John Wilson, the King County Assessor and a candidate for the county’s top leadership post, was subject to a seven-week temporary protective order last year after his domestic partner accused him of harassment and stalking.
Wilson was prohibited from contacting or approaching his partner, her residence, or her place of employment within 1,000 feet of the protective order, which was granted in May of last year. Following Wilson and his partner’s failure to show up for a court hearing, the original order—which barred communication for two weeks—was again reissued before being vacated in June.
In November, Wilson, who has been the elected county assessor since 2015, declared his intention to run for King County executive. Following the announcement by longtime Executive Dow Constantine that he will not run for reelection, Claudia Balducci and Girmay Zahilay, both Metropolitan King County Council members, have also started candidacy for the vacant seat. Wilson, once the chief of staff for then-King County Executive Ron Sims, has worked as a journalist, including for The Seattle Times.
Since then, Wilson and his partner, Lee Keller, a well-known public relations specialist in the area, have made amends and are now engaged.
According to Keller’s email, she regrets filing the protection order since she allowed it to expire.
She stated in the email that relationships may be messy. We are planning a wedding and are happily engaged to one another.
According to Keller, she is accompanying Wilson on the campaign trail and is completely in favor of his candidacy for county executive.
She wrote, “He will be excellent in that position, just as he has been as the assessor.” I’m deeply in love with John, who is a beautiful man.
Wilson declined to speak further, citing Keller’s answer through a campaign representative.
Wilson is also involved in legal proceedings with his ex-wife, who claims he owes her over $15,000 and has consistently neglected to pay court-ordered spousal support since their 2019 divorce.
According to campaign spokesperson Matthew Lundh, Wilson’s ex-wife has been paid, the situation has been rectified, and it was an oversight.
Wilson’s ex-wife’s attorney, Kiona Gallup, claimed that Wilson still owes her $1,500.
Gallup said, “We respectfully disagree that it was an oversight after Ms. Wilson sent Mr. Wilson multiple emails requesting payment.” Unfortunately, there is a long history of people refusing to fulfill their pay support duties on time and wanting to keep it private.
According to the protective order petition, Wilson and Keller had a turbulent three-year relationship during which they occasionally called the police. Wilson is accused of fabricating a police report, accusing Keller’s ex-boyfriend of sexual assault, and setting up phony social media profiles in order to follow and communicate with Keller.
Keller claimed that Wilson utilized two identities, Dan Herbert and Jack Carlson, listed in the protective order as social media profiles to communicate with her.
She claimed to have stopped Wilson’s calls from both his personal and King County-issued phones, as well as blocking him on Facebook and Instagram.
Keller stated in her application for the protection order in May that his stalking, texting, and harassment were causing her to become very anxious, lose sleep, and be constantly on guard.
She said that Wilson had invaded my house, which I had purposefully kept a secret from him, and had kissed me without my permission, forcing his amorous attentions on me.
Since 2023, the couple has been registered as domestic partners even though they are not married. subsequently then, they have filed to dissolve the partnership four times, but they have subsequently changed their minds and rejected three of those attempts. Though it is still technically alive, they have also moved to dismiss the fourth.
Keller said that after Wilson left flowers, cuddly animals, and a Google Home device to her house in July 2023, she called the police to urge him to leave her alone.
According to the protection order request, Wilson discovered in August 2023 that one of Keller’s friends was also her ex-boyfriend. Keller wrote that he then contacted his job and made up a narrative about the ex-boyfriend committing sexual assault in an attempt to have him fired.
In reference to the ex-boyfriend, Wilson texted Keller, saying, “He deserves my wrath.” If he is fired, he will be tough (expletive).
Her lawyer then wrote Wilson a cease and desist letter alerting him to a pattern of behavior that may be considered domestic violence under Washington law, and she discontinued the relationship at that point.
Keller stated that Wilson tracked her to a shopping center in Issaquah using a Ford app in spite of the letter. She recalled, “I literally dropped everything in my arms upon seeing him, breaking a vase.” After calling the police, she fled the store.
To let her know he was observing, she claimed Wilson had taken pictures of her from a distance and sent them to her.
Eventually, the two made up.
They agreed to divide living expenses when they bought a lease and moved in together in March 2024.
Wilson, however, accused her of lying to me about the ex-boyfriend just a week later.
Keller said on April 4 that Wilson had returned home upset and inquiring about the ex-boyfriend. She claimed that she chose to spend the night in a hotel because she was concerned about his drinking and pacing.
John began to follow me before I could get away, she wrote. He continued to pursue me despite my requests for him to stop, so I hastily shut the laundry room door to try to escape him. Still, he approached me. I repeatedly pleaded with him to leave me and my bubble. He wouldn’t let me be alone myself.
Ultimately she left, throwing a ring at Wilson and turning off the tracking apps on her phone. After she left, Wilson called the police and reported that he had been physically assaulted. According to the police report, he told them that Keller had shoved him in the chest, but he was unharmed.
Keller told police that Wilson continued to phone and text her when they met with her the following day to collect her version of events.
Wilson had called her about fifteen times and texted her about ten times during the officer’s visit, stating that there was an emergency and she needed to call him, the officer reported.
In order to get Wilson to stop phoning her, the officer promised to answer her phone. Wilson contacted 911 to report a verbal domestic violence incident that had happened earlier in the day when the officer was speaking with Keller, the officer reported.
Keller then moved into a new home, the location of which she tried to keep secret from Wilson.
But on April 20, Wilson appeared on her doorstep after bragging that he was able to find her using meta data, Keller wrote. He stayed at her door, knocking, ringing the bell and texting for about five minutes despite her telling him to leave, she wrote.
When she finally opened the door to tell him to leave, she wrote, he barged in, grabbed me and kissed me.
Two days later, Wilson wrote to the police, asking to amend the statements he had made when he reported the assault.
Upon reflection, I think I was in the frame of mind where I exaggerated the incident as far more serious than it was, he wrote. Ms. Keller never hurt or injured me when in the heat of our argument she moved me back from standing in front of her. In addition, I never felt in fear of Ms. Keller, or thought for an instant she might want to hurt or injure me.
He wrote that they deeply love and care about one another and he regretted calling the police. He sent flowers to Keller s supposed-to-be undisclosed address.
Keller filed her request for a protection order on May 9. It was reissued on May 23 and again on June 5. It was dismissed on June 27 after both Keller and Wilson failed to show up for a court hearing.
Two weeks later, Wilson and Keller were together at a political fundraiser. On July 17, they jointly filed to dismiss the latest case that would have dissolved their domestic partnership.
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