Seattle spent $770,000 on attorney fees defending Jenny Durkan (former mayor) over the deletion of her text messages during her “Summer of Love” when people were protesting and rioting in Seattle. (“Seattle to settle whistleblower suit over texts,” May 2, Local.)
Now a settlement with undisclosed terms has been reached with the whistleblowers over the deletion of texts, another cost to the taxpayer. These two individuals lost their jobs because they refused to go along with how Durkan’s office handled the request from news reporters on the deleted texts.
When a politician does something against the law, they should be held accountable and pay the settlement and attorney fees. The taxpayers should not be held accountable to pay. The taxpayers should not be footing the bill for her hiding/deleting the history of actions taken by her. There is no personal accountability for illegal actions taken by public servants. Wrongful actions should be outside of the bounds of government (tax payers) protection.
Larry Brickman, Bellevue