The Prosser Court House Bond Scandal
Two county commissioners bypassed legal procedure and public objection to rush through a massive $125,000 bond issue, triggering an immediate lawsuit and a firestorm of local outrage.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In the face of the prosecuting attorney’s advice that he did not know whether the board of county commissioners was legally constituted, and utterly disregarding all established rules of procedure, Commissioners J. B. Clements and A. G. McNeill railroaded through a $125,000 courthouse bond issue in less than thirty minutes last Monday. While pretending to negotiate a lease for the present building, the commissioners had secretly planned for weeks to build a new one against the wishes of the taxpayers, guided by expensive legal counsel from Spokane and Seattle. Auditor Syfford refused to sign the bonds, stalling the deal, while Commissioner F. L. Bash registered a negative vote on every motion. Taxpayers who attempted to be heard at the meeting were refused. The proceedings were halted only when Judge Bert Linn issued a telegram restraining the board from further action, following a complaint filed by Kennewick resident H. A. Bier. A bitterly fought legal battle is expected to follow, as citizens are enraged by the commissioners’ high-handed methods.
“The reader is asked to contrast this method of procedure with the manner in which 'white men' authorize and sell bonds.”
This 1916 struggle over the location of the Benton County seat and the opaque, high-stakes financing of public buildings mirrors modern debates about civic transparency, the influence of private legal firms on local government, and the friction between rural regional interests and Kennewick’s urban growth.
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