The Snohomish County Council took emergency action Wednesday to remove a department from County Executive Aaron Reardon’s control, part of an escalating fight between Reardon and the county’s legislative branch, our online news partner The Seattle Times reported.

The council withdrew Reardon’s control of the Department of Information Services in response to allegations that the county executive’s staff is targeting county employees who cooperated with an investigation into Reardon last year by the Washington State Patrol, The Times said.

A story last week in the Everett Herald detailed how Kevin Hulten, a Reardon staffer, used a fake name when he requested extensive public records on the whistle-blower in the case and several others, including county prosecutors who turned the case over to the State Patrol, the county auditor, two County Council members and their aides, and others who spoke with state patrol investigators.

You can read the complete Times report here.