An official investigation into allegations of an affair with her married deputy who has a controversial record is being conducted against a suburban Seattle mayor who divorced her husband last year.
The hiring of a legal company to conduct the investigation into whether Mayor Cassie Franklin’s personal connection with Deputy Mayor Nick Harper broke any laws, regulations, or resulted in the misappropriation of public resources was approved earlier this week by the entire Everett City Council.
She is allegedly dating Harper, although she hasn’t acknowledged or refuted this.
“I am accessible and will completely participate if there is anything they want to discuss with me during this. My main goal is to keep up the good job I’ve been doing for the neighborhood and the city. Franklin said, “I look forward to working with the council to administer the city in the future.
She told The Herald, “My personal life is my own life.”
Franklin recruited Harper, a divorced father of two and a former state legislator, in 2018.
While it wouldn’t be the first time he was involved in an alleged affair, he hasn’t made any comments regarding the purported connection.
In 2013 allegations of extramarital misdeeds led to his resignation as a senator for the Democratic party in Washington state.
And in yet another cruel twist, his wife Lacey holds the position of executive director for Snohomish Council, which encompasses Everett and has strong links to her husband’s workplace.
He took office as a Democrat in 2010, but as accusations of an extramarital affair surfaced in 2013, he was compelled to quit.
Harper described the reason for his leaving as wanting to spend more time with his family and that “my job in Olympia takes me far too far away from my family.”
Brenda Stonecipher, the president of the council, has hired the law firm Stokes Lawrence to undertake the formal investigation, and the council has also hired outside legal counsel to supervise the process.
The meeting was conducted remotely for about an hour, and Franklin wasn’t there. She has now refused to provide her opinion on the council’s choice.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Stonecipher stated, “I support the initiative to undertake additional questions concerning the circumstances and facts of this personal connection.”
I do think it’s important for council members to conduct this investigation to make sure that our government is operating effectively and legally so that we can preserve and protect our collective faith in the integrity of our municipal government, but I do hope and truly expect that this work will reveal no wrongdoing.
There was just one other council member who spoke: Liz Vogeli stated, “It is tough but important.”
Franklin was elected as the city’s first female mayor in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021. She said she “enjoys spending time with her hubby” on her campaign website.
After 14 years of marriage, she filed for divorce from her spouse in November of last year.
The couple’s daughter was born. According to court documents, the couple began living apart in July after declaring their marriage to be “irretrievably destroyed.”
Franklin said that the city’s human resource officials told her last summer that if she were in a consensual relationship with a public employee, no city regulations would be broken.
Franklin is in a position to select and dismiss the majority of appointed officials and municipal workers as mayor and the chief administrator of the city.
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