Bailey Stober, the former chair of the King County Democrats who resigned after allegations that he harassed a former employee, has now resigned from his day job as communications director for the King County Department of Assessments.
Stober issued his resignation Monday “in lieu of termination” and will receive $37,700 severance, or about four months of pay, according to a settlement agreement provided by the county. The agreement states that Stober will not sue or make any other claim against King County and will not seek future employment at the county. The agreement also includes an appendix outlining what the county will tell future employers who ask about Stober’s time at the county. The agreement states county staff will tell prospective employers about Stober’s duties and that he was an “overall high performer” and “had multiple positive performance appraisals.” The appendix does not mention the allegations at the King County Democrats.
In a statement, King County said the agreement for Stober to leave his job “stems from conduct and events occurring in Mr. Stober’s role as the Chair of the King County Democrats.”
The assessor’s office also released the results of an investigation into the allegations against Stober.
A former staffer and several other people involved in the party have accused Stober of harassment, bullying, and mismanaging party funds. After several internal investigations and an internal trial earlier this month, Stober resigned from the organization.
The assessor’s office, meanwhile, pursued its own investigation starting in March. The county hired two attorneys from the firm Calfo Eakes and Ostrovsky and spent a total of $25,360 on the investigation, according to Chief Deputy Assessor Al Dams.
The investigation affirmed some of the allegations involving Stober’s time as chair of the King County Democrats, including that he called former employee Natalia Koss Vallejo a “bitch” and may have called her a “cunt.” The investigators wrote that multiple witnesses told them “the term ‘bitch’ can be viewed as ‘millennial language.’” The report says Koss Vallejo told investigators she was not offended by the term and “the evidence suggests that Mr. Stober did not intend to degrade Ms. Koss Vallejo.” However, the investigators wrote, “it is inappropriate for an employer to refer to an employee as a bitch.”
In a section of their report titled “juvenile behavior,” the investigators found that Stober accessed Koss Vallejo’s Facebook page and posted “I shit my pants” and that he sprayed her with silly string while she was driving. The investigators found that Stober loudly said Republicans could “suck his cock” and used the word “motherfucker” at a bar in Walla Walla. The investigators called that “inappropriate and unbecoming of the public face of any organization.” The investigation says Stober made “inappropriate and offensive statements about women” and “more likely than not” used “inappropriate and derogatory language” about a “senior state party officer.”
The investigation did not find that Stober engaged in misconduct in the course of his work for King County. “However,” the county said in its statement, “King County determined that recent conduct and events made it so Mr. Stober could not continue in his role at the Department of Assessments. King County believes that Mr. Stober’s resignation and this separation agreement allows the Department of Assessments to move forward from this matter and that it will protect King County and King County taxpayers from the possibility of a lengthy and costly lawsuit.”
This story has been updated.
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