allowed to begin selling products directly to restaurants and other liquor license holders March 1. The state’s last day for liquor sales is May 31, and the last liquor shipment to state stores is scheduled for May 18. If the Supreme Court overturns the initia- tive, the first order of business would be to restock the state stores’ dwindling liquor supplies, said Pat Kohler, Liquor Control Board director. Beyond that, the board would have to reach out to the governor and lawmakers to determine next steps, she said. ``This is kind of like a cruise ship, and it’s a little hard to turn it around quickly,’’ Kohler said. ``But the voters did speak pret- ty clearly that they wanted change.’’ Nearly 20 states control their retail or wholesale liquor business. Some, such as Iowa and West Virginia, have relinquished partial control in recent years, but Washing- ton would be the first in that group to aban- don the liquor business entirely. Associated Press writer Shannon Dininny in Yakima contributed to this report. partial remission. Russell was nearing the end of his third tour when his behavior changed, members career. On May 8, Russell sought help at a com- bat stress clinic at Camp Stryker, where his unit was located. On May 10 Russell was referred to the Camp Liberty clinic, where he received counseling and prescription medication to treat his symptoms. Witnesses said the fol- lowing day they saw Russell crying and talk- ing about hurting him- self. He went back to the Camp Liberty clinic, where a doctor told him he needed to get help or he would hurt himself. Russell tried to surrender to military police to lock him up so he wouldn’t hurt himself or others, witnesses said. Military prosecutors say Russell left the clinic and later returned with a rifle he took from his unit headquarters and began firing. He was arrested afterward. Killed in the shooting were Navy Cmdr. Charles Springle, 52, of Wilmington, North Carolina, and four Army service members: Pfc. Michael Edward Yates Jr., 19, of Fed- eralsburg, Maryland; Dr. Matthew Houseal, of Amarillo, Texas; Sgt. Christian E. Bueno- Galdos, 25, of Paterson, New Jersey; and Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mis- souri. Russell deployed to Iraq with the 370th Engineer Company, 54th Engineer Battal- ion from Bamberg, Germany. In Iraq the 54th was assigned to the 555th Engineer Brigade, based at Lewis-McChord, which is responsible for the court martial. The initiative takes effect June 1, and the Washington Liquor Control Board already has auctioned off the rights to sell liquor at many of its state-run stores and issued layoff notices to 1,200 employees Murder continued from page 1 it is standard procedure for them not to comment to the media, Dangerfield said. The shooting was one of the worst instances of soldier-on-soldier violence in the Iraq war and raised questions about the mental health problems for soldiers caused by repeated tours of duty. ``I don’t know of any other worse blue-on-blue in Iraq,’’ Dan- gerfield said. A hearing on possible charges was held in August 2009 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Two evalu- ations presented during that hear- ing said Russell suffered from severe depression with psychotic features and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. A March 2011 evaluation said the major depression with psychotic features was in The shooting was one of the worst instances of soldier-on-soldier violence in the Iraq war and raised questions about the mental health problems for soldiers caused by repeated tours of duty of his unit testified in 2009. They said he became more distant in the days before the May 11, 2009, attack, and that he seemed paranoid that his unit was trying to end his May 23, 2012 The Seattle Skanner Page 3
