‘It hits the bar for malfeasance’: Jake and Spike weigh whether Mayor Wilson recall can clear legal hurdle

The recall effort against Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson will go before King County Superior Court Judge Patrick Oishi at 9 a.m. on Aug. 31 after the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office completed its technical review of the petition.

The review confirmed that petitioners Melinda Jacobson and Dale Osterud are registered Seattle voters, provided a concise summary of their claims, and signed the petition.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, walked through the next steps and debated whether the petition has enough to clear the legal bar for malfeasance.

Jake says the low barrier to get to a hearing doesn’t mean the hard part is over

Jake explained that the prosecuting attorney’s review was straightforward, simply confirming the petitioners are registered voters, that they wrote a concise summary, and that they signed it.

“It’s not like this is rocket science,” Jake said. “It now goes to a judge at Superior Court.”

He said the real question is whether the judge will find that Wilson committed malfeasance, and that the answer may depend on what comes out about the Bite of Seattle shooting response.

“The Superior Court judge has to decide whether or not Mayor Wilson committed malfeasance in her acts as mayor,” Jake said. “Now, this is alleging basically that she’s not up to the job, so it’s kind of a wide net. Is it specific enough of a thing that they’re alleging that she did or didn’t do to justify it being on the ballot for people?”

Spike notes the Bite of Seattle evidence could be the key

Spike said the unanswered question hanging over the recall is who decided to willfully withhold information from the public for five hours on the night of the Bite of Seattle shooting.

“There’s still the question as to who told who not to say what on the night of the shooting at the Bite of Seattle,” Spike said. “There are stories that there are members of the law enforcement community that say we got the receipts on how information was delivered to the public.”

Spike also argued that if it can be proven the mayor directed law enforcement not to inform the public, it could meet the legal standard.

“Did the mayor say to the local law enforcement community, ‘Do not release any information until I say to do so’?” Spike said. “If they prove that, and if they have receipts to prove that, I think it hits the bar for malfeasance. I think it moves forward at that point.”

Jake noted that the Bite of Seattle suspect is still at large, adding urgency to the question of how the city handled the response that night.

“That person’s still unrealized. A person is still on the run,” Jake said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3