A new report found King County Assessor John Wilson violated the county’s ethics code multiple times, including when he used his county email account to contact his ex-partner in violation of a court order, ask the county sheriff for a wellness check on her, and to negotiate a lease for a Lake Sammamish home.

The report, released Wednesday by King County Office of the Ombuds, goes into considerable detail to show that Wilson improperly used the resources of his office in a range of ways. The findings shed light on Wilson’s conduct on the job and add to the controversy of his decision to remain in elected office despite allegations of stalking his former fiancée.

Wilson will be fined $20,000 in civil penalties. He has 20 days to appeal the order. If he does, the Board of Ethics will hold a hearing to modify, reverse or affirm the order. It not, the order becomes final after 20 days.

Wilson is not seeking reelection as assessor, where he earns a $241,000 salary. He has served as assessor since he was first elected in 2015.

The ombuds office received a complaint about Wilson from Metropolitan King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci in June 2025 amid allegations that he had stalked and harassed his former partner. At the time, he was campaigning for King County executive but suspended his campaign soon after.

The King County Council has twice called for Wilson to resign. A letter sent to Wilson calling for his resignation Wednesday was signed by 10 members of the management team he oversees.

“Due to our lost confidence in your leadership, the impact on employees, the continued degradation of the department’s credibility, and the best interests of the department, we are collectively calling for your immediate resignation,” the letter said.

Wilson did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. He did not participate in the investigation. His former partner declined to comment.

Violations of court orders using county email

The investigation found Wilson sent messages to his ex using his King County email eight times in 2024, even as a judge’s no-contact order prohibited him from contacting her at all.

“While the Ombuds Office does not make criminal charging decisions, we can unequivocally state that violating a restraining order or protection order is illegal in Washington state,” the investigators wrote.

Wilson was arrested in July 2025 on investigation of stalking and violating a court order after police say he drove to his ex’s house on at least three occasions, violating a restraining order.

Criminal charges alleging he stalked his ex were dropped in June. Wilson had pleaded not guilty in Seattle Municipal Court to two counts of violating a no-contact court order.

Lake Sammamish lease

Wilson used his county email and leveraged his position as the assessor to negotiate a lease agreement with his then-partner for a $6.5 million home on Lake Sammamish, according to the investigation. Around March 2024, Wilson inquired about the property to a licensed broker and property manager.

In a letter to the homeowners, Wilson identified himself as the King County assessor, and wrote that with his job, he knew “from traveling the county how rare it is to find a residential gem like your property, for rent.” The couple asked for a two-year lease and asked if the owners would consider a lease-to-own agreement. He linked to his professional biography on the King County government page.

“The clear implication of the letter as a whole was that Assessor Wilson should receive special consideration due to his position in County government,” the investigators wrote.

Wellness check on ex-fiancée

At one point, the report notes, Wilson, “for his personal convenience,” contacted the sheriff’s office to request a wellness check on his former partner after she filed for and was granted a protection order.

Wilson on May 10, 2024, using his personal email, contacted a sheriff’s deputy and King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall, saying he had seen his ex the day before when she was acting “distraught and agitated,” and didn’t want to talk to him, according to the report. Two hours later, using his county email, he sent a new email to Cole-Tindall and asked that someone do a wellness check on his former partner.

Over the next 12 hours he continued to send messages to the sheriff’s office, mostly through his county email address. Cole-Tindall responded in an email that she didn’t believe a photo of his ex from three weeks before was “imminent” and her not wanting to talk to him wasn’t an indication she was at risk of self-harm, according to the report. Cole-Tindall advised Wilson to call 911 in the future.

The report states that “while we cannot state for certain what Assessor Wilson’s motivation was, we cannot discount the timing” of his ex-partner filing a petition and Wilson asking for the wellness check.

Nothing in his emails appeared to be government-related, nor was there a genuine, county-related emergency worthy of an elected official reaching out to the head of a law-enforcement agency, the investigators wrote.

Political campaign on county technology

Two items in Wilson’s King County email account related to his King County executive election campaign were found during the course of the investigation. In one, Wilson sent a message to two campaign team members’ personal accounts setting a Zoom meeting to strategize and discuss news stories about him and his ex. The second was a draft email with a Word document addressing allegations made by his ex and his commitment to running for King County executive, accompanied by his election campaign logo.

Activity related to political campaigns on any King County technology is strictly prohibited, the investigators wrote.

Sexually-explicit content on county technology

In reviewing evidence, the investigators found two instances when Wilson used sexually-explicit or vulgar language. The instances weren’t deemed an ethics violation but did violate the King County Department of Information Technology’s acceptable uses policy.

Wilson used “vulgar and demeaning language” to describe someone’s job title in an Outlook contact card. In a Word document from April 2024, he wrote a “diary-like” reflection on his relationship with his ex, which included parts that were explicit.