Many things are unfortunate about how this court case was handled. First, if there has not been a prior discretionary ruling by Judge Egler on this matter and it was known to counsel that Mayor Sullivan has publicly endorsed her, the plaintiff's counsel should have filed a motion to disqualify her under RCW 4.12.050. Second, Judge Egler had an obligation under the WA State Code of Judicial Conduct to recuse herself if there is any reason for her "impartiality to be questioned." Clearly that is present here and it is unknown what level of support, financial or otherwise Mayor Sullivan will contribute to her election campaign moving forward. I for one will not be voting for this judge with questionable ethics.
This was not even a close call and only goes to bolster claims of collusion and corruption that Mayor Sullivan and City Administrator Lisa Parks seem well versed at. The only thing that will stop the tree from being demolished at this point is the Cowlitz or Nisqually Tribes filing suit in Federal court. If this tree truly has the cultural significance it appears to the Tribes, they need to step in immediately. Mayor Sullivan and Lisa Parks have now been caught in several different stories about their decisions on the tree. Lisa Parks is on record of apologizing for the "confusion" about how this was handled. A convenient and disingenuous statement at best. Now we learn the insurance company never ordered the tree removed. We learn there was false information provided to the insurance company on the health of the tree, we learn Mayor Sullivan and Parks had already sought out a tree company to destroy the tree in February while putting on a show that no decision had been made, the list goes on. Combine this with the cloak of secrecy, lack of transparency, and intentional disregard for public input, council input, input from the Tribes, and input from the city's own historical commission and the bigger picture becomes clear. Mayor Sullivan has proven to be an authoritarian dictator and has no place in a leadership position and neither does Parks. Pray the Tribes come through to save this tree. That very well may be the last option left unless the Audubon society gets involved.
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