Secret payments to King County employee could become issue in race for county’s top job

Whistleblower allegations of a kickback scheme involving a King County employee could prompt questions in the upcoming race for King County executive.

A county ethics investigation into $323,000 in secret payments from a nonprofit to a county employee handling its contracts, revealed in a KUOW story this week, was the latest in a series of scandals involving a county effort to prevent youth gun violence, and comes as King County voters prepare to choose a new county leader.

Two King County Council members, Claudia Balducci and Girmay Zahilay, have announced their candidacy for county executive, as has County Assessor John Wilson. Longtime Executive Dow Constantine announced last month that he will not seek reelection when his term ends next year.

The county ombuds found in September that Willard Jimerson, Jr., a project manager on the county's Regional Peacekeepers Initiative, had recommended Freedom Project, a Renton nonprofit, for gun violence prevention subcontracts without disclosing that he and two businesses he controlled received frequent payments from the organization. Those payments continued, the investigation found, as Jimerson then oversaw Freedom Project's work on the Peacekeepers program.

RELATED: Secret payments, damning audit. King County’s youth violence prevention effort, mired in scandal

Wilson said he disagrees with the county’s approach with the Regional Peacekeepers Collective, a community outreach initiative which Constantine and Zahilay both championed to treat gun violence as a public health issue under the umbrella of the county’s Zero Youth Detention efforts.

“Clearly it’s an outgrowth of the wrongheaded effort to close the youth jail that we had just built. And it shows what happens when you put ideology ahead of reality and sound policy,” Wilson said. “Sadly, it also speaks to a huge accountability gap here.”

Zahilay also voiced frustration.

“The findings in this investigation are unacceptable," he said, calling public safety, especially involving young people, "one of the most important responsibilities of local government. King County residents deserve to know that their tax dollars are being protected so we can actually make progress on our safety priorities."

The ombuds found Jimerson in violation of the county ethics code in September and fined him $7,100. Jimerson is appealing the finding. The ombuds also forwarded the case to the King County Prosecutor’s Office, which is reviewing it for potential criminal charges.

One year ago, in the middle of its ethics investigation, the ombuds informed the Council and Constantine that it had forwarded evidence of the alleged kickback scheme to the FBI.

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on the case, citing agency policy. Freedom Project indicated that it was involved in an FBI investigation and had received a grand jury subpoena in records from this spring, but there was no federal indictment in that case, and neither Freedom Project nor the Department of Justice would discuss the focus of the grand jury.

Wilson said he has questions for his rival candidates on the County Council about any actions they’ve taken to seek more accountability.

“When you have a county employee that’s walked off — or an employee with one of these organizations — with more than $300,000 in public funds, that’s an outrage," he said. "And where have the County Council been on this?”

"I have been in touch with the executive's office requesting answers, and it is my understanding that an investigation has been completed and the person accused of these ethics violations has been terminated," Zahilay said. "I remain committed to supporting community-based interventions to youth violence as part of a comprehensive approach to public safety while adhering to strict oversight and performance metrics across every single program."

Balducci did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Councilmember Reagan Dunn signaled agreement with Wilson’s concerns.

“I remain alarmed at the jaw-dropping lack of oversight of some of the non profit organizations King County has contracted to work on the ill-fated Zero Youth Detention initiative," Dunn said in a statement. "We must work quickly to require additional safeguards so the public can be assured these groups are being good stewards of public dollars.”

"The purpose of these community-based programs is to give young people who have committed crimes strong role models and mentors," Dunn said. "We are sending the wrong message when the leaders of some of the organizations are alleged to have been breaking the law and violating county ethics codes.”

In an email, a spokesperson for Public Health – Seattle & King County said that Freedom Project “hired an outside contractor to review their records and determined that County funds were not used” in the payments to Jimerson and his businesses.

"Regional Peacekeeper organizations have fulfilled service expectations under contract using County funds for community-based gun violence prevention work," said Kate Cole, county spokesperson.

This is a developing story and will be updated.