I keep hoping that this will be over, but Ralph Nichols and Ivan Weiss have teamed up to smear me in the Times/News and attempt to discount the evidence supporting my exposure of Stephen Lamphear's public record.

In response to their comments, and letters recently published by the Times/News, I repeat, again, that every referenced item in the letter is backed by copies of the originals, including PDC complaints, lawsuits, the State Auditor report, attorney briefs, newspaper articles and signed letters by Lamphear which I freely offered to anyone. It is not my opinion that Lamphear has harassed so many people, or that he mismanaged the King Conservation District, etc., it is documented in the public record. All I did was to collect it and present it for public evaluation.

Ironically, all of the data (and more) was delivered to the Times/News in 2005 and presented in detail to Ralph, witnessed by Eric Mathison, two Robinsons, and others. Nichols called the information "devastating" but declined to write an article from it because Lamphear had just lost the election and it was "no longer news." When asked the same question this election cycle, he again declined, now calling it "old news." I am incredulous that Ralph would refer to the stack of documentation as merely "opinion" in his column. He went on to contradict himself by confirming Lamphear's behavior as "nasty and vindictive," just as I have alleged.

I have tried to be careful and civil in presenting very difficult material to a wide audience, understanding that not everyone would be pleased by revealing inconvenient truths. The responses from Ralph, Ivan and Lamphear supporters have been not so civil. Here is a sampling of epithets gleaned from those writings: defamatory, mud slinging, hate mail, lie, toxic, mistruths, smear, bashing, bizarre, devious, vicious, drivel, bitter rhetoric and filth.

Judging from the election results, the voting public can, and does read the fine print, and makes up its own mind, especially when a full disclosure of information is available. The number of voters was highest for seat 4, and the win/loss margin is easily the largest in Burien's history.

I feel that I have reached the point where I can no longer be useful in this style of debate and I will now turn my attention to community work in less controversial areas.

Ron Seale

Burien