Choiniere campaign files U.P. police report
By Derek Young
In the midst of what has been one of the most negative campaigns in Washington state this election cycle, Eric Choiniere (D—University Place) was forced to take legal action, filing a police report against the O’Ban campaign to force them to remove sensitive court documents that they posted on the internet. Included in the documents are the social security numbers for both Eric and his wife Donelle.
“When my daughter alerted me to our sensitive and very personal information being posted on the internet for anyone to see I was completely appalled,” said Choiniere. “O’Ban is a lawyer and knows better. This was a complete violation of my privacy and unfortunately I was compelled to involve the police.”
The documents are part of a smear campaign being run by Steve O’Ban (R—Lakewood) that have been highlighting some very dated financial challenges that Choiniere faced as a result of some life-threatening medical hardships.
Choiniere has issued the following statement in response to the attacks and the blatant violation of his privacy.
“The charges listed by Mr. O’Ban are taken out of context. I did in fact file for bankruptcy during a challenging time in my life. While working to support my family, I fell ill, and because I did not have health insurance provided by my job at the time and found myself in the incredibly tough predicament of deciding how to pay for a life-saving medical procedure and put food on the table to feed my children.
I have been disgusted with my opponent’s exploitation of an issue that took place over 20 years ago to run a negative campaign against me, but their current actions of putting my family’s financial security at risk has crossed a line and shown his true colors. I am running against a man who has taken thousands of dollars from large Wall Street banks and out-of-state insurance companies and will do anything to win. Voters deserve to know the character of those who are asking for their vote and I hope that Mr. O’Ban will end this smear campaign immediately.”
A link to the campaign website in question can be viewed at http://www.facebook.com/
Category: Announcements, Elections, Lakewood, University Place
Not only did O’Ban do something wrong so did the Surbuban Times. Why in the world would they post a link to the website that caused the action to begin with? Are they part of teh O’Ban group? Shame on the times for this blanitent error on thoer part!
Don,
The press release was provided by Eric Choiniere staffer Derek Young. The release was run without edit… including the link to the Facebook page in question.
Ben Sclair, Publisher
What I observed was that the Social security numbers had been blacked out, and yes the first Bankruptcy was in 1991 the second one in 2002. I seems that these public record Mr. O’Ban’s campaign did everything by the book in blocking out the social Security numbers and any other information that could be classified as an intrusion into the life of somebody running for Public Office. I’m not an attorney but if I recall correctly you have to wait 10 years to file a bankruptcy a second time neither time was the medical a major part of the Bankruptcy and that is exactly what Mr. Coiniere did, he filed his second BK as soon as he was eligible. The evictions over $345. And $500. With this kind of representation on the UP city council no wonder they are in a financial crises. We do not need this kind of person as our State Representative.
This is just Choiniere being Choiniere; a whiner and one of the most ill qualified people to run for any office… So, eric, if you can’t take the heat of running for public office, then why don’t you get out of the kitchen?
Mr Duggins is correct, those sensitive SS numbers were blacked out. What I found particularly interesting was that Choiniere listed unpaid CHILD SUPPORT among his debts to be discharged in his 1st bankruptcy. Wouldn’t that have legally qualified his as a Deadbeat Dad, or was that before the Deadbeat Dad law was enacted?
The site on Facebook may be embarrassing to eric, but it illuminates his character quite nicely…..and it doesn’t even mention the fact that while acting as UP PARC Commissioner liason to Friends of Homestead Park he allowed his son to accept tip money earmarked for a boyscout fundraiser (of which his son was not a member) in 2009…(after being told that’s what it was for and that eric would not allow it again, I might add)….He also said in public, at a UP PARC commission meeting, that he’d repay the purloined tip money. He never did give it back because he said doing so “….would be an admission of guilt”.
In this article Choiniere said “Voters deserve to know the character of those who are asking for their vote”. That is the ONLY completely truthful thing eric has ever said! Unfortuenately, that truthfullness doesn’t elevate his character enough to warrant electing him to the legislature, or any other office!
I am Steve O’Ban’s campaign consultant and I am the administrator of the Facebook page in question. I posted those public documents online. We honestly did not even notice any social security numbers on the documents or we would have redacted them earlier.
Hundreds of people over the summer have seen those papers, including multiple reporters, who did not notice them either.
The particular document in question I posted one evening and when I woke up the next morning someone had sent a message saying, “hey there’s a SSN on that document.” I immediately pulled that image off, redacted the number and replaced the document with a redacted copy. The document was up for less than 24 hours and the page had fewer than 10 “likes” at that time.
While I offer my sincere personal apologies to Mr. Choiniere for not noticing his SSN was on that public document, I would only suggest that if Mr. Choiniere has any gripe at all it is with the bankruptcy court who released it in the first place. These are, after all, public documents that ANYONE can request and gain access to. If he does not want his SSN released, then he should probably take up the matter with the court rather than filing meaningless “police reports.” But I’m sure such a course wouldn’t get much press then would it?
There is no question about Steve O’Ban’s character–it is excellent. He has proven it many times. He helped teachers and others all the way to the Supreme Court and he won. The records in question are Eric Choiniere’s and are public record. The point is that Choiniere filed bankruptcy twice. Once can happen to anyone, but twice indicates poor personal financial decisions and personal discipline. Add that he was evicted for not paying rent and it makes me certain that I don’t want Choiniere going to Olympia to write the state’s budget. The party currently writing the state’s budget has required special sessions again and again to fix bad budgets. Steve O’Ban will help turn that around. Choiniere is the wrong choice and his record indicates it.