An Eatonville councilman shouted repeated profanities at a citizen journalist and demanded that he stop recording at a public meeting earlier this month, despite a state law permitting such recordings.

Councilman and former Mayor Bruce Rath said he regrets using the foul language, and other leaders said they didn’t agree with it. But council members and the current mayor said there was no infringement of state open meetings laws because the encounter took place before the meeting formally started.

On audio files obtained by The News Tribune last week, Rath, a councilman since 2004, is clearly heard berating Steve Lind, an Eatonville resident who posts meeting recordings and commentary on his Web site, www.s-lind.com.

Rath peppered Lind with intimidating language after the councilman arrived about 10 minutes late to a March 12 utilities committee meeting. He told Lind not to take his picture or post anything he said on the Web anymore. He called Lind profane names and twice threatened to “tangle” with him if he continued to post pictures and recordings.

At one point, he threatened to take Lind’s audio recorder and digital camera and throw them across the room.

“Anything I say you need my permission to put it on there or you’re going to get tangled with, buddy,” Rath said.

“You want to find out the hard way, we’ll go the hard way.”

In all, Rath swore at Lind 11 times, with Lind saying little and getting interrupted when he did speak. The exchange lasted about one minute, 45 seconds.

When Lind told Rath he had a right to record public meetings under state law, Rath told him he’d “better look at his state laws again.”

Rath said Friday that Lind was recording the meeting before it was formally called to order, which he’s confident state law doesn’t allow. He said he regretted swearing at Lind, but doesn’t regret telling him to stop recording.

“I told him how it was,” Rath, 56, said in an interview. “He just goes to meetings and harasses people, and I’d just had enough that day. Nobody can stand him.”

Shortly after the incident, the committee started discussing sewers. Lind continued recording.

Committee chairman Brenden Pierce, whom Lind ran against and lost to in November’s election, said he would have stopped Rath if his behavior had occurred while the meeting was in progress. But Pierce didn’t call the meeting to order until after Rath arrived and finished engaging Lind.

“If the meeting had been going on, I definitely would have cut it short,” Pierce said. “I don’t agree with what was said, but that was Bruce’s opinion.”

The laws regarding public meetings differ from those governing private conversations, which in Washington can be recorded only if all parties consent. State law allows anyone to record public meetings as long as the person doesn’t disrupt the proceedings.

Shawn Newman, an Olympia attorney who regularly handles open public meetings cases, said that even if a meeting hasn’t formally begun, recording it should be allowed because none of the parties has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

“If there was a gathering of public officials, even before the start of the meeting, that expectation probably wasn’t there,” Newman said. “I don’t think it makes a difference whether it was prior to the meeting or not.”

Eatonville Mayor Tom Smallwood, who was present at the March 12 utility meeting, said Rath and Lind have had an “antagonistic relationship for a while” and that Rath was angry about some negative things Lind had posted on his Web site. He described Lind as “anti-Eatonville government.”

“Steve was sort of pushing his buttons and he just lost it,” Smallwood said. “Basically Bruce was wrong for what he did, and he knows he was wrong for what he did.”

Lind, 62, has been on Eatonville’s planning commission in the past and has actively posted recordings of town meetings on his Web site for the past year, he said.

The town doesn’t make meeting recordings available on its Web site. Recordings of regular council meetings are available on disc by filing a request with the town clerk.

Lind said Rath’s words to him were clear attempts at intimidation.

“He raised his hand and pointed at me and started his rant,” Lind said. “And he continued. You can hear the anger in him.”

Lind said he started recording at 6:30 p.m., the time the meeting was scheduled to start.

“I put these recordings so citizens have a place to go and read and know what’s going on with their government,” Lind said. “Then people can judge for themselves.”

Melissa Santos: 253-552-7058