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Andre Stepankowsky's avatar

I have taken the children’s names out of the story. But readers must go to Lower Columbia currents site to see the updated version.

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Tom Samuels's avatar

The troubling part of this story is not Mr. Stepankowsky’s error (if it even was one), it’s that our Mayor is embroiled in an extremely exacting personal turmoil. The public absolutely has a right to know he stands accused of engaging in domestic violence, and even if he alleges his wife is the aggressor, "the truth likely lies in the middle".

So, let’s have a little perspective here about this feigned outrage over the Mayor’s children being named, even if it is probably appropriate Mr. Stepankowsky redacted them.

First, the Mayor has been ~very~ public at council meetings and on “social media” about his children. He has shared multiple photos of his family (his current FB page profile photo is literally of him holding his son in the Mayor’s office) and he has gone out of his way to share detailed information about both of his kids, including their respective serious medical diagnoses. The point being, the Mayor has a well established practice of ~not~ keeping his family private.

Second, it’s rich as heck for Councilmember Halvorson to weigh in on these comments, when he himself ~deliberately~ distributed to a political associate an unredacted Excel spreadsheet from the city that contained privileged and confidential police records which included identifiable minor crime victims.

Don’t believe me? Enter a PRR to the Clerk’s office for Mr. Halvorson’s February 16, 2024 email to Rayleen Aguirre. It will now include a redacted copy of the spreadsheet, except that it ~wasn’t~ redacted when he disseminated it to her.

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