Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 723448.pdf

On November 1, the SEEC notified Allen that it intended to file charges against

him for ethics violations. The City ethics rules prohibit the acceptance of gifts "given

with the intent to receive special consideration from a city employee."

On November 5, The Seattle Times published an article on the Internet about the

ethics violation, "Ethics Fines May Follow Gifts of Liquor to City Light Trainer." The

article states, in pertinent part:

A Seattle City Light employee may face penalties under city ethics rules
for accepting bottles of liquor from apprentices in a lineworker training
program for which he administered the test to advance.

Ronald Allen, an instructor for the apprentice program since 2005,
received nine bottles of whiskey or other liquor from trainees who were
about to retake an oral exam that he said some had failed during a
previous attempt.

Wayne Barnett, director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission,
said Allen's actions violate city ethics rules .... "We think that accepting
liquor from people to whom you're about to administer a test is clearly
inappropriate," Barnett said.

Two days later, someone claiming to be Swanson posted an online comment to

the article. The comment states:

Hi my name is Arron [sic] Swanson I was the one that brought all this up to
save my job. I have not been doing well here at the city and this is my
way of proving a point and saving my job that I might not have for much
longer. I am saddened for what I have done to my union brother but it is
already done. Sincerely Arron [sic] Swanson Seattle city light sec.

Swanson did not post the comment and was unable to determine who posted the

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comment.