Bellevue Councilman Kevin Wallace Cleared in City Ethics Probe

On Monday, an independent attorney hired by the City Council to investigate potential conflicts of interest cleared Councilmember Kevin Wallace of alleged violations related to his work on the East Link light rail project.

Consultant Jeffrey Coopersmith, an attorney with the law firm DLA Piper, presented the third and final report on alleged conflicts of interest among council members.

Coopersmith cleared Wallace and council members Claudia Balducci and Grant Degginger of conflicts of interest in the months-long probe that was sparked after a Seattle Times article about Wallace's family's business dealings with a railroad company.

Coopersmith looked at Wallace after the Seattle Times report questioned whether Wallace's support of a possible Sound Transit light rail route along the BNSF corridor to downtown would have benefited his family's company, which had discussed a potential business deal with a railroad company.

The topic of support of the light rail route from Interstate 90 to downtown had been contentious and had split the council into two camps. Community members also were split along the same lines, with members of the public openly questioning multiple council members' conflicts of interest.

A copy of the 26-page report is available online on the city of Bellevue's website. (Click here to download it.)

Coopersmith’s investigation of Wallace focused on three areas: whether his support of a downtown light rail route that would potentially have a beneficial impact on property owned by his parents violated state or local law; whether his advocacy of a B7 light rail alignment in south Bellevue, while he was at the same discussing a potential business deal with a now bankrupt railroad freight line, GNP Rly. Inc., violated state or local law; and whether Wallace improperly tried to use city resources to benefit GNP or himself.

In every instance, Coopersmith concluded that Wallace had not violated any laws related to conflicts of interest. Wallace said he cooperated fully with the review and that Coopersmith’s report verifies conclusions reached by a legal expert Wallace asked to review the issues.

Coopersmith released two earlier reports in June that cleared counncilmembers Grant Degginger and Claudia Balducci of alleged conflicts of interest related to their involvement with East Link.

Bellevue Patch will update this story.

-- Information from the City of Bellevue and Bellevue Patch archives