The King County Council unanimously approved sweeping ethics reforms Tuesday designed to prevent county employees from using their positions to benefit relatives or others with whom they have close personal relationships, following a conflict-of-interest scandal involving more than $813,000 in grant payments.
The legislation passed on a 9-0 vote after a Seattle Times investigation found a county program manager overseeing a $10 million youth education and anti-racism grant program directed approximately $813,000 over five years to businesses connected to her relatives. The newspaper also reported the employee pressured three subcontractors to hire her daughter.
The investigation found concerns about the grant payments had surfaced in county records years earlier, but King County did not launch a formal investigation until 2025, raising questions about weaknesses in the county’s financial oversight and ethics policies…