Jon Russell buddy Bivens facing 5 years in Club Fed.

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Russell, a Washougal City Councilman and failed Congressional/state representative candidate, was in large part responsible for the hiring of Jeffery Bivens to the position of City Finance director, only to have $100,000 vaporize while discovering that Bivens wasn't bondable.

Russell, a friend of Bivens, is responsible in part for the sweetheart deal Bivens got to leave Washougal.

You remember, right? $45,000 to leave a job he never should have got in the first place? Since the city council, including Russell, hired Bivens KNOWING he had been suspended by the Bar for 18 months as a result of "charging unreasonable fees, conflicts of interest, failure to preserve the identity of clients’ property and dishonest conduct."

Now, Bivens seems to have bigger fish to fry... though the $100,000 seems to be remaining invisible.

Washougal City Government. You get something out of it whether you go there or not.

Cross posted at Jon Russell Watch.
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Jon Russell at his finest: Fired city finance director to receive $9,167 for 5 months.

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Jon Russell, who will be best known for being humiliated in the upcoming Congressional primary if he doesn't wise up and get out, makes no bones about using his exalted position as a Washougal City Councilman as a campaign prop whenever the mood strikes.

Up to now, Russell's political career has included making thousands off an effort to ram the largest tax increase in SW Washington history down our throats by consulting for the Port campaign in their miserable effort in the Port Levy, his rank incompetence of fiscal oversight of the city's checkbook along with clumsily tossing Stacy Sellers under the first available bus the moment his lax oversight resulted in documented illegal expenditures that became public.

To that, we can add this idiocy:

Washougal OKs deal with ex-finance director

Fired in December, he will get severance of $9,167 per month for five months

By Marissa Harshman
Columbian Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Fired in December, he will get severance of $9,167 per month for five months

A dispute about whether Washougal’s former finance director was fired with or without cause resulted in an agreement entitling Jeffrey Bivens to five months severance pay.

The Washougal City Council and Bivens came to an agreement Dec. 29 after weeks of severance negotiations. Bivens’ employment contract stated he would receive three months pay if he was fired with cause and six months pay if the termination was without cause. But because the two parties couldn’t agree on the firing or whether Bivens’ original employment contract was voided by his inability to obtain insurance coverage, the city will pay Bivens $9,167 per month for five months, according to the agreement. Bivens’ annual salary is $110,000.

More here.

Not one to miss the opportunity to send out a press release or blog his latest "accomplishment" (based entirely on his campaign, as opposed to what's best for the people of Washougal) I, unfortunately, missed his latest spin on shelling out $50,000 taxpayer dollars on a guy he should never have been allowed to hire in the first place.

I, for one, can't wait.
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Russell Buddy Bivens disbarred.

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We all know the deal: failed congressional/state representative candidate Jon Russell was instrumental getting his buddy, Jeffry Bivens, hired as Washougal's finance director.

Bivens is best known for partying in Vegas with Stacy Sellers, vaporized former Mayor of Washougal who abused the city's credit card and partied hardy... while Russell fiddled and did nothing about it, even though he had oversight of the city's checkbook.

Of course, Bivens was such a train wreck that he couldn't be bonded, and as a result, he had to leave, but not before he picked up a nice mid 5 figure check for getting rid of a guy they shouldn't have hired in the first place.

Well done, Jon.

Cross-posted at Jon Russell Watch.
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Russell slithers out onto Facebook... again.

One of the more entertaining aspects of keeping an eye on Jon Russell's latest skulduggery, is that he typically runs away when I smack him on the blogs... or call him out on those rare and infrequent occasions when he actually posts a comment over his own name... given his year's long habit of making up various fake identities to attack political opponents or support political lackeys.

A couple of weeks ago, I pounded him... again.... on facebook.  I reminded him that calling others out and accusing THEM of "libel" is the height of hypocrisy, among other things.

Russell mixed it up, a little bit... but he hates being reminded of all those lies during his campaign... and he REALLY hates to be reminded that he was paid a total of over $25,000 on campaigns to jack up our taxes... both on the Port Levy tax rip off and that massive waste of money called the Library Levy.

He REALLY hates that.

Anyway, his response has been, typically, to shut everything down until he thinks the dust has settled... and then he slowly re-emerges... both bloody, AND bowed... so I can repeat the process.

And today is no exception... since a facebook page has re-emerged.  Again.  And even THAT page leaves out the things Russell wants you to forget.

You remember, don't you, that Russell fancied himself as the de facto chair of the city finance committee... the committee that had to approve all the Washougal credit card expenditures... like those Russell approved as a result of Stacee Sellers' Vegas trip with Russell buddy Bivens, the city finance director?

Oddly, in the "biography" Russell has on this page, he goes to great lengths to tell the reader what committees he's served (ing) on and that he was mayor pro tem (Until he lost the job) back in 2010.

But not a peep on there about his tenure on the city finance committee.


You gotta wonder:

Why IS that?

My guess?

He doesn't want to remind anyone.

Which is OK... because that's what I'M here for.

So, expect more posts on the subject as I use the source documents to further indict this underhanded, backstabbing, multiple identity liar of a politician.

And yeah, Jon... I'm watching.

Cross posted on Jon Russell Watch.