Councilman subject of investigation for lewd, threatening emails

The Sept. 1 Kirkland City Council meeting finished with a vote of 4-3 to investigate Council member Bob Sternoff for inappropriate use of city emails. The vote came on the heels of a blog post by Scott St. Clair of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation that accused the councilman of inappropriate use of the city's email system.

The emails were mainly of a sexually explicit nature from Sternoff to his girlfriend. Some of the emails, which the Reporter obtained from the city, were also of a mocking and threatening nature to other council members and Kirkland citizens.

The vote authorized the spending of $5,000 for an independent investigator to review the legal circumstances behind the emails and to determine if the emails violated city or state laws. City staff was directed to cooperate fully with the investigation. The report will be presented to the council on Oct. 2.

Early in the meeting Sternoff read from a prepared statement, apologizing for his actions.

"These emails between me and my girlfriend ... were intended to be private," said Sternoff. "They included intimate and personal talk between us ... and attempts at what we thought to be humor."

Sternoff had prior knowledge of the request by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation.

"I have spoken to the Mayor, City Attorney, City Manager and City Clerk and informed them I would not block the request despite the very personal and embarrassing content," said Sternoff.

But some of the comments in the emails, presumably meant to be jokes, were of a threatening nature. Two citizens gave testimony, reading some of the transcripts into the record.

"I keep forgetting my gun. It would make the meeting shorter," read one citizen from an email sent from Sternoff during the July 7 Kirkland City Council meeting. The citizen also cited that Sternoff sent 90 personal messages during the meeting, where the council voted on annexation issues and the utility tax measure.

Council members that cast "no" votes for the investigation included Sternoff, who remarked that the action was one of a vendetta. Sternoff noted that the investigation could broaden to analyze city owned PDAs.

Council member Mary-Alyce Burleigh also voted against the resolution.

"We are getting into waters that we do not want to go," said Burleigh.

Contact Kirkland Reporter Staff Writer Matt Phelps at mphelps@kirklandreporter.com or 425-822-9166 ext. 5052.

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