Local legislators reserving judgment on Shea report

MOSES LAKE — Local legislators, though expressing concern, are reserving judgment until they can further review a state House report that accuses Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, of engaging in “domestic terrorism.”

“There’s just a lot in there, and I don’t have anything to say yet,” said Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake. “Some serious allegations have been made here.”

Last July, leaders of the Washington State House of Representatives asked Seattle-based security consulting firm Rampart Group to investigate Shea to determine whether the Spokane-area representative “was engaged in, planned, or promoted political violence against groups or individuals.”

In a 108-page report, the Rampart Group — founded by former FBI Special Agent Kathy Loedler and Houston Police investigator and corporate security specialist Paul Loedler — found that Shea was involved in organizing the January 2016 occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, intimidated political opponents and “engaged in and promoted annual Patriot Movement militia training” to support potential future “armed conflicts against federal, state and local governments and law enforcement.”

The report’s authors concluded that Shea “is likely to plan, direct and engage in additional future conflicts that could carry with them significant risk of bloodshed and loss of life.”

“Representative Shea presents a present and growing threat of risk to others through political violence,” the report’s authors state.

Local Reps. Dent and Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, called the findings “serious” and “surprising” respectively, but both declined to comment further without additional review of the report, which they first saw Thursday.

“It was surprising, but I think that there’s still a lot of due diligence to be done on this report, and I’m going to hold my input,” Ybarra said.

Shortly after the report was published, House Minority Leader Rep. JT Wilcox, R-Yelm, issued a statement on Twitter condemning Shea.

“Rep. Matt Shea has been suspended from any role in the House Republican Caucus,” Wilcox. “He should resign. He cannot use House Republican staff, he cannot meet with the caucus, his office will be moved.”

Former Rep. Matt Manweller, who resigned in January amid mounting allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against the former legislator and Central Washington University professor, took to social media to criticize Wilcox. At the end of last year, Wilcox had similarly asked for Manweller’s resignation following a Northwest News Network report that Manweller had a sexual relationship with a minor when he was 27.

“If you are surprised JT Wilcox threw Matt Shea under the bus, you don’t know him,” Manweller wrote in a Facebook post Friday. “JT has risen to power by betraying every friend he ever had. Yesterday’s actions were just another step in a long road. During my time in leadership I watched him stab one colleague after another in the back.”

Both of the 13th Legislative District’s current representatives declined to comment on Manweller’s comments, with Ybarra saying he wasn’t familiar enough with the circumstances of Manweller’s departure to weigh in. Ybarra was appointed to fill Manweller’s seat in January after the former legislator resigned. Warnick said that, while she wouldn’t have made that statement herself, she understood why Manweller felt the way he did, having gone through a similar experience.

However, both Dent and Warnick offered some support for the leader of the House Republican caucus, saying they found him to be professional in his conduct.

“I think a lot of Wilcox, for what it’s worth,” Dent said. “As far as whether (his decision) was premature, he had a chance to study it for a week longer than I have. I hadn’t seen it until Thursday. He’s had some time to digest it.”