Federal Way’s police chief says Municipal Court Judge Michael Morgan may have assumed the identity of a clerk who works for Morgan and used his court computer to make Internet postings critical of two of the judge’s primary election opponents.
After consulting with three other law enforcement agencies and determining no crime was committed, Acting Police Chief Andy Hwang forwarded the case to the state’s Public Disclosure Commission to investigate whether Morgan violated a state election law barring the use of city equipment for campaign purposes. The PDC is investigating.
Morgan said he didn’t make the Internet postings to newspaper blogs.
“I deny these allegations,” Morgan wrote in an e-mail to The News Tribune on Thursdsay. “I was in meetings away from any computer when the two Internet blogs were posted.”
Morgan said he’s been the target of a previous “series of cyber tricks” and reported it to police in December.
In an interview with The News Tribune on Thursday, Hwang urged caution and said people shouldn’t draw conclusions until a full investigation is done.
Morgan, the court’s presiding judge, finished second in Tuesday’s primary and advanced to the Nov. 3 general election,
Clerk Christine Faucher made a complaint to the city the day after the posts were made, saying she never wrote the comments.
The city’s information technology department determined the two postings came from Morgan’s computer in his City Hall court office Aug. 3.
Someone used a shared-user account, normally limited to temporary court employees, on Morgan’s desktop computer to add the comments to the Web site of the Federal Way Mirror.
Someone also attempted to register with The News Tribune’s site using Faucher’s name, but was thwarted when Faucher received an automated e-mail from the paper asking her to complete the registration process.
The city’s security cameras and building access cards’ records showed Morgan was in the court on Aug. 3, according to documents filed with the Public Disclosure Commission. Morgan’s computer records show someone switched between the shared-user account and Morgan’s account during that day.
Lori Anderson, spokeswoman for the Public Disclosure Commission, said she didn’t know if the agency’s investigation will be completed by the general election. The PDC typically aims to complete its work in three to four months, Anderson said. It received the complaint Aug. 7.
If the commission finds Morgan violated campaign laws, he could be fined up to $1,700 for one violation or up to $4,200 for multiple violations, Anderson said.
Faucher asked the city to investigate who was assuming her identity. “The comments that are being written are derogatory in nature towards people I know and also people I have no relationship with – namely other Federal Way judicial candidates,” Faucher wrote.
Federal Way police reviewed records and documents from the city, and consulted with the FBI, the state attorney general’s office and the King County Prosecutor’s Office. All the agencies were unable to find criminal statutes that applied and declined to pursue a criminal investigation, Hwang said.
Police spoke with Faucher during the review, but didn’t talk to Morgan, he said.
Hwang said it’s possible someone other than Morgan could have impersonated Faucher, but he didn’t have information pointing to anyone else.
“More investigation needs to be done to confirm who was responsible,” Hwang told The News Tribune on Thursday.
Faucher told the TNT she didn’t know police had filed a complaint with the disclosure commission.
“I haven’t seen anything,” she said Thursday.
Hwang submitted 14 pages of documents to the commission. They include his memo to interim city manager Brian J. Wilson, in which Hwang called for additional investigation, “although the facts and circumstances identified to date indicate that Judge Michael Morgan may have used city equipment and public facilities for campaign purposes.”
Hwang also wrote, “It was the opinion of the IT (information technology) staff that Judge Morgan was using the computer when these postings occurred.”
The comments made in Faucher’s name were critical of candidates Matthew York and Williams Jarvis, and their knowledge about past events and controversies involving the Municipal Court.
The comment on York’s blog criticized York because of a political endorsement he accepted. The comment on Jarvis’ blog disputed the accuracy of an investigator’s report that found Morgan had operated a “stressful, fearful and unhappy” workplace.
The blog comments have since been taken down from the Mirror’s site.
Whether or not Morgan impersonated Faucher, “all this does is illustrate why we need someone else in that courthouse,” said York, who works as a deputy prosecutor in the King County Prosecutor’s Office. “If a court is run correctly, no one would dream of doing that.”
Given the nature of politics, Jarvis said, “It’s not surprising that any of us would be susceptible to that type of mischievousness.”
York and Jarvis were among four challengers who did not advance in the primary. Rebecca Robertson, a prosecutor in the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, finished first ahead of Morgan.
Morgan, 50, is seeking re-election to his second four-year term as judge.
Morgan said one of the blog posts was written in less than 12 minutes – something he couldn’t have done in such a short time because of a physical disability in his right hand.
He said he did not post to opponents’ blogs under his name or anyone else’s.
Regarding the use of Faucher’s identity, Morgan said, “I have no reason to engage in such conduct.”
“My campaign consultant had already arranged for supporters to write blogs and submit letters to publications on my behalf when these blogs were posted,” Morgan said.
He also said he has been “the victim of a series of cyber tricks,” including an e-mail incident in December when someone attempted to impersonate him.
In that e-mail, someone distributed a News Tribune story about Morgan being reprimanded by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, in part, for making threatening comments to court employees.
The sender used an e-mail address almost identical to Morgan’s personal e-mail address.
Morgan filed a complaint with police.
“We were unable to determine where (the e-mail) originated from,” Hwang said. “We never determined who was responsible for it.”
Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647 steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
