Corruption Allegations Rock Snohomish County
The prosecuting attorney has filed suit to remove all three county commissioners, alleging drunkenness, waste, and kickbacks from construction contracts.
The story, cleaned up
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Prosecuting Attorney L. C. Whitney today filed information against the Snohomish County commissioners and commenced proceedings looking toward the removal of these three officials from office. The county attorney and commissioners have not been on good terms for some time, and the charges are sensational in the extreme. Whitney claims to have evidence of gross abuse of power, including the misappropriation of funds from liquor licenses, monopolizing the liquor business at the mining town of Monte Cristo, and accepting 'rake-offs' from contractors. Further allegations include poor bridge construction on the Stillaguamish River due to unqualified political appointees, and claims that the commissioners were frequently too drunk to walk straight while conducting official business.
“It is said that they are frequently too drunk to walk straight while they are transacting business.”
Local government corruption involving infrastructure contracts and 'rake-offs' remains a perennial civic concern in Washington. The mention of Monte Cristo—a once-booming mining town that is now a ghost town—highlights how quickly the site of a 19th-century political scandal can vanish from the map.
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