The job of Washington State Auditor is to root out waste, fraud and abuse in government. But the Democratic candidate for that position, State Representative Troy Kelley, has come under scrutiny for his private business dealings. This includes wiring millions of dollars around to an account that was eventually linked to a bank in Belize. That was key evidence in a lawsuit against Kelley. (Click Here for Complete Article)

From Today’s loser: State auditor candidate Troy Kelley.

Far be it from Jolt to question a politician’s all-American right to open a bank account in an offshore tax haven, but it seems like a candidate for state auditor, the official directly responsible for keeping state agencies accountable and fiscally responsible, should perhaps show a bit more, um, fiscal transparency.

Kelley—who has also been sued for theft, misappropriating funds, tax evasion, and other charges—acknowledged in a deposition in 2010 that he wired millions of dollars from bank account to bank account, with the money ending up in an account that was eventually linked to a bank in Belize, an offshore tax haven.

KPLU reports that at the time Kelley pulled the $3.8 million out of three of his business accounts, he was being sued for allegedly misappropriating $1.2 million in customer fees by one of his clients. That client, Old Republic Escrow, was accusing Kelley of hiding his assets in order to avoid his creditors, which is illegal.

In the end, Kelley and Old Republic settled the suit.

After months of dismissing the Old Republic Title lawsuit against him as a nuisance leading to an immaterial settlement – and even telling Frank Blethen, (publisher of The Seattle Times) in the state auditor endorsement interview that he would like to unseal the settlement but his hands were tied – Kelley’s bluff was called.

After a month of Kelley’s accusations and attacks on their integrity, his former client called Kelley’s bluff.  Old Republic Title came forward and offered to unseal the Kelley’s cash settlement in whole, or in part — Kelley’s choice. With the stroke of a pen, Kelley could prove the lawsuit was frivolous – but of course, he can’t. He knows how much cash he paid to avoid going to court. The rumor is that it was a lot.

At some point, Troy Kelley will have to tell the truth to voters.

Check out the original story here.

For weeks, Troy Kelley has argued that being sued for the over $1 million he misappropriated by cheating thousands of mortgage borrowers was “a standard business practice.”  He has claimed that he lawsuit itself was “frivolous and without merit,” and that he couldn’t unseal the settlement amount due to confidentiality concerns.

This morning, the Seattle Times reported that Old Republic Title has agreed to waive the confidentiality of the settlement amount.  As quoted in the Times, Scott Smith, Old Republic Title’s local attorney said, Continue reading →

The reaction from the press and voters around Washington to the launch of FactCheckTroyKelley.com has been amazing. We’re getting thousands of hits a day.

The Kelley story was picked up by AP, spread across Washington State and then the rest of the Country. It was published in nearly every local paper in Washington, and even the LA Times. It’s on TV and radio. It’s even on NPR.

At campaign and public events, the feedback is that Mr. Kelley’s actions have struck a chord.  Mr. Kelley’s actions ARE NOT anywhere close to Washingtonians’ values.

It’s best summarized by Longview’s Daily News:

It’s all just a little bit too much for us, particularly since Kelley attempted (unsuccessfully) to have the court records sealed following the disposition of the Old Republic suit. Barring further revelations, we’ll recommend voters bypass Kelley in favor of Republican James Watkins, whose campaign staff dug out the court records.  The State Auditor, as Julius Caesar once said of his wife, must be above suspicion. 

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