Jurors in the case against disgraced Democrat State Auditor Troy Kelley could not agree on 14 out of the 15 counts brought by federal prosecutors, including the key charges of theft, money laundering and tax evasion. The jury did acquit him of making a false statement. Via the Seattle Times:
“The jury foreman later said the panel was hopelessly split on most of the criminal counts…
“It wasn’t immediately clear whether federal prosecutors would seek to retry Kelley. U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said in a statement that her office would review the verdict before ‘making a decision about our next steps in this case.’”
Kelley was said to look “visibly relieved when the verdict was read.” But, still more interesting was Jay Inslee’s reaction. Inslee said in a statement:
“Unfortunately, the people of Washington state do not yet have much-needed closure to Troy Kelley’s ongoing legal battles… Regardless of the outcome in court today, serious questions remain about Troy Kelley’s ability to successfully fulfill his role as state auditor.”
Notice that our green governor did not take advantage of this opportunity to call for Kelley’s resignation despite the fact that he has lost the public’s trust and disgraced an office that demands respect, kind of like his initial reaction when the scandal first came to light. Given the fact that it is an election year and Kelley is, after all, a Democrat, Inslee’s hesitancy to attract more public attention to the embarrassing situation is not surprising.
Kelley has said that he will not seek re-election in 2016 (something he was actually planning on doing). And, that seems to be enough for Inslee.
It’s too bad that Inslee still has “serious questions” about Kelley’s ability to do the job he was elected to – when it’s been obvious to every non-partisan observer that it’s long past time for Kelley to be gone.
