I am a deputy with the King County Sheriff's Department.

I am also a council member on the North Highline (Unincorporated Area) Council. Lee Lim is the Asian liaison with the Sheriff's Department and a council member. Steve Davis is a sergeant in the fraud unit of the Sheriff's Department and a council member. Barb Peters is a long-time volunteer with the Sheriff's Department and also a council member.

In fact, many police officers, as well as people in other occupations all over the country are involved in political positions in addition to their primary job.

Also, note that our position on the council is voluntary. We are not paid and there are no financial benefits. The only benefit on the council is being involved in the community, which to some of us is important.

I certainly didn't volunteer to be on the council solely because of the annexation issue. We have a very small budget to operate with. We have no power to make laws or appropriate money. Our claim to fame is to exert influence on behalf of the people in North Highline.

As Council members, Lee Lim, Barb Peters, myself and six other council members who have nothing to do with the Sheriff's Department, voted to recommend to the voters of North Highline to annex to Burien. Prior to the vote, all council members including the members who did not vote to annex to Burien, agreed that the standard we should use to make our recommendation should be what option is in the best interest of North Highline.

After at least two years of listening to arguments and presentations for all options, and feeling very well informed on the issue, the council voted 10-1 that it would be in the best interest of North Highline to annex to Burien.

There are some people who do not agree with our recommendation. There are many others who do agree with our recommendation.

Unfortunately, some of those who do not agree with our recommendation are now trying to unfairly discredit some of us on the council by distorting the truth. One such allegation is that my job and livelihood depend on annexing to Burien. Wrong!

The truth is that the Sheriff's Department would lose about 40 jobs if North Highline annexed to Seattle. We have about 650 deputies in our department. All of those positions would be absorbed elsewhere in the department. I would not lose my job and I wouldn't expect anyone to lose their job.

The truth is that no job in the Sheriff's Department depends on annexation to Burien. That includes positions held by Lee Lim, Barb Peters and Steve Davis. Davis wouldn't be affected by any annexation option. If Seattle annexed North Highline, Lim, Peters and myself would merely work with the department in a different area.

Those are the facts. Our jobs do not depend on annexing to Burien as suggested by some who are grossly misinformed!

Additionally, this allegation has been raised several times in the last two years and it has been discussed at length. I discussed this issue when I ran for the council position to ensure that everyone knew where I stood on the issues and to prevent this type of baseless suggestion.

The issue has also been discussed at several meetings for the same reason. None of us are trying to hide the ball about who we work for or how the annexation issue would affect our jobs. We have all been very up-front about this. Those who suggest that some sort of conflict of interest exists have no facts to support their allegation.

I also suspect that those same people would not be making such allegations if we were in agreement with them about annexation. Its not about a conflict, it's about disagreeing with the councils recommendation on annexation. Some of those who do not like our recommendation are desperately coming up with anything to discredit the recommendation, such as the above allegation.

Some people cannot respect an opinion that is different than theirs. A conflict does not exist but some people just will not accept the facts.

I question the appropriateness of a people who publicly criticize others without having a clue about what the facts are and what the truth is. No one on the council has a conflict of interest that would make it unethical for them to vote on a recommendation for annexation. Let's not forget, the council is not declining the annexation issue. We have merely made a recommendation to the voters as to how to vote if an annexation option is put to a vote. How the voters vote will be up to them.

Steve Cox

Burien