Thursday,
May 29, 1997

County bond rating challenged

Freedom County backers contact financial service

A Montana-based critic of Snohomish County has top officials here fuming after trying to convince a financial rating service to question the county's economic future.

John Stokes, one of the founders of the Freedom County secession effort, last week contacted Moody's Investors Service, questioning the firm's decision to upgrade Snohomish County's bond rating.

Stokes, a former north county resident who now lives in Bigfork, Mont., told Moody's that Snohomish County soon will be financially insolvent after efforts to carve new Freedom and Skykomish counties from Snohomish County's rural areas are successful.

He also said that would-be secessionists won't be responsible for the county's $41 million conservation futures bond issue, which includes money for parks, Paine Field and the upgrade of the stadium used by the Everett Aquasox.

Stokes' claims have not altered Moody's May 19 decision to upgrade the county's bond rating from A1 to Aa3.

Still, the investment research service asked the county to provide more information about county secession efforts.

County Executive Bob Drewel said there is no good reason for Stokes' action, which he characterized as harassment that could cost citizens plenty.

Stokes is "stretching the rights we have as citizens to a point that defies logic," Drewel said Wednesday.

Stokes, however, alleged that Drewel and other county officials misled Moody's by not disclosing information about the county secession efforts.

It is time to recognize that county secessionists aren't going away, he said.

"I guess it took Pharaoh a long time to get the message, too. But eventually he got it," Stokes said.

Stokes and county officials dispute just how much Moody's knew about the secession efforts before last week.

The Moody's financial analyst based in San Francisco who handled the county's case was not immediately available for comment.

Dan Clements, the county's finance director, said Moody's officials were told about the county secession efforts, but that information wasn't put into writing.

They weren't concerned about what they heard, Clements said.

But Stokes maintains that Moody's representatives were "shocked" when he told them about the status of attempts to create new counties here.

According to Stokes, a majority of voters have supported secession, state lawmakers have recognized that an emergency exists and "It is just a matter of weeks or months before the split up and insolvency occurs."

That just isn't so, Deputy Executive Joni Earl said.

Attempts by some state legislators to pass bills creating new counties have repeatedly failed to bear fruit, she noted.

Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court has shown little interest in resolving anytime soon some of the legal questions surrounding attempts to create new counties. It recently turned down attempts by Freedom County backers to have their concerns heard along with those of people supporting a King County secession effort.

Indeed, the state's unwillingness to act on attempts to create Freedom County last month prompted Stokes and at least one other would-be secessionist to petition the United Nations, alleging human-rights violations.

It is Stokes and other Freedom County backers who "are not being honest about the county's financial situation," Earl said. "And they are misrepresenting the status of Freedom County as a legal entity."

Drewel said that what angers him most about the situation is that taxpayers' money must be spent responding to claims made by Stokes and others in the secession movement. He estimated that dealing with the Moody's situation cost anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 in staff time.

"They have no intention to build anything. They only intend to disrupt," Drewel said.

Stokes said Drewel is angry because he has higher political aspirations and "he does not want to be known as the executive who had the county divided under his" backside.

"What is happening here is you have a divorce going on and you have one spouse that is running up the credit card bill and it is time to put a stop to it," he said.