PORT ANGELES — The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office referred a perjury complaint against Port Angeles Deputy Mayor Cherie Kidd to the state Attorney General’s Office after Special Investigator Bob Gebo cut short his review.
Assistant Attorney General Scott Marlow said Tuesday afternoon that he received the case and could not estimate how long it will take to make a decision.
“It depends on what I’ve got as to whether we need to do any additional investigation or not,” Marlow said.
Undersheriff Joe Nole said that Gebo hand-delivered materials, including interviews with Kidd and Port Angeles City Attorney Bill Bloor, to the Seattle branch of the Attorney General’s Office.
Nole said video evidence viewed by Gebo showed “nothing conclusive” that showed Kidd perjured herself.
Stopped last week
Nole said Gebo stopped investigating the April 8 complaint by Port Angeles businessman Dale Wilson to the Port Angeles Police Department last week after Gebo learned Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols, to whom he would present his report, would automatically refer it to the Attorney General’s Office rather than reviewing the complaint.
Nole said the complaint should have gone to the Attorney General’s Office originally.
“They should have done the whole thing,” Nole said.
Nichols said he always had planned to refer the Sheriff’s Office investigation to the state Attorney General’s Office.
Nichols’ response: “I can’t speak for what the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department’s understanding was.”
The Port Angeles Police Department, citing a potential appearance of conflict of interest, referred the complaint to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, interim Port Angeles Police Chief Brian Smith said in an earlier interview.
Nichols said Tuesday that under the same reasoning, he referred the charging decision to the state Attorney General’s Office, citing the close “sister governments” relationship of Clallam County and Port Angeles.
Allegation
Wilson alleges that Kidd perjured herself during testimony at a March 29 city ethics board hearing.
Wilson challenged Kidd’s description of Councilman Lee Whetham’s actions at a Feb. 2 Council meeting that Kidd chaired.
Kidd told the ethics board that Whetham, seated behind the council dais, jumped to his feet, raised his arms and urged the crowd “to be boisterous.”
Kidd was testifying at the hearing on an ethics complaint that accused her of violating the ethics code by cutting off an anti-fluoridation speaker and abruptly adjourning the meeting.
Wilson said in his complaint that Bloor “has video evidence showing that Kidd gave false testimony under oath” about the Feb. 2 meeting.
The video that Bloor said he was sent, which was filmed from the audience, includes about five seconds of council proceedings that show Whetham seated before Kidd adjourns the meeting.
“In all of the video that [Gebo] saw, there was nothing conclusive on anything,” Nole said.
After interviewing Kidd and Bloor, Gebo contacted Nichols, Nole said.
“He called the prosecutor to see how deep should we dig into this because we had all the people at the meeting, we had all the people in the audience and do we need to interview every one of those people.
“Then it turned out he was going to send it off anyway to the attorney general.”
The City Council has yet to decide on the March 29 ethics board’s recommendation that Kidd should be verbally admonished for her actions at the Feb. 2 meeting.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
