Group makes last-minute push against annexation of Lea Hill

Bill Thomas was surprised when a group called the Neighborhood Alliance plastered black-and-white signs on phone poles and sign posts and called thousands of residents in the Lea Hill neighborhood to urge them to vote against annexation into Auburn.

Thomas is one of thousands of voters in this neighborhood northwest of the city who will decide Aug. 21 whether to become part of Auburn.

"I've been leery of annexation, but I didn't know there was a group out there campaigning against it," Thomas said.

Members of Neighborhood Alliance said they hope the campaign will highlight the "groundswell of dissatisfaction" toward annexation.

But Auburn city leaders and supporters of annexation say the campaign, which launched the same week that absentee voters received their ballots in the mail, came as a surprise. They say they were unaware of strong opposition to the measure.

The group's claims that taxes would increase and services would decrease are untrue, city officials said.

And if the Lea Hill annexation proposal does not pass, Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis said, the city won't be able to incorporate West Hill, also proposed for annexation, even if voters there decide to become part of the city.

With so much riding on the Aug. 21 primary, city officials and supporters of annexation say they question the timing and motives behind the recent campaign.

"You've got to have a lot of money to campaign like that," Lewis said. "I don't think a group of volunteers could organize that quickly. It was a stealth campaign."

But "stealth" and "organized" are the last words Erik Pfaff would use to describe his group. A member of the Neighborhood Alliance, Pfaff said the anti-annexation messages are a last-minute push to save Lea Hill from Auburn.

"It's been a fractured group," Pfaff said. "It's just different people around town working together."

Members say the group formed in July but has yet to register with the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).

Under state law, organizations must follow certain guidelines to campaign for an election.

Groups must register within two weeks of forming, and that time frame shrinks if they form in the three weeks before an election, PDC spokeswoman Lori Anderson said.

The Neighborhood Alliance says it has until this weekend to file with the PDC.

They may also be required to provide a list of their contributors and how they are spending funds, if they have raised more than $3,500 or accepted a donation of more than $300, Anderson said.

The group has collected more than anticipated for its campaign and spent a few hundred dollars on the signs, said LauraMaery Post, a member of the Neighborhood Alliance, although she declined to be specific.

The money came from residents who donated to the campaign, she said.

Supporters of annexation say they are wary of a group that is campaigning so heavily in the area without registering with watchdog groups.

Robert Baggett, president of Vintage Hills Homeowners Association on Lea Hill, said the campaign seemed "suspicious" because it was well-organized for a group of neighborhood volunteers to say they organized at the last minute.

But other residents welcomed the signs.

Thomas, 65, has lived on Lea Hill with his wife, Joanne, since 1975. Although the sign in their yard was a surprise, they say they support the group's message.

The couple said they are happy with King County's oversight of the area and fear that annexation will mean more taxes, more rules and fewer services.

"They didn't ask to put the sign up," Thomas said. "But if I could have found some, I'd have put them on sticks and put them in my own yard."

Karen Johnson: 253-234-8605 or karenjohnson@seattletimes.com