Rantz: Seattle City Attorney drags feet in charging Progressive activist

The Seattle Police Department recommended charging a former Seattle City Council candidate for violating the rules of the democracy voucher program back in October. Still, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes hasn’t decided if he’ll pursue charges.

Sheley Secrest, a Progressive activist, attorney and vice president of the local NAACP, allegedly put her own money into her campaign, then falsely claimed it was donated by voters so that she would qualify for up to $150,000 in vouchers. Secrest isn’t offering a comment on the investigative findings, though in the past she’s denied any wrongdoing.

The Seattle Times reports that the detective in charge of the investigation recommended she be charged for this illegal act, a gross misdemeanor.

That recommendation was sent to Holmes’ office on October 24, yet he still hasn’t decided if he’ll pursue charges.

“The Democracy Vouchers program is new to the City, and this case is the first of its kind for the Criminal Division. We’re taking our time to make sure we get it right,” said Holmes’ spokeswoman Kimberly Mills in an email to the Seattle Times’ Bob Young.

I’m all for making sure you get this right, so long as getting it right means you’ll charge someone for trying to cheat the system – a system Holmes supported and participated in. The investigation found she broke the rules and Secrest should be held accountable.

By delaying a charge – or refusing to bring one at all – Holmes may be seen as giving a break to a candidate he ideologically supports.

Holmes has a history with dragging his feet and I hope this isn’t the case with Secrest. KIRO 7 reported earlier this year:

In dozens of cases, charges were not filed for months — sometimes even more than a year — after suspects were arrested. When charges were eventually filed, assistants working for Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes often gave no explanation for the delays.

This means that in cases where suspects are arrested for domestic violence and other serious crimes, they’ve been allowed to go free while waiting for charges.

In one case where police say a suspect committed other crimes while prosecutors waited to file, a judge described the actions by the City Attorney’s office as “a continuing problem.”

Speaking of the defendant in open court, the judge said the felony case he was later accused of “perhaps could have been avoided if the city was more diligent.”

Holmes also has a bit of a history of refusing to pursue charges that he has ideological allegiances to. In 2014, he dropped all marijuana tickets issued between January 1 and July 31 of the year because one officer was responsible for about 80 percent of tickets (there is no indication that the recipients didn’t break the law).

This is all, in part, why Holmes has such a fractious relationship with the Seattle Police Department.

Will he charge Secrest? Anyone with a vested interest in Democracy Vouchers should be asking Holmes to take this seriously. If he doesn’t, it makes the system even more susceptible to damaging criticisms.

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