Stewart returns campaign donation from Herman's wife

At the Aug. 12 meeting of the Vancouver City Council, regular attendee and Columbia River Crossing critic Steve Herman took the unusual step of asking the council to dismiss a criminal charge that had been filed against him for owning a junk-strewn property. To the discomfort of City Attorney Ted Gathe and City Manager Eric Holmes, Councilor Jeanne Stewart questioned Herman about the charge and even suggested it may have been in retaliation for Herman’s role as a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against the city over light rail – a conspiracy theory Herman had already embraced.

The Aug. 13 online post about that exchange was published in the Aug. 18 newspaper (for you online-only readers, we have a column in the Sunday paper on the cover of the Clark County section.)

On Aug. 19, Stewart sent this email to Gathe and Holmes. (The reason we’re just sharing it now as we just received it this week as part of our standing request under the state’s public disclosure law for council email. The emails come in batches.) She wanted to let them know that she’d returned a campaign contribution from Steve Herman’s wife, Shannon. (Shannon Herman had donated $100.)