By Miki Mullor
Editor
King County Council today unanimously voted to appoint former Council Member Pam Stuart to Ken Gamblin’s vacant city council seat. Gamblin resigned in January. The City Council had 90 days to appoint a Sammamish resident to fill his vacant seat. However, because the 6 members of the city council couldn’t agree on who to appoint, by state law, the responsibility became King County council’s.
Stuart will serve on the city council until December 2023.
Continue readingBy Scott Hamilton
March 22, 2022: In an unusual twist in the long-running battle between Stephanie Rudat, daughter of embattled Sammamish City Manager David Rudat, and Miki Mullor, editor of Sammamish Comment, Stephanie on Feb. 24 filed for a restraining and protective order against Mullor in King County District Court. The court denied the request for an emergency restraining order. The court also found that “a preponderance of evidence has not been established that there has been harassment.”
A virtual hearing was scheduled for March 9 at which evidence could be presented. However, Rudat was a no-show. Mullor filed his response on March 18. The next court date is April 4.
In her 10 page petition, Rudat accused Mullor of harassment and stalking. Rudat claims she is a victim of cyberstalking and “repeatedly contacting the victim (Rudat) or monitor the victim for no lawful purpose and his/her actions caused the victim to feel intimated, frightened or threatened.”
Rudat also claimed she suffered substantial emotional distress or “caused me to fear for the well-being of my child.” In the complaint, she offered no example of Mullor contacting or threatening her child, however.
Rudat asked the Court to prohibit Mullor from engaging in “social media posts, comments, messages or blog post on The Comment.”
Mullor, in his response, denied all allegations. He called Rudat’s complaint frivolous. “In connection with her support for her father, the City Manager, Petitioner has thrust herself forward into the public controversies regarding his corrupt activities and the City’s investigations into those corrupt activities, making herself a public figure,” Mullor’s response states. In an exhibit, Mullor includes a screenshot of Rudat’s own profile in which she identifies herself as a public figure.
Continue readingBy Scott Hamilton
March 21, 2022: The reelection of then-Mayor Karen Moran took precedence for three council members over the ethics investigation of Sammamish City Manager David Rudat, data revealed in a newly released set of records.
The exchange of text messages between Moran, Ken Gamblin, and Kent Treen revealed they sought to delay a vote on whether to fire City Manager Dave Rudat until after the November 2021 city council election. Moran was seeking reelection to a second term.
Moran also blamed then-fellow council member Pam Stuart for the Rudat probe, according to text messages exchanged three weeks before the election. The vote to fire Rudat came at the November 16 council meeting. It failed on a 2-5 vote, with only Stuart and then-council member Tom Odell in favor. A vote to suspend Rudat for 30 days passed. Implementation was postponed to give Rudat a chance to respond to charges he violated Executive Session confidentiality and attorney-client privilege with his daughter, Stephanie. Stephanie and her allies control several Facebook groups which evolved into support groups for the city manager and hit groups on Sammamish Comment editor Miki Mullor. Mullor filed the complaint with the city leading to the probe and disciplinary action.
The complaint, filed in May 2021, resulted in the council hiring outside attorneys to conduct the investigation, recommend disciplinary action, and represent the minority opposed to the probe, Moran, Gamblin and Treen.
It took the city about 60 days to produce the text messages after a Public Records Request.
Continue readingThe Sammamish City Council failed to appoint a new council member to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Ken Gamblin in January.
There were nine nominations, although two failed to gain a second. Jerry Norman initially lost on a 2-4 vote. Later, in an attempt to break the stalemate, he was nominated again and lost on a 3-3 vote.
Continue readingEditorial
March 15, 2022: The Sammamish City Council owes its citizens a full and transparent accounting of the Dave Rudat mess. In fact, there is an overriding public interest to do so.
There is a cover-up that is keeping all the sordid details out of public view. The Settlement Agreement approved on a 4-2 vote in which Rudat, the City Manager, receives an estimated $300,000 golden parachute raises questions whether the council entered into the agreement to cover up charges by Rudat’s supporters of malfeasance on the part of most of the previous council. Six of the seven members of the previous council—Christie Malchow, Chris Ross, Ken Gamblin, Kent Treen, Pam Stuart, and Tom Odell—deny the accusations. Karen Moran did not respond to Sammamish Comment’s inquiry.
Malchow, who was deputy mayor when the investigation of Rudat began and one of its chief supporters, is now mayor. She has mishandled this entire affair. The object of scathing criticism during the probe, fellow council members said she chickened out when it came to the first vote in November whether to fire Rudat or suspend him. Bowing to criticism, fellow council members said she counted the votes and realized she would not prevail—so rather than vote to fire Rudat, she supported suspension instead.
Malchow said the information presented to the council only supported the suspension.
But how is the public to know? The Sammamish taxpayers funded the hiring of two outside counsels to conduct the investigation and another to represent three minority council members who opposed the probe from the start. The total cost has not been tallied, but it is certainly in the tens of thousands of dollars, as the investigator alone charged the city more than $30,000, the agreement shows
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