KemperWatch 2011: Investigator Finds No Conflict of Interest in Kevin Wallace Business Practices
As the Seattle Times reported last night (and Publicola this morning), Bellevue City Councilmember Kevin Wallace, was declared free of conflict of interest yesterday by an independent investigator. Wallace had been accused of attempting to use both his position on the Bellevue City Council and as president of Wallace Properties for various deals along the abandoned Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail corridor. Last year, Wallace Properties negotiated a freight deal with GNP. In 2009, Wallace pushed for the Sound Transit East Link Light Rail to use his "Vision Line" plan -- which ran right along the BNSF corridor.
This is where KemperWatch comes in -- as both Wallace and Kemper Freeman, Jr. have shown, historically, to not be friends of light rail. Freeman worked alongside Wallace in their support of the Vision Line, and they are both strong financial backers of the same Bellevue City Council candidates that feel the same way about Bellevue's light rail alignments -- and are attempting to oust incumbents that have disagreed with the developers on rail issues.
The investigator, Jeffrey Coopersmith, pointed out that Wallace began promoting the "Vision Line" far before he entered into business negotiations with GNP.
