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Washougal mayor withdraws from upcoming election

By Adam Littman, Columbian Staff Writer
Published: May 22, 2017, 5:52pm

Washougal will have a new mayor in November.

Mayor Sean Guard withdrew his name from the election on Monday, along with Trianna Reed, leaving current City Councilor Dan Coursey and former councilor Molly Coston as the two candidates in the race.

The withdrawal comes a week after screenshots of allegedly inappropriate conversations Guard had with local residents spread on social media. The Washougal Police Department confirmed that there is an open investigation involving Guard.

The department sent out the following statement on Friday: “On May 17, 2017, the Washougal Police Department received a citizen’s complaint of potential harassment. The police department is in the early stages of this investigation to determine if any crimes were committed.”

After Monday’s city council meeting, Washougal Police Chief Ron Mitchell said his department is done with its part of the investigation, and he reached out to another local law enforcement agency to continue with it. He declined to say which agency, as he hasn’t heard an official acceptance that the other agency will take over the investigation yet.

Guard didn’t say anything about his withdrawal at Monday’s meeting, nor did any of the other councilors. After the meeting, he sent out a statement saying that for the last week, he endured “politically motivated” attacks.

“This last weekend these people have also started to attack my wife and supporters who have come out publicly to support me,” Guard said in the statement. “If these attacks were only directed at me, I would fight these accusations to the end. When they start attacking my family and supporters, however, that is unconscionable. I value my family and friends above all else, and to put politics above that is just not me.”

After Monday’s meeting, Guard said he will continue to run Metropolitan Productions Inc., the company for which he serves as president chief operating officer, once his term is up in December. Before the allegations came out, Guard and his family discussed whether or not he should run for a third term. Guard said he spends about 200 hours a month working on official city duties as the mayor

“We can spend that time being normal folks now,” Guard said. “I think we’ll enjoy that just fine. I know the grandkids will.”

While he’s disappointed to see his time as mayor come to an end like this, he said Monday that he doesn’t think people want to see politics played this way.

“I am heartened that so many people do not condone Trump-style politics,” Guard said in his statement.

Guard was originally elected mayor in 2009, and re-elected for his second term in 2013. Previously, he filed to run for his third term the morning of May 15, the first day candidates could file to run.

It is not the first time Guard has dealt with scandal while serving as the city’s mayor. In 2011, Guard pleaded guilty in Cowlitz County District Court to one second-degree count of misdemeanor impersonating a police officer, stemming from an incident the previous year where prosecutors said Guard used emergency lights on his city-issued vehicle to pass slow-moving traffic on Interstate 5 near Kelso. Guard didn’t agree to the findings of the case and said he didn’t impersonate an officer.

Guard will be the second consecutive Washougal mayor to leave office after controversy. In 2009, he defeated former Mayor Stacee Sellers, who dealt with scandals stemming from questionable use of a city-issued credit card during a trip to the Eye Candy Lounge in Las Vegas, along with a state audit that revealed $100,000 in city money disappeared under her watch.

Meanwhile, looking ahead in the city, Coursey will run for mayor even though his term isn’t up until December 2019. Coston was a city councilor in Washougal from 2005-2011.

This will be the second time Coston and Coursey face off in an election, as the two ran against one another for Washougal City Councilor Position No. 7 in 2015, with Coursey earning 52.19 percent of the vote to win the seat. Coston received a little more than 47 percent of votes in the race.

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Columbian Staff Writer