Democrat Troy Kelley created job for ex-business associate at center of investigation

No one believed it was a coincidence that, once Democrat Troy Kelley assumed office as State Auditor, Jason JeRue—Kelley’s former business associate and man at the center of the federal investigation—received contract work at the auditor’s office. Now, according to the latest reports, there is concrete evidence that Kelley created the position for JeRue.

Emails from “among thousands of pages of records turned over March 19 by the auditor’s office to the U.S. Justice Department in response to a grand-jury subpoena” reveal that Kelley insisted on hiring JeRue, and even bypassed standard procedures to ensure it happened. The Seattle Times,

“But by March 2013, Kelley was making sure his office hired JeRue, with whom he’d worked at businesses going back to California in the 1990s.

“Troy asked me where we are with Jason yesterday,” Diane Perry, deputy director in the office, emailed Marie Davis, a human-resources manager, on March 5, 2013. She added that Kelley wanted JeRue to begin work “soon,” though he wouldn’t start until another auditor’s office manager found him “something to do.”

“I apologize — I know you are swamped with many other issues. This is not a high priority but eventually Troy is going to want Jason hired,” Perry’s email concluded.

“Within days, JeRue was negotiating with auditor’s office staff on his job responsibilities and title. He eventually was brought on as a part-time technical writer…

“The emails indicate the auditor’s office hired JeRue as a technical writer at $22 an hour without obtaining a writing sample, and that as a new employee he at times sought to keep a low profile.”

JeRue was also allowed to work from his home in California—only one other employee of the auditor’s office was allowed to work from another state. According to the Seattle Times, JeRue was paid $22,884 in 2014 for part-time work on “revising the office’s website, updating a list of media contacts and scanning the Internet for articles about audits conducted in other states.”

Kelley continues to maintain his silence and has not responded to media inquiries on the latest development. Kelley has, simply put, lost the public’s trust. Unfortunately, not a single Democrat elected official has called on Troy Kelley to do the right thing, and step away from a job that requires public trust.