Centralia City Councilor John Elmore walks through the splash pad during the Pearl Street Memorial Plaza ribbon cutting ceremony last June.
John Elmore volunteers by tilling the soil at the Salvation Army's garden in Centralia in this April 2016 file photo.
Flyers and letters distributed door-to-door this week accusing Centralia City Councilor John Elmore of financial fraud, perjury and ethics violations amount to an election-year “hate campaign,” the incumbent candidate told The Chronicle Wednesday.
“This is harassment,” he said. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”
Elmore said he has contacted attorneys to review whether the statements rise to the level of libel.
The allegations originate from a group of Centralia residents calling themselves the Citizens for Honest Government.
“We don’t like dishonest council members,” said David Reynoldson, a member of the group. The group doesn’t have a website and Reynoldson declined to name any of its members. They are not registered as a political committee with the Public Disclosure Commission.
Reynoldson said Thursday that he has documented proof of all his allegations against Elmore, but refused to show any such evidence to The Chronicle.
However, The Chronicle was able to disprove two of the assertions — that Elmore completed construction projects with no permit and failed to claim real estate on campaign forms — using publicly available documents.
“We have people in this group who don’t have evidence against John Elmore,” Reynoldson said. “They have a personal vendetta against him. For what reason, I don’t know.”
Elmore’s opponent in the election, Rebecca Staebler, said she is not affiliated with the group.
Letters to the editor received by The Chronicle from Reynoldson, Donna Huntting and others, in addition to flyers distributed in town this week, accuse Elmore of a number of crimes and transgressions, arguing that Elmore’s refusal to respond to them in writing equates to an admission of guilt.
Reynoldson said Thursday that the group would still believe Elmore guilty if he had responded, regardless of whether he admitted or denied their accusations.
“I’m being accused as if I’ve done something wrong, but I’m the victim,” Elmore said.
The Chronicle has not printed the letters or an advertisement the group attempted to purchase after legal counsel advised that the unverified subject matter of the letters and a proposed advertisement could open the newspaper to legal liability.
The Citizens for Honest Government were given an opportunity to publish their advertisement assuming total liability, but declined.
Elmore said the allegations range from distortions of the truth to total fabrications.
The letters accuse the councilor of completing construction projects at two addresses without city permits.
However, records obtained by The Chronicle show Elmore did apply for and was granted permits for three such projects in 2015 and 2016.
The group also accuses Elmore of failing to list his two Centralia properties on PDC documents and of fraudulently reporting income related to disability pensions.
However, Elmore’s PDC documents do list both properties, one with a street address and another using its parcel number.
The letters accuse Elmore of running a “tractor service” with no business license, acting as a contractor without a license, and contend that Elmore did not disclose a $2,500 settlement from small claims court in 2016 as income to the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Elmore’s most recent financial statement to the PDC does not include that amount, but the PDC’s online database does not show that the group has made a formal complaint.
Elmore told The Chronicle he uses a tractor to volunteer and help neighbors, not as a business. He said he has asked for money for gasoline and maintenance, and has been paid in trade, but said he doesn’t make enough to claim it as income with the Internal Revenue Service.
“The IRS won’t even allow you to claim a hobby as a business,” he said. “I don’t think helping three little old ladies till their gardens for them after their husbands pass away is work.”
Former Major Dewayne Halstad of Centralia’s Salvation Army location wrote Centralia City Attorney Shannon Murphy-Olson a letter following similar allegations in 2015, saying Elmore donated his work at the facility.
“A couple times a year he will come over with his tractor and rototill the land at no charge,” the letter said. “I have offered to pay him for the fuel that he uses but he refuses to even take that and doesn’t even ask for a receipt for his donation to use when he does his taxes.”
Elmore has a spinal cord injury and receives disability pensions from sources including Social Security, the state Department of Labor and Industries and the Teamsters union, all reported in past years as income to the PDC, which does not require reporting of sources of income of less than $2,400 per year.
He did not claim his $200 per month stipend as a city councilor on PDC documents.
Elmore told The Chronicle he works with attorneys to ensure he properly reports his income from his various sources.
He expressed frustration that he was expected to bear the burden of refuting unsubstantiated allegations in the letters, which cite what he termed “hearsay” from unnamed sources.
“They make all these allegations … but I haven’t seen any proof,” he said. “Is it getting concerning to the point I need to have legal intervention? You tell me. If the preponderance of evidence accumulates that might be the road I take.”
Reynoldson has been critical of Elmore in the past. In 2015, Reynoldson said during public comments at a council meeting that Elmore could resign that night, or “take it the hard way” after making claims similar to what he’s making today.
