State Auditor Troy Kelley was indicted on ten counts of crimes by the Federal government. He put himself on paid leave to fight the charges. Why should we pay him for serving only himself?
Actually, since being elected Kelley appears to have been busy on his own affairs while being paid by the taxpayers. When reporters started asking about him they asked his office what he had been doing. They found his calendar shows 150 non-holiday weekdays without a single meeting or other event involving him. The Olympian
NWCN shows video from KING 5 TV.
The charges include:
- Possession of stolen property - 10 years max
- False statements/ obstruction - 20 years max
- Tax evasion - 3 years max for each
The audio at NWCN says that the feds say his illegal actions continued while he was in office as state auditor, though the print text does not repeat this.
I also recall that Kelley claimed he could not disclose the results of a lawsuit or other legal matter because it was sealed. Then the other party in the suit was asked they said it was OK with them to open the record. Apparently Kelley did not allow disclosure.
And we heard about this before Kelley was elected. James Watkins, his Republican opponent, disclosed the charges he had heard. Sound Politics (A commenter repeats highlights of some of the charges, but Watkins’ original site is gone.) But the Seattle Times, KING 5 and other news media did not investigate.
UPDATTE: I just discovered that Northwest Public Radio did a story on the charges 9/6/2012.
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