Kent City Council candidate Bailey Stober taken to court for unemployment benefits | Election 2011

Kent City Council candidate Bailey Stober claims he is paying back the state for overpayment of unemployment insurance benefits in 2010 and also plans to pay an unpaid cable bill from his 2009 Pierce County residence.

Stober, 20, is challenging incumbent Deborah Ranniger for Position No. 1 on the council. Ballots are due Nov. 8 to King County Elections.

Stober doesn’t think the court cases involving the state claim against him and the unpaid cable bill will cause him to lose any votes.

“I don’t know too many people in Kent who have not had troubles in this economy,” he said.

A search of King County Superior Court records showed Stober owes the state Employment Security Department $2,240 for overpayment of unemployment benefits. State officials filed the case Sept. 7 in King County Superior Court to order Stober to pay the $2,240 overpayment plus interest.

“I am actively paying my overpayment,” Stober said during a Monday phone interview. “I was (initially) unaware of it. I missed my appeal date. I have been paying it off and have about $500 left.”

Stober, who lives on the West Hill, said the Employment Security Department initially approved his unemployment payments but his former employer fought the payment. Stober said he missed the hearing date to present his case, so, the state ruled in favor of the employer. Stober said he was unemployed for a couple of months around last Thanksgiving.

Sheryl Hutchison, spokeswoman for the Employment Security Department, said she could not comment about individual cases. But Hutchison explained how cases of overpayment eventually end up in court.

“We use exhaustive collection attempts and offer long-term repayment plans to give a claimant every opportunity to repay benefits he shouldn’t have received,” Hutchison said in an email. “We go to court only when all other efforts have been exhausted.”

Stober said he didn’t see any notices that he owed the state money until the court filing.

“I hadn’t gotten anything,” he said.

Since January Stober has worked as a loss prevention manager for Kohl’s department store.

In addition to the payment to the state, a search of King County District Court records showed Stober owes a collection agency $818 for an unpaid cable bill to Click Network, a Tacoma cable company. The collection agency filed a court complaint for money due July 25.

Stober said he leased a house with a friend for a couple of months in 2009 in Tacoma and that the friend did not pay any bills despite an agreement to share costs.

“My name was on the bills and I paid the other utilities,” Stober said. “I’m going to pay off that (cable bill) one. I’m paying off one at a time.”

When reached by phone to comment about Stober’s court cases, Ranniger said she preferred to stay out of the issue.

“I’m trying to run a campaign about what I bring to the table and not an attack campaign,” Ranniger said.

Stober has run on a campaign for change, including an attack ad against Ranniger published in the Oct. 21 Kent Reporter.

In response to the interview about his financial obligations, Stober provided the Kent Reporter with King County Superior Court cases in connection with a nursery Ranniger used to run with her husband in Kent. The state Department of Revenue filed cases in 2000 for unpaid taxes against the couple. The debts were later paid.

“My concern is the issue she’s telling everyone she was a successful business owner but it’s not successful if you have unpaid taxes,” Stober said.

Ranniger said she owned the nursery from 1995 to 2002 and paid all back taxes after closing the business in July 2002. She denied claims by Stober about her campaigning as a successful small business owner.

“I have not talked about success of running a small business but have said I’m a previous small business owner,” Ranniger said. “Most people in the community know we owned it — that’s not a secret.”

Ranniger said business dropped more than 50 percent the holiday season of 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks. She said business picked up just 10 percent the next spring and the decision was made to close the business.

“You talk to any small business owner today and everybody struggles to stay above water,” said Ranniger, the executive director of resource development at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood. “But we were able to pay off all our debts.”

Stober also claimed despite Ranniger’s small business background she’s “not sympathetic to local business owners” because she voted for a city transportation impact fee.

“Bailey doesn’t understand transportation impact fees don’t apply to small businesses but to new businesses that substantially change use of a property,” Ranniger said. “A warehouse in the valley where Costco comes in and there’s 1,000 (vehicle) trips per day will pay an increased fee for impact on roads for increased usage. A small business in a strip mall that leases space will not pay a transportation impact fee.”