The tangled Web behind the Hope-Reardon tiff

  • By Scott North
  • Thursday, September 29, 2011 1:54pm
  • Local News

Noah Haglund has spent part of this week trying to untangle the mystery regarding the origin of ethics complaints against Mike Hope, the Republican candidate for Snohomish County executive.

Noah has a well-deserved day off. In the meantime, there has been more mystery, more questions, more Googling for information that some claim is evidence of conspiracy but just as easily might be signs that somebody is a bit hasty in the accusation department.

To recap, Hope, a Seattle cop and state representative, is trying to keep incumbent Aaron Reardon from winning a third term. Reardon, the Democrat, led in the primary and has a lot more campaign cash left to spend.

Hope’s camp in recent days has broken Reardon’s rhythm. His campaign has suggested that one of Reardon’s staffers may be behind complaints brought against Hope at the Seattle Police Department and with the state Public Disclosure Commission. The complainant in each instance was somebody who called himself John Chambers.

It gets interesting because John Chambers apparently was confused about where he lived, and he provided addresses in Seattle and Granite Falls in official correspondence about the complaints. The Granite Falls address is the sometimes home of Kevin Hulten, a Reardon office employee and former editor at the weekly Lake Stevens Journal. Hulten has denied in an email that he’s involved in the complaints against Hope, but he’s dodged interview requests from The Herald.

Hulten has a younger brother, Kyle Hulten, who recently graduated from law school.

On Wednesday evening, Hope sent The Herald an email suggesting that Kyle Hulten works for Adam Matherly, a young Seattle attorney who this week went on record as representing John Chambers. You following this? Kevin’s brother, Kyle, reportedly works for Adam, who represents John.

We called Adam Matherly this morning and asked him, as an officer of the court, to please tell us whether Kyle Hulten works for him or has ever been in his employ. We also wanted to know whether Kyle Hulten was in a position to help in any way on the public records request for Hope’s police records that Matherly acknowledges advising Chambers about. No on all counts.

We spent some time Googling. Kyle Hulten was linked to Matherly in some twitter posts. Kyle Hulten also has a Facebook friend named “J.T. Chambers,” which is one of the names that has been used by the person who complained about Hope. Moreover, there is an Excel spreadsheet out there on the Web that indicates Kyle Hulten and a J.T. Chambers both were somehow involved with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Washington.

Around noon we received an email from Blair Anderson, Hope’s treasurer, drawing attention to the same Internet content and offering this conclusion:

“The mysterious John ‘J.T’ Chambers who has filed multiple frivolous complaints is apparently a U.W. frat buddy of Hulten’s younger brother Kyle. What are the chances of that???”

We’ve written the Hulten brothers and the others named in this drama for their thoughts.

Kevin Hulten sent this reply just before 1:30 p.m.:

Scott – I’ll release a statement this afternoon. I reject the notion that because Blair Anderson emailed you stuff about my family, they are now public figures. Considering that just two days ago, you ran a story in which Mike Hope definitively said that I was JT Chambers — a statement that you have not forced him to retract — and considering you published that statement while in possession of documentation from JT confirming his identity, I would advise my brother that he is better off not speaking to you.

Thanks Scott. I hope you will consider re-examining the evidence at a later date, as this story has been completely dictated by Mike Hope’s error-filled political press releases. Well, in my opinion at least.

Kevin

For the record, Kevin Hulten is mistaken about what we knew and when we knew it about Chambers. If you have any doubts, read Noah’s story.

UPDATE 5:45 p.m.: Kevin Hulten sent us several messages this afternoon, but none appeared to be the statement he promised earlier. Maybe he’ll weigh in on his own in the comments later?

Meanwhile, his younger brother, Kyle Hulten, politely declined to be interviewed.

“My official statement is ‘no comment,'” he wrote in an email. “I don’t have anything to do with this story. I have never worked for Mr. Matherly in any capacity and have no idea why anyone would say that I have.”

We talked with Mike Hope this afternoon, who said he has no plans to retract any of the allegations he’s made in connection with this flap.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.