In Our View: Wild-Goose Chase

Even though elected officials are always playing with money other than their own (read: taxpayers’ money), members of the Battle Ground City Council need to think more before they throw away big bucks.

The council recently conducted a wild-goose chase, trying to find out who leaked information from its executive sessions. And as Marissa Harshman reported in Tuesday’s Columbian, this chase will cost taxpayers $28,000 or more. After the investigation, the conclusion was essentially summed up in five words: “Nothing new here; move along,” or more than $5,000 per word, squandered by a cash-strapped city council. No one is saying which secrets were leaked, but it’s no secret that council members clandestinely deliberated the Dec. 17 firing of Battle Ground Police Chief James McDaniel by City Manager Dennis Osborn, and the subsequent firing of Osborn, who cleaned out his office on Feb. 23.

Who was the dastardly leaker? Shhh! No one’s telling. That’s a secret, too! And if anyone tells, why, another wild-goose chase might commence to find out who leaked the identity of the leaker who was investigated for leaking. And if that leaker is identified, and anyone leaks that secret … well, you see how this costly merry-go-round might whirl.

While burning up public money for no good reason, council members have been unable to convince anyone how the release of this information — how the public knowing stuff — had limited or harmed anyone in any way. The money frittered away on consultants and legal counsel was not the only waste. There’s also the waste of time, much of it on the public’s dime. Council members met secretly for almost three hours Monday night to discuss the investigation. Earlier, more than 20 interviews were conducted by the investigators, involving council members and other city officials. Some of them were interviewed repeatedly. Then on Tuesday came the exciting announcement.

Except it wasn’t so exciting. Yes, someone had leaked secrets about executive sessions, but according to Patrick Brock of Public Safety Testing, the company hired to conduct the inquiry, “the findings of the investigation do not warrant their being turned over to the Clark County Prosecutor’s office for criminal action.”

Nothing new here; move along.

Furthermore, “none of the evidence suggested that the alleged leaks were made with the intent to materially benefit the leaker or any third party.” About the only thing council members learned from this expensive diversion was that they weren’t strongly authorized to even chase any wild goose. Yes, confidential information must be kept secret as dictated by the city’s government manual, but Brock reported that the manual “limits its use by stating that ‘no authority other than the City Council or City Manager may enforce these rules.’” One isolated provision of state law applies, “but again, no definition of ‘confidential information’ or specific penalty is provided and no legal mechanism creating jurisdiction in any particular court is suggested,” Brock wrote. In other words, the council went hunting unarmed. And that ought to make Battle Ground taxpayers furious.

It’s a real test of dexterity to chase your own tail while trying to keep secrets, but somehow the Battle Ground City Council managed to pull it off. It’s time for the council members to stop worrying about their constituents knowing too much and return to doing the people’s business. Openly and efficiently.