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Constitutional Rights Initiative
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Civil and Human Rights Violations
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Fourteen articles describe racism and civil rights violations by Stephen A. Mitchell, directors, lawyers, staff, Kapos (enforcers), and some tenants at Council House during the past five years. They contain evidence of dereliction by government officials and their investigators which has resulted in unlawful evictions of physically and financially disadvantaged elderly people.
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Council House directors have shown indifference to tenant abuse by managers and their thugs. They have denied tenants their right to complain in violation of their constitutional right to freedom of expression. They have also either threatened them with eviction or evicted them for filing legitimate complaints with government agencies.
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Fully researched and documented, the articles allege that government officials have not dealt with complaints in accordance with law. They have consorted with Council House directors and their lawyers to conduct a whitewash of multiple instances of elder abuse and racism. By that, they violated Civil Rights Act Title VIII and Seattle Open Housing Ordinance.
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Investigation revealed an extensive pattern or practice of elder abuse, violation of civil and human rights, and denial of due process of law. The term "pattern or practice" means an intentional violation of rights granted by the Civil Rights Act evidenced by more than an isolated instance, or by regular repeated conduct in violation of that Act.
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John W. Meyers, US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Thomas A. Carr, City Attorney, City of Seattle; Germaine W. Covington, Director, Seattle Office of Civil Rights (SOCR); Norm Maleng, King County Prosecuting Attorney; and their employees, have neglected to investigate allegations of racism, elder abuse, and homicide by abuse. Evidently, they covered up those crimes for political expediency. Consequently, two Council House tenants filed in US District Court, Western District of Washington, for injunctive relief.
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Prior to publication, all people mentioned had a chance to refute statements that could negatively affect their reputations or cause investigation or prosecution.
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[Introduction to New/Updated Articles] [Constitutional Rights Initiative]
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After more than five years of harassment and denial of constitutional rights by Stephen A. Mitchell (40), two elderly women have decided to bring persecution by their landlord to an end. They have filed in US District Court, Western District of Washington, for injunctive relief.
Mitchell, with his assistants Audrey F. Dunbar (35) and Nancy Sweiv-n (50±), have used a team of Kapos (enforcers) and their molls to abuse elderly people who do not comply with unlawful zero-tolerance policies at Council House, Seattle (a government financially-assisted apartment block for independent living). In Washington state that defines as elder abuse which has become endemic. [Elder Abuse - Introduction]
Elder abuse manifests to a greater or lesser degree in people of a certain class or living in a particular location. Neglect, and exploitation, has now reached substantial proportions. Typically, victims classify as widowed, white females over 62 years of age living on a limited income. They usually live with, or under the auspices of, the perpetrator. [Elder Abuse - Preface]
Elder victims often do not report the abuse. They fear retaliation by the abuser, personal shame for their situation, or worry about having to leave their home. Consequently, they do not make reports.
[Elder Abuse - Abstracts]
Mitchell unlawfully inserted nebulous and unconstitutional clauses into lease addenda so that he could control the lifestyle of individual tenants and force them to comply with his own ideology. In particular, he has used the ambiguous term “rude and abusive behavior” to threaten or evict a stream of tenants.
Pola Doenyas (75) and Gilda Kabbani (70±) challenged the Zionist lines along which directors run Council House. Accordingly, they have decided to ask federal court for declaratory and injunctive relief. That relief will effectively enforce constitutional law at Council House which US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) officials have neglected to do, probably through political affiliation with Council House directors.
In lay terms, the women have asked for a federal restraining order that protects their civil rights and liberties. As political and social concepts, the terms “civil rights” and “civil liberties” historically have referred to freedom, justice, and equality that the state must, by law, provide for its citizens.
Elder Abuse
Doenyas/Kabbani swore affidavits in support of another tenant, a professional journalist, who wrote about violation of constitutional rights by Council House managers. Washington Superior Court granted the journalist a temporary restraining order (06 Mar 01) against Mitchell for repeated harassment and violation of his First Amendment rights.
Mitchell has since harassed both women and everyone else who testified against the jounalist in that case. After harassment, humiliation, and retaliation by Mitchell, for performing a civic duty by witnessing to his wrongdoing, they will hopefully soon get federal relief.
Mitchell chose to violate the restraining order by “judge-shopping” and obtained an order in retaliation despite the original order containing a date for hearing (20 Mar 01). The journalist forced Mitchell to withdraw the unlawful order before the hearing by threatening a contempt complaint. That case lingers on and presently awaits a decision by Washington Supreme Court which heard oral argument (23 Jun 05). [Supreme Court Review]
Mitchell retaliated by effectively evicting the journalist and later had him jailed after suborning perjury and tampering with his witnesses. Washington law requires that any person who complains to any branch or agency of federal, state, or local government, about organizations subject to agency oversight remains immune from civil liability. That law also protects journalists from retaliation for reporting elder abuse although Council House has repeatedly acted to the contrary by using prior restraint and censorship. [RCW 4.24.510]
Doenyas/Kabbani have suffered extremes of retaliation and dysfunctional behavior by Mitchell and his staff. Apart from denial of basic civil and human rights, the harassment has included witness tampering, physical violence, and threats of eviction for not following racist and exclusionary policies.
Both Jewish, the women have an extraordinary empathy with black people especially those who live at Council House. They have both suffered retaliation for that empathy and for voicing an opinion about Mitchell and his unlawful, irrational, and racist behavior toward minorities.
They spoke out about the plight of minorities that Mitchell singled out for abuse and eviction. Black tenants suffer constant racism condoned by his all-Jewish board of directors. Their indifference allowed Mitchell to ratchet up the coercion by using Felippe Jacques (72±) (his principal Kapo) constantly to harass them. [Whitewash] [Noblesse Oblige]
Mitchell frequently boasts that he has straw judges in his pocket and that he can even get Washington Supreme Court decisions reversed backstage. He has proved that a truism in Superior Court on several occasions.
Reportedly, he has again showed his contempt for law by publicly stating (14 Sep 05) that whatever Superior Court decides (26 Sep 05) in an eviction case (brought in retaliation for reporting racism to government agencies) he will evict the tenant anyway. He said that he had evicted people who won in court before and he would make sure that he would eventually evict that tenant. One can only hope that Mitchell adopts that arrogant attitude when a federal marshal appears on his doorstep.
[Straw-Man Stratagem] [Hawk and the Raven] [Hawk defies the Raven] [Lawyer - Open Letter]
Constitutional Evolution
Philosophers in ancient Greece first expressed the concept that human beings have inalienable rights and liberties that defy injustice. Socrates chose to die rather than renounce the right to speak his mind in the search for wisdom.
As a result of English, American, and French revolutions, libertarian ideals were embodied in the structure of national governments. In England the struggle between Parliament and the Stuart monarchs culminated in a new king, William III, giving royal assent (1689) to a Declaration of Rights, which guaranteed constitutional government. Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States later established libertarian principles as a foundation of modern democracy and embodies the civil rights and liberties of US citizens.
Civil rights implies that the state has a role in ensuring all citizens equal protection under the law and equal opportunity to exercise the privileges of citizenship and otherwise to participate fully in national life, regardless of race, religion, sex, or other characteristics unrelated to the worth of the individual. Civil liberties refers to guarantees of freedom of speech, press, or religion; due process of law; and other limitations on the power of the state (or state actors) to restrain or dictate the actions of individuals. [First and Fourteenth - State Actors]
Doenyas/Kabbani Initiative
This initiative hinges upon the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and tangentially, the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion. Fourteenth Amendment extends the Bill of Rights to actions by state and local governments (and state actors). Fourth Amendment protects the privacy and security of the home and personal effects and prohibits the unreasonable searches and seizures that have occurred at Council House. [First and Fourteenth]
Mitchell and his directors indulge in exclusionary practices. They rigidly enforce zero-tolerance policies using a team of Kapos (thugs) and exploit court rulings obtained by perjury that grant them impunity and anonymity. Government officials charged with oversight adopt laissez faire policies that allow racism, harassment, and eviction of minorities without due process of law. [Five Kapos]
Mitchell’s inability to objectively define terms, and his admission that reasonable people cannot agree about application of them, emphasizes that the lease conditions that underlie his attempt to evict tenants contain no standards. The lack of definition allows police officers, judges, and juries to subjectively decide standards of conduct that statutes proscribe and which the framers of the US Constitution probably did not intend.
HUD officials have neglected oversight delegated to them by Congress. If they had investigated formal complaints instead of whitewashing them, then they would have found an exclusion of people of color at any meaningful level of employment or directorship. They would find solidified within this Jewish ghetto an all-Jewish board of directors with anti-black attitudes despite pious claims to the suffering of their own race and centuries of anti-Semitism. [Agency Accountability]
Under oath, Mitchell several times complained about a tenant opining about racism and building mismanagement. However, the only rationale he had for attempting to evict her related to retaliation and quashing dissent using ambiguous criteria - more violation of First Amendment rights.
A public statement of intended action against elder abuse by King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng now seems hypocritical. Four years after making the commitment, Maleng still neglects to investigate complaints of homicide by abuse or take any action against Council House for rampant elder abuse.
Maleng announced (01 Jun 01) a new elder abuse project as having three-fold goals: to prosecute cases of neglect of the elderly and disabled; to work collaboratively with police, social service agencies, and medical professionals to improve referral and investigation; and, to prosecute cases of elder abuse. In the opinion of Council House tenants, Maleng ranks as another political blowhard who has allowed Council House managers to abuse them with impunity. [Impunity]
Management
Council House policy runs along Zionist lines which makes peaceful coexistence between Jewish tenants and other races and religions an increasingly intractable problem. Council House directors exclude all other races from board involvement or management of this government financially-assisted apartment block following Zionist exclusionary (racist) principles. [Whitewash]
The directors do not realize that they lost the privilege to operate Council House as an exclusive Jewish establishment the day that they accepted millions of taxpayer dollars: money that most of their tenants paid to the US government over many years. They also agreed to conform to federal law regarding race, religion, national origin, and freedom of expression.
Private landlords participating in federal housing programs become state actors when they receive mortgage benefits and rent supplements from Federal Housing Authority (FHA). Restrictions imposed on the owner by FHA lease forms and regulatory agreements underscore the purpose to make private capital a tool of government housing policy. Council House, nominally a private entity, classifies as a state actor because government has a mandated say in its management or control. Private landlords who receive HUD subsidies also rank as state actors for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. [First and Fourteenth - State Actors]
Federal regulations govern all aspects of Council House landlord-tenant relationships. As state actors, the directors intertwine with HUD officials. That interlacing precludes individual discretion by managers in defining terms that relate to changes in rent, modification of lease conditions, and termination of tenancy.
Council House managers and directors have abrogated federal regulations for several years by taking advantage of laissez faire policies at HUD. HUD dereliction has caused the unlawful eviction of many tenants without due process of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
As a state actor, the provisions in leases effectively classify as government regulations. Council House may not, therefore, promulgate a lease that curtails or narrows federal rights and may not apply the lease terms in a manner that violates those rights. Landlords may not impose provisions which may treat tenants unfairly or with discrimination.
Council House directors seeks to prohibit “noises or acts that will disturb the rights or comforts of neighbors” yet do not provide a definition. Therefore, the admonition classifies as impermissibly vague and inherently unreasonable. Moreover, the term “rude or abusive behavior” encompasses protected First Amendment activity which makes that restriction impermissibly over-broad and lacking any standard for conduct.
Courts have proscribed vagueness primarily for two purposes: to provide tenants with fair warning of what conduct they must avoid; and, to protect them from arbitrary, ad hoc, or discriminatory law enforcement. Neither leases nor house rules define the term “rude” which suffers from the same constitutional ambiguity as the terms “annoy” or “disturb”. Evicting tenants on the basis of such language ranks as patently absurd.
Council House tenants live in constant fear that something they say to another tenant might cause the listener to ask Mitchell to invoke house rules. If he considers that a statement affronts his ideology then he threatens the speaker with eviction. He develops house rules that generally seek to curb conversation and he actively promotes ostracism as a control factor. He punishes anyone who breaks rules which he changes almost daily.
Declarative and Injunctive Relief
In their action for declaratory and injunctive relief, Doenyas/Kabbani seek judicial review of a particular provision of their lease that states “rude or abusive behavior towards residents and staff for any reason will not be tolerated. . .”. Council House has used this provision to evict previous tenants from their apartments and has repeatedly threatened to use it against these women which causes them distress.
State and local agencies provide Council House with substantial funding and pay a major portion of subsidized tenants’ monthly rent directly to Council House. Furthermore, the agencies must pay a substantial portion of each subsidized tenant’s rent if the tenant defaults or vacates the apartment in violation of the lease. This financial security creates an ambivalent attitude by managers toward arbitrary eviction.
Mitchell has the ultimate authority to make decisions whether or not to evict a tenant and uses it irrationally and arbitrarily using the vague provision “rude and abusive behavior” which he admits in testimony he cannot define. He recently used those terms to evict Donald Jackson, a very sick black man who had just returned from intensive care. [Whitewash - Jackson]
Earlier, an MD from Swedish Medical Center had sent Mitchell a warning letter claiming that eviction could endanger Jackson’s life. Mitchell evicted him anyway (05 Jan 05) then had his meager possessions thrown into the street where scavengers picked them over and stole anything of value.
Jackson’s eviction did not relate to rude and abusive behavior; instead, it resulted from the same issue that causes distress to Doenyas/Kabbani - they all testified or voiced an opinion against Mitchell in the same case. Mitchell has targeted every one of the journalist’s witnesses (and others who showed support) for retaliation since that hearing. (19 Apr 01)
Similarly, Mitchell tried to evict Lauren Jeanne Hawk (65), a very sick woman by using the same “rude and abusive” strategy (07 Jun 05). Hawk confronted Mitchell using her First Amendment rights to complain about building management and in particular racism involved in the Jackson and other evictions. Mitchell retaliated by trying to evict her.
A continued hearing of her case takes place in Washington Superior Court (26 Sep 05). Council House has made three offers of financial settlement which Hawk has rejected because they represent a buy off to maintain the status quo. [Hawk and the Raven] [Hawk defies the Raven] [First and Fourteenth]
During the Hawk discovery process, a lawyer asked Mitchell to define both “rude” and “abusive.” He admitted his inability to define those words. He also admitted that reasonable people could and do differ as to whether a particular behavior or statement defines as rude or abusive. Moreover, Mitchell admitted that he bases his enforcement of leases on his personal discretion, and that some violations result in written warnings and ultimately an eviction action while others do not.
Mitchell does not consider the harassing material produced and disseminatd by his Kapos as rude or abusive and takes no action to reprimand them or threaten them with eviction. Most of the documents sent to government agencies and media by Mitchell and Jacques contain propaganda and distortion of fact. Now besieged by federal and state law suits connected to his elder abuse and racism, he has responded in the only way that he knows how - with more lies and deceit.
Mitchell has for almost five years used Jacques to write and distribute false and misleading information about tenants whom he delegates for abuse. Mitchell then filed that disinformation with government agencies and committed perjury by using it in declarations filed as evidence in frivolous and vindictive law suits.
Generally, people who gain employment using fraudulent credentials turn attention away from themselves by attempting to discredit other people. This describes both Mitchell and Jacques. Mitchell, an out-of-work actor who acted his way into a $60,000/pa job has no record of achievement, similarly Jacques.
Jacques recently started another propaganda campaign using rewrites of his previous defamatory material. Having nothing new to say, he has recycled the propaganda that he previously wrote with one difference. He has now apparently employed a ghost writer to try to overcome his subliteracy. [Text of Latest Council House Propaganda]
Mitchell did nothing about Jacques when he threatened a black man (whom Mitchell had unlawfully evicted) in a court room. Police records show that he said in front of Mitchell and court officers: "Im going to blow your fucking head off". Mitchell condoned his behavior despite malicious harassment classifying as a class C felony.
By the same token, Mitchell claims that Hawk’s alleged statements about racism, building mismanagement, and firing of staff violated her lease and has commenced eviction proceedings against her. Mitchell opined that calling a staff member “liar”classifies as rudeness which violates her lease and gives cause for eviction.
If Doenyas or Kabbani had threatened to blow Mitchell's mother-fucking head off, then would he have taken it in his stride and forgiven them? This inequity and convoluted reasoning applies to myriad other cases involving Council House tenant evictions or threats of eviction.
Doenyas stopped in Council House lobby to observe new construction work and Nancy Sweiv-n apparently shouted at her. Doenyas claims that Sweiv-n (a generally acknowledged loudmouth) yelled first and that she only responded in kind. Mitchell then warned Doenyas that she risked eviction proceedings for violation of the “rude or abusive behavior” clause in her lease (14 Dec 04).
Not content with a verbal warning, two weeks later Mitchell wrote to Doenyas (27 Dec 04) that: “Section G of the House Rules prohibits rude or abusive behavior towards residents and staff [for any reason, will not be tolerated]. Repeated offences will subject resident to eviction”. In that letter, Mitchell claimed that he heard Doenyas yell at Sweiv-n and call her an idiot because she did not know what she was doing: probably a fair and unbiased evaluation of Sweiv-n.
Mitchell renewed his threat of eviction against Doenyas in a second letter (28 Jun 05) telling her that she again risked eviction for failing to comply with the same “rude and abusive” clause of her lease. Your behavior continues to violate your lease. Further violations will result in Council House filing a 10-day notice to comply. Any additional violations may result in an eviction hearing.
Doenyas had apparently responded to verbal provocation by Nathaniel Stahl and Charlene Sego, his house guest. That Kapo brought a frivolous antiharassment suit against Doenyas which he lost after the hearing turned into a carnival.
A reading of the transcript of the Stahl/Sego evidence makes one wish that Gilbert and Sullivan could return to use it as a sequel to The Mikado. The judge dismissed the case in favor of Doenyas which infuriated Mitchell because he had used Stahl as his straw. [Straw-Man Stratagem] [Pattern or Practice] [Five Kapos]
Likewise, Mitchell warned Gilda Kabbani (19 Aug 05) that she had violated her lease and could face eviction proceedings. She had evidently telephoned Donald Silverman (Council House Vice-President) and left a voice message saying that Council House had become like Nazi Germany. Mitchell considered that statement in poor taste and beyond acceptable behavior under the “rude and abusive behavior” clause in her lease. Over a period, he has sent her four warning letters that all threatened her and violated her First Amendment rights.
Council House has now warned imminent eviction or actually commenced eviction actions against no fewer than seven tenants in the last two years. They wholly or partially predicated on alleged violation of the “rude and abusive behavior” clause in house rules appended to their leases. As a result of myriad threats to evict tenants based upon that ambiguous clause, tenants currently fear to express their opinions about and within Council House.
Expressing beliefs that the administration classifies as racist or incompetent subjects them to eviction from their federally subsidized apartments. The restraint on speech can actually cause any tenant harm by eviction at any time based upon the level of Mitchell’s hysteria on any particular day. [Histrionics and Narcissism]
Gilda Kabbani - Harassment
Prosecuting reporters for espousing unpopular views and limiting free speech through litigation has no new ring to it. However, the excuses for censorship have changed. Mitchell effectively evicted the journalist who reported his harassment. He then had him jailed for contempt with solitary confinement for almost four months. He used the sole issue that his published articles construed as rude and abusive behavior.
His only excuse to support eviction, or harassment by threats of eviction, has related to a lease addendum that vaguely prohibits “rude and abusive behavior”. He admitted under oath that he could not define those terms.
A number of Council House tenants visited the reporter while in jail, among them Kabbani and Doenyas. They visited frequently at great personal effort and even gained access to the ultra-security section that housed accused murderers and rapists to visit him. The empathy derived from them all having striven to maintain their First Amendment rights. The journalist had distributed pamphlets, Kabbani had posted some quotations on a bulletin board, and Doenyas had spoken her mind. [Supreme Court Review]
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Mitchell and Dunbar instituted strict bulletin board and pamphlet censorship, contrary to Seattle Municipal Code prohibiting landlords from such acts. That code specifically allows tenants to indulge in those activities. It also allowed them to freely assemble to discuss tenant affairs without landlord interference - another right abrogated by Council House. Moreover, as directors of a HUD financially-assisted building they must comply with Code of Federal Regulations.
[SMC 22.206.180.A.7] [24 CFR 245.115]
Kabbani posted statements on the tenant’s bulletin board, all of them generally considered democratic. They included part of a speech made by Eleanor Roosevelt before the United Nations and other quotations by Elie Wiesel and George Washington Carver. Dunbar removed them and Mitchell destroyed them after Kabbani had gone to considerable time and trouble to prepare them for presentation. Conversely, Felippe Jacques regularly distributes hate mail and posts it on the bulletin board with the approval of Mitchell and Dunbar.
If one reads the Kabbani flyers then considers Dunbar’s supremacist leanings, one understands why she censored them. The content of the censored pieces reveals her neo-fascist ideology and that of her directors. These blatant acts of censorship formed part of the testimony in the Washington Supreme Court brief that called for restoration of constitutional freedom of speech and other constitutional rights guaranteed by Congress to the evicted journalist. [Censored!]
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Audrey F. Dunbar,and Stephen A. Mitchell arbitrarily removed these quotations from a tenants' bulletin board at Council House, Seattle.
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Gilda Kabbani posted them and asked for return of the originals. Dunbar told her that Mitchell had destroyed them.
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Enough said?
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Kabbani witnessed Lambert’s violence toward Willie Mae Williams. Lambert (a Mitchell Kapo) had put a stranglehold on her neck for no particular reason and drew blood which sent Williams to hospital.
Kabbani spoke with reference to the frivolous and capricious antiharassment suits at Council House which Mitchell publicly encouraged some tenants to bring against other tenants. She also referred to the police action that he orchestrated to effect constructive and unlawful evictions.
She called for the directors and HUD to take notice of Mitchell’s supremacist tactics and to restore order by appointing a qualified manager who will not impose illegal ideologies upon tenants and abuse them by bringing frivolous lawsuits. [Freedom of Expression]
Later, Kabbani described Victor Weddington as “a black man, and I might add, an extremely lovely human being with a serious heart problem”. She described how Mary Bryan repeatedly victimized her neighbor by making “as much violent sounding noises as she can to rid herself of Victor who is next door to her”. Kabbani says that Bryan has made it public that she has a fear of black men and wants him gone. She says that Weddington has complained to Mitchell about the harassment and racism yet Mitchell has done nothing about it.
Kabbani commented on how Mitchell consistently provoked and publicly humiliated Leon L. Harris, a quiet, retiring black man, former aide to the Governor of Oregon, until he spoke out against racism. Mitchell then constructively evicted him although Harris won a frivolous antiharassment law suit brought against him by Mitchell using Lambert as straw proxy.
Kabbani said: “It’s a disgrace that they brought this matter to court in the first place.” She went on to say that: “It’s very evident that the administrator and his staff are not emotionally or academically equipped to deal with aging or disabled folks”.
Harris obtained a pro bono attorney and an ethical judge found in his favor. Mitchell and Jacques then unleashed an unprecedented campaign of racial abuse and intimidation against Harris until he had to leave his home and find another place to live. They also intimidated his witnesses as they have done on at least ten other occasions. [Trials of Leon L Harris]
Kabbani witnessed for Harris in that action which ended with Jacques later threatening Harris by saying: “I’m going to blow your fucking head off”. Mitchell condoned that behavior and Seattle police claim that they referred the incident to the district attorney who has apparently done nothing about it. Mitchell did not consider it “rude and abusive behavior” and did not warn Jacques that he had violated his lease or threaten to evict him. Instead, Mitchell has since rewarded Jacques in a variety of ways and harassed Kabbani for witnessing against him. [Whitewash]
Kabbani also opined upon the alleged homicide by abuse of Jackie Nations who committed suicide after constant abuse by her niece Audrey F. Dunbar. Kabbani said that she spoke with Jackie about a week before she died while they sat in the Council House lobby. She says that she found her very depressed.
Following Jackie’s suicide, several witnesses identified sounds that they heard during the night and came forward to say that she did not die immediately. Others have provided detailed reports that Jackie, a vulnerable adult by virtue of diminished mental capacity, constantly suffered abuse by her niece, particularly during the days before her death.
Kabbani said that Jackie appeared very sad and although mentally slow still had some wits about her. She said that Jackie told her that when Dunbar moved her father out she no longer had a touchstone and felt very vexed. Kabbani corroborates the statements made by other tenants about Jackie's psychological condition and abuse by her niece during the weeks preceding her suicide. [Who Killed Jackie Nations?]
King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng had notice of the events but has done nothing to investigate the complicity of Mitchell and Dunbar in two cases of alleged homicide by abuse although many witnesses have full knowledge of the incidents and would testify if protected from retaliation for reporting them.
Instead of addressing the Nations suicide, Mitchell covered it up then tried to blame several tenants for murdering her in the same way that he has blamed a variety of people for the tire slashing. He tried to kill the messengers bearing witness to the incidents by using ostracism and other harassment. He constantly harassed Kabbani and tampered with her as a witness in other cases until she instructed a lawyer. [Racism]
Pola Doenyas - Harassment
Pola Doenyas (75), a long-time resident, received an eviction threat for discussing issues published in these columns with other residents. The administrator told her that she may receive a contempt citation for violating the original antiharassment order that he claims applies to all residents (it does not apply to residents).
He then arbitrarily accused her of extortion - this after he previously tried to coerce her not to testify in a court case. He retaliated against her for filing a complaint and has also tampered with her as a witness by offering her financial relief from an outstanding debt. She refused the bribe.
Since, Mitchell’s Kapos have assaulted her and publicly humiliated her. Mitchell has classified her discussions with other residents as “rude and abusive behavior” and cause for eviction and has threatened to terminate her residency.
Doenyas, a native of Bulgaria, suffered under the regimes of both Hitler and Stalin. She now has to contend with similar abuse at Council House. She has an attorney representing her and Mitchell has tried to intimidate and retaliate against her for using that attorney. Both Mitchell and his assistants have victimized her repeatedly. Felippe Jacques refers to her repeatedly as Eurotrash and uses disgusting epithets about her which Mitchell evidently does not consider rude or abusive.
Lily Dubner (68), a new tenant, paid double the approved market rent for a first month occupancy to see whether she liked the location on the understanding that at the end of that month she would receive a regular lease if she wanted it. She had cancer which needed regular treatment and wanted to live near the hospital.
Dubner made the unforgivable mistake of associating with Doenyas who reads these columns and discusses the content with other tenants. On hearing of the association, the administrator rescinded the agreement to grant a lease to Dubner and backdated a letter of confirmation. He threw Dubner out with nowhere to stay that night and gave her neither notice nor a refund of her money.
Mitchell then decided to ratchet up the coercion on Doenyas. He learned that she had spoken about this author to other residents. At that time, the author had no contact with Doenyas who apparently discussed articles on this web site with other tenants. Those tenants reported her to Mitchell probably to curry favor - the wont of myriad tenants.
Mitchell wrote an eviction warning to Doenyas, one of many similar warnings sent by Mitchell to tenants who disagree with him. He claimed that his lawyers had informed him that to continue to discuss the content of Contra Cabal within the Council House community construed as harassment and violated a court order (now awaiting a decision after a review by Washington Supreme Court). That court order did not apply to Doenyas.
Mitchell then told her that she had put her residency at Council House in jeopardy. He claimed that house rules signed by her clearly stated that rude or abusive behavior directed toward staff or residents may result in eviction. He warned her that reading and talking about Contra Cabal could result in his pursuing eviction proceedings.
In effect, you the reader, if a current or future tenant of Council House (which includes the whole population of the US over the age of 62 other than vulnerable adults), could suffer eviction or receive a contempt citation for your current action in reading this article. In Mitchell’s mashed mind, reading Contra Cabal construes as rude and abusive behavior toward Council House staff. This author feels forlornly flattered.
Mitchell has a history of using Kapos and their molls as straw men to evict tenants whom he does not like based upon his own racist or ideological prejudices. He employs several thugs to enforce neo-fascist ideology and “zero-tolerance” policies and has repeatedly suborned an elite among tenants to manufacture evidence and commit perjury to support a series of frivolous law suits. [Straw-Man Stratagem]
Mitchell used Charlene Sego, a house guest of Nathaniel Stahl, to retaliate against Doenyas. Doenyas had supported another tenant Lauren Jeanne Hawk (65) in her defense when Mitchell tried to evict her for “rude and abusive behavior”. [Hawk and the Raven]
Sego brought a frivolous antiharassment suit against Doenyas as straw or proxy for Mitchell. Then Stahl manufactured evidence and they both offered it as testimony. Sego, who frequently visits Council House, has acted variously as straw and perjurer with abandon. She has no residency qualifications yet has insinuated herself into Council House affairs as a straw for Mitchell.
Both these people apparently have diminished capacity - individuals unable to understand that commission of perjury ranks as a crime. Sego has publicly admitted to drinking her own urine in attempts to cure a genetic skin disease. Stahl has a diagnosed bipolar condition, dubious residency qualifications, and has for several years acted as Mitchell's stool pigeon.
Two weeks later they both appeared as witnesses for Mitchell in the Hawk case with an almost identical script and courtroom choreography. One of Mitchell's favorite pastimes as an out-of-work actor involves scripting perjury for his straws so that he can act out his fantasies in court. He turns court hearings into a carnival to satisfy his ego. One person commented after reading the Sego/Stahl testimony, replete with contradictions, that they must have met each other in a mental institution.
Several years earlier, Mitchell appointed Stahl a computer monitor mainly to control the flow of information. In that capacity , he had a violent confrontation in the computer room with Doenyas. He terrified her to the extent that she ran into the elevator to escape from him.
Doenyas dialed for emergency police assistance but to no avail. Mitchell intercepts police officers when they arrive at the building in answer to calls made by tenants. He then feeds them a line about their mental condition and his responsibility as a mental health professional to try to avoid the officers interviewing the tenant.
Mitchell has no mental health qualifications but the police tend to believe him. If the officers insist on interviews with tenants then Mitchell holds the meeting in his office in his presence then retaliates against the complainant later for “causing trouble”.
Mitchell prevented Doenyas, an educated, computer-literate woman from using the computers, normally available to all tenants, permanently after the altercation with Stahl. She has to go to the public library for computer access and to download her email. Her only sin - she had the audacity to instruct other residents on how to use computers, a teaching function that Stahl reserved for himself and another Kapo, Felippe Jacques. Mitchell has since closed the computer lab.
Council House directors could care less about the plight of Doenyas or similar suffering by other tenants. Doenyas had the chutzpah to speak out about injustice; however, Mitchell used her tenacity against her by arranging for other residents to ostracize her. He used her story to increase his hold over other residents and continues to threaten anyone else who speaks out with similar treatment. [Pattern or Practice]
Proposed Federal Intervention
As a participant in the HUD Section 8 housing program, Council House is bound by the federal statutes and regulations that govern that program because it classifies as a state actor for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. Consequently, Doenyas/Kabbani have brought four causes of action in federal court that seek declaratory judgment to resolve:
1.xAn actual and substantial controversy that the contested provision of the House Rules is unconstitutional because it violates rights of free speech guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. They seek further redress against enforcement of the contested provision under color of Washington state law which Council House continues to violate.
2.xAn unconstitutional and contested provision of the House Rules which violates the right of due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution - a provision considered unreasonable, impermissibly vague, and which invites arbitrary enforcement. They seek further redress against enforcement of the contested provision in violation of Washington state law.
3.xThe contention that the provision does not constitute a reasonable house rule. They seek redress against enforcement of the contested provision of the House Rules to prevent unlawful actions by Council House management and staff.
4.xActions by Council House that keep the contested provisions of the House Rules in effect. If it continues to enforce them all persons similarly situated risk immediate and irreparable injury for which no adequate remedy at law exists. Enforcement of the clause curtails speech within and about Council House even when the First Amendment protects that speech. Without restraint, this clause will cause irreparable loss of constitutional rights. Even if tenants attempt to curtail their speech they could continue to suffer arbitrary enforcement of the contested provision of the House Rules to commence eviction proceedings on the theory that they have violated their leases.
Motion for Preliminary Injunction
Doenyas/Kabbani have made two requests to federal court to:
1.xIssue a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction enjoining Council House, their employees, agents and successors from relying upon the contested provision of the house rule prohibiting “rude or abusive behavior” as a reason to evict the tenants, or to commence any action in any court based on any alleged violation of the contested provision of the House Rules, or to deny them any benefit or right attendant to their tenancy whatsoever.
2.xEnter judgment declaring the House Rule prohibiting “rude or abusive behavior” to be in violation of the United States Constitution, and permanently enjoining the enforcement of that provision.
Conclusion
Both Doenyas and Kabbani have shown moral fortitude in bringing this action in face of untold abuse. They have suffered intolerably from treatment by an individual with no scruples and the indifference of a board of directors fully cognizant with the unlawful practices that take place at Council House.
The directors have political affiliations with federal and municipal oversight authorities and have several judges in their pocket so they could care less about the law. Mitchell openly boasts about that control and applies it himself. One can only hope that federal court, with its appointed judges, will enforce the law and override the decisions of the elected hacks that inhabit Washington Superior Court.
[Nmesis]
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