According to a release from the the King County Ombudsman, there are findings concerning the activities of King County employee Jessie Israel, a Ballard resident who is running for Seattle City Council.

The complaint was filed by a citizen on Jan. 30 and says that Israel violated sections of the King County Employee Code of Ethics, which specifically prohibit employee use of County resources for personal convenience or profit, and in election campaigns.

Israel has been an employee in the county's Department of Natural Resources and Parks since March 2003.

After a thorough investigation, the Ombudsman found reasonable cause to believe that Ms. Israel violated the Ethics Code by using county resources to promote her election campaign, according to the release.

The complaint alleges that Israel sent an email from her personal computer to the King County email addresses of fellow employees, soliciting campaign support in the form of personal endorsements, financial contributions and a request that recipients of the email forward the message to additional people.

Of the 1,800 people the email was sent to, 210 were county employees.

Israel has issued an official response to the complaint.

"The email in question was sent from a home computer, but mistakenly included the addresses of a number of County employees," said Israel. "As a candidate for city council, I have an obligation and a commitment to uphold the highest ethical standards. It was an error I regret, and one which will not happen again."

The investigation was initiated on Feb. 5, by serving Israel with a copy of the complaint and requesting a written response to the allegations, according to the official report.

On Feb. 9, representatives of the Ombudsman's Offce interviewed Israel to
gather information related to the complainabout the investigation process.

On Feb. 19, the Ombudsman's Offce received a written response and supplemental information from Ms. Israel that provided additional details regarding how the distribution of the email in question.

Israel seeks long-time council member Nick Licata's seat. Seattle Planning Commission member Martin Kaplan also recently announced his candidacy for Position 6.

Israel told this newspaper last month that she is running for Seattle City Council to be the voice of Seattle-ites under 40 and a representative of other Ballard residents.

The primary election will be held Aug. 18.