Klickitat County Commissioners ended their morning session yesterday with an executive session to consult with the county prosecuting attorney on litigation. At the end of the afternoon session, Commissioner Jake Anderson made this announcement after referencing the executive session:
“Madam Chair, I would make a motion. Based on the allegations presented to the legislative authority, and after consulting with legal counsel, at this time, I will move that Dan Christopher was not acting in his official duties related to the alleged actions outlined in the tort notice of claim. Nor was he acting in good faith, therefore the county should deny coverage at taxpayer expense.”
Commissioner Anderson was referring to a document sent to the county to notify them that that Mark Jobe, husband of Klickitat County Auditor Heather Jobe, plans to sue Commissioner Dan Christoper for slander and other items in his official capacity as commissioner.
Chair Lori Zoller stepped down to second the motion and it passed by two votes.
If Klickitat County’s insurance pool were to honor that vote, it would mean Commissioner Christoper would have to defend against the lawsuit out of his own pocket. Christoper responded this way:
“It is the insurance company that ultimately will handle this and decide whether there was a proper investigation. Because I will notify you now, so you can’t say you didn’t know, the prosecutor never asked me any questions, never asked for any documents. So if you make an action based on insufficient research, you might be opening the county up to more litigation.”
In a later statement, Christopher said, “What we witnessed today was dirty politics to make me look guilty in the court of public opinion, on the week that ballots get mailed from Ms. Jobe’s office, in order to influence the outcome of an election.”
All three commissioners are scheduled to be on KLCK at 8:07 tomorrow morning.