"It is our general policy to not comment on confidential personnel issues. However, Lorena Martin has elected to publicly comment on her personnel matters, and we cannot allow the false and ludicrous allegations in the story posted tonight on the Tacoma News Tribune's website to go unchallenged.
"The claims by Lorena Martin are fabricated, including her statements about reports to Human Resources and specific allegations about people named in the story.
"We are still trying to sort through all the statements that are being made publicly by Ms. Martin and we will continue to defend ourselves against false accusations."