4 Renton officials accused of open-meeting violation

The Renton City Council often has been divided, but last week, in the heat of the mayoral race, the tension reached a fever pitch and someone filed a lawsuit.

That someone was Dan Clawson, a longtime member of the council and a supporter of Mayor Kathy Keolker. He has accused the mayor's opponent, Denis Law, and three other council members of violating the Open Public Meetings Act.

Clawson filed suit Tuesday in King County Superior Court, asking that each council member named pay the $100 penalty for violating the act.

The lawsuit alleges that council members Law, Randy Corman, Marcie Palmer and Don Persson communicated outside council chambers about their upcoming vote on an ordinance that would have required builders to make certain architectural adjustments to single-family homes. On Monday, after a heated debate, the defendants voted against the ordinance, which Clawson supported and which failed 3-4.

The Open Public Meetings Act requires that all meetings of governing bodies be open to the public; the law defines a meeting as "any situation in which a majority of the governing body meets and discusses the business of that body."

"This is what the people want," said Clawson, an attorney. "They want open, honest government."

Law, Corman and Palmer rejected the lawsuit out of hand, describing it as the action of a man who was angry over a decision that did not go his way. Persson could not be reached for comment.

City officials could not comment because they are responsible for representing the defendants in court.

Palmer, who along with Persson is up for re-election, said she was "stunned" by Clawson's allegation. "It's so political," she said. "It shows the desperation of the mayor's race, in my mind."

But Clawson said the timing had nothing to do with the upcoming election. He said it was a matter of finally finding enough evidence of what he described as chronic bad behavior by the council's majority.

At last Monday's meeting, Clawson said, he overheard conversations and read notes some council members left behind, all of which led him to conclude that Law, Corman, Palmer and Persson were in collusion with the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. Palmer said the notes showed just the opposite, as did the debate regarding the ordinance.

The builders association, which opposed the ordinance, recently endorsed Law for mayor.

Law said he voted against the ordinance because he believed the builders association deserved more time to work out its concerns with the city, and that city staff were open to further discussions.

"Where Dan is coming up with this conspiracy theory, I have no idea," said Law.

The defendants voted in favor of the ordinance during a first reading. During Monday's meeting, Palmer explained that earlier vote, saying she believed then that the builders association had worked out its concerns with the city over several months. She found out later it had not.

The builders association did not return calls for comment last week.

The lawsuit came several months after Corman made open government a priority in a public announcement. He now makes all of his e-mail correspondence as a council member available to the public in a file at City Hall.

On Thursday, in an e-mail to the media, Corman said he believed the lawsuit was the result of a personal grudge, and that he planned to file an ethics complaint against Clawson with the state bar association. He had already enlisted a lawyer, he said, to help him do it.

Seattle Times reporter Jonathan Martin contributed to this report.

Cara Solomon: 206-464-2024 or csolomon@seattletimes.com.