‘Hate Radio’ Forces Rice To Confront Rumors Records Don’t Support Former Seattle City Worker’s Story That Mayor Shot During Homosexual Act With Aide

Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, a leading Democratic contender for governor, plans a news conference Monday to confront “hate radio” rumors that he engaged in homosexual acts with an aide.

Rice, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and a friend of President and Mrs. Clinton, wrote religious and community leaders on Tuesday to ask that they join him at a news conference on “vicious rumors about me and my family.”

The rumors, unsupported by evidence and circulated by a disgruntled former city employee, are that Rice was shot and wounded by a relative a few years ago while having sex with then-Deputy Mayor Bob Watt, now president of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

In the letter, Rice called the rumors “ludicrous, outrageous and untrue.”

Details of the accusations were denied by Watt, the city Fire Department, Harborview Medical Center, police and others.

The mayor would not comment Friday on specifics of the rumors circulated by Kurt Hettiger, who was fired from the Water Department in November 1993.

“We aren’t going to say anything until Monday,” said Rice spokeswoman Rebecca Hale. “This has obviously been going on a long time and is obviously very hurtful to the mayor and his family. It goes against every fiber of his being (to talk about the attacks publicly). You don’t want to give it credence by talking about it.

“It has gotten to the point where he cannot continue to ignore it. … We’ve got to stand up.”

Watt, leading a trade tour in Hong Kong, denied the rumors in a telephone interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

“Norm Rice is a wonderful friend, but there has never been any sexual involvement between him and me,” Watt said in an article published today. “It’s so preposterous. …

“It’s silly, but it does hurt people because people believe it.”

Rice, 52, attempting to become Washington’s first black governor, said in the letter that the attack had been circulating for years and recently was broadcast on Mike Siegel’s talk show on Seattle station KVI.

“But there comes a time when you have to draw the line and confront your attackers,” the letter said.

Accompanying Rice’s letter was a copy of the newsletter which the mayor characterized as “full of disdain for women, blatant homophobia and intolerance.”

The telephone number on the newsletter has been disconnected. The P-I reported that Hettiger now lists an address in Wauconda, a hamlet north of Okanogan in the north-central part of the state.

Hettiger filed suit April 23, claiming he was harassed and forced to quit his job in the Okanogan County Public Works Department last year after uncovering evidence of corruption and misconduct. A day later he asked that the suit be dismissed.

“This guy is out to lunch,” said Don Anderson, an Okanogan County deputy prosecutor.

“It sounds like this guy came over here and did pretty much the same kind of thing he was doing in Seattle,” Anderson said. “Maybe I should have a talk with your mayor.”

In his letter, Rice said he could ignore the rumors no longer because of the attention given them on Siegel’s show.

Siegel, a longtime critic of the mayor, said a co-host raised the question on the air. Siegel said he replied that “this matter has been spread far and wide through the community by others.”

“All I would say is that the mayor has an obligation to answer this because it is such a widespread rumor,” Siegel said.