June 6, 2025 • 41 mins
On this week-in-review, Crystal Fincher and Erica Barnett discuss:
👋 Cathy Moore resigning
🗳️ Kshama Sawant running for Congress
😬 KC Assessor John Wilson won't resign despite calls
🚔 Diaz/Tompkins updates
🏳️🌈 WA State Patrol interrupts Pride flag ceremony
As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.
Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find today’s co-host, Erica Barnett, on Bluesky at @ericacbarnett and on PubliCola.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Hacks & Wonks.
I'm your host, Crystal Fincher.
On this show, we talk with policy wonksand political hacks to get insight into
(00:21):
local policy and politics in Washingtonstate through the lens of those doing
the work, with behind-the-scenesperspectives on what's happening, why it's
happening, and what you can do about it.
If you missed this week's topical show, Ichatted with Jeanie Chunn, candidate for
Seattle City Council District 2, abouther stance on housing affordability,
small business support, and more - aswell as significant changes she advocates
(00:43):
for to the city's approach to publicsafety, housing, and budget priorities.
Today, we are continuing our Fridayweek-in-review shows, where we review
the news of the week with a co-host.
Welcome back to the program, friendof the show and today's co-host:
Seattle political reporter, editorof PubliCola, and co-host of the
Seattle Nice podcast, Erica Barnett.
(01:03):
Welcome back!
Thanks, Crystal.
Good to be here.
Great to have you here.
Well, this has been a week full ofnews - starting off with Seattle City
Councilmember Cathy Moore resigning,following withdrawal of her bill to lower
ethics standards for City Council people.
(01:23):
What happened here?
How did we get to this pointwhere Cathy Moore is resigning?
Oh my gosh.
Well, as you said, the ethicslegislation seems to have
been some sort of final straw.
She had proposed legislation that - ofcourse, she called just a fairly minor
technical fix to the ethics code - thatwould have rolled back ethics standards
(01:47):
for City Councilmembers to allow themto vote on matters where they had a
direct financial conflict of interest.
This was a wildly unpopular bill.
I don't think that there wasany - well, certainly not any
significant public support - Ididn't see any public support for it.
And some of the feedback thatCathy Moore and others got on
(02:08):
the bill was quite negative.
And I'm not just talking about thepeople who showed up with Kshama Sawant
and marched around Council chambers andscreamed and said they all had to go.
But I'm talking about hundredsand hundreds - perhaps thousands
- of emails from the public.
And then lots and lots - in fact,a lot more people just showing up
from the general public to Councilchambers, to ethics meetings
(02:31):
to say - We don't want this.
Why are you doing this?
Please don't roll this back.
Cathy Moore, I think consistentlythroughout her year and a half on
the Council, has interpreted negativefeedback as hate and as personal attacks.
And I know that sometimes the Councildoes get personal attacks in emails and
(02:52):
to some extent in public comment, butthere's nothing particularly unusual
about it - it is part of the job.
But I think Cathy Moore justreally didn't like that part
of the job - and she resigned.
She said she's stepping down on July 7th.
And so that means she will haveserved just about a year and
a half of her four-year term.
(03:13):
I think that is shocking to a lotof people - that it was so short.
We did see another recent resignation, butit was in a councilmember's second term
and by all accounts, according to them,they seemed to enjoy the work of the job.
And the challenge, according to them,was they were no longer permitted
to do that work by their colleagues.
(03:35):
This, as you just pointed out,seems to be a reaction, or continued
reaction - a result of justdisliking hearing contrary opinion.
And it feels like we got an early taste ofthis when early on in Cathy Moore's tenure
- during public comment, she requested thatpolice be summoned to control a crowd,
(04:01):
which I think was surprising to a lotof people because that kind of crowd,
reaction, feedback had not been uncommonat Council in the immediate years prior.
Yeah, it is somewhat ironic thatthis Council got elected saying
that they're going to bring in thislike era of good feelings because
they all are on the same page.
(04:22):
It's a less progressive council - theyreplaced the old Council - and
for their first year, most ofthem spent a lot of time blaming
the old Council for everything.
But those old Council meetings- Kshama Sawant was on the Council
and she could summon hundreds ofpeople if she wanted to, to disrupt
meetings and to yell and scream.
And now what we're mostly talking about- the reason that particular meeting went
(04:44):
off the rails, I think, is because SaraNelson, as Council President, decided
to shut down Council Chambers and hada bunch of people - about, I think, six
people - arrested for refusing to leave.
So that was something that theCouncil did to, I would say,
provoke an angry response.
And Cathy Moore, as people werebanging on the wall, having been shut
(05:08):
out of the Council Chambers, saidthat they should all be arrested.
And that is not how democracy works.
Even Sara Nelson was like - Well, let'scalm down the rhetoric a little bit.
But yeah, I mean, she got very emotional.
She said that she was afraid for hersafety, that they were going to break
down the wall, and said they were a mob- but implied they were going to storm the
(05:29):
Council Chambers and harm the Councilthemselves, which is not anything there's
any kind of historical precedent for.
So it just felt like every singletime there was negative pushback, she
took it extremely personally, got veryself-righteous, very angry, said that
she was being subjected to hate and thatshe shouldn't have to put up with that.
(05:52):
And it's just part of the jobof being a councilmember in the
city of Seattle, where peoplereally care about local politics.
And sometimes they care loudly.
They really do.
And I think what sticks out to a lotof people is that, again, that type
of reaction by public commenters,by protesters was fairly common
in the terms of her predecessors.
(06:13):
And during the campaigns, that seemedto feel justified to her - that there
was anger from the public towardsdecisions that she did not disagree with.
However, when she was there andpeople disagreed with her, then
it seemed to be unjustified.
So I think the lack of consistency hasbeen what a lot of people have noticed.
(06:34):
Now, I do think it's important tomention that one of the things that
she cited, as she was announcingthis, were some health concerns.
And we certainly do notwish anyone poor health.
We hope that those are able to be resolvedand wish her the best as she moves on.
Now, let's talk about what's nextand what timing is involved with
(07:00):
the choice of her predecessor.
And how her timing of resignation mayimpact how long that person may be there.
Well, Cathy Moore decided to, beganmaking this decision - she told
others, she did not speak to me aboutthis - but she had been thinking
about it for a while, clearly.
And yet, she waited until afterthe filing deadline for this year's
(07:24):
elections in November, when we mighthave been able to elect a replacement
for whoever gets appointed to this seat.
She waited until after that deadlineto announce this, which means that
we as the voters will not be ableto pick a successor to represent her
district, North Seattle, until 2026.
And so, as a result, there's goingto be someone in place for - I'm
(07:48):
bad at math, but let's say two yearsor more, who has not been elected
by the people of her district.
And I just think we can get intowho might be looking to replace
her on an interim basis in a sec,but I do want to just point out
that is incredibly anti-democratic.
It is the process that we have, but toelect somebody - if you're a constituent
(08:12):
in District 5, you elected Cathy Moore.
Or maybe you didn't - maybeyou voted against her.
You thought she was going to be inthere for at least four years, and she's
bowing out after a year and a half.
And somebody else picked by thisCouncil, which, by the way, includes
another appointed councilmember whowas never elected - Mark Solomon.
And they're going to pickwho represents District 5.
(08:34):
It just feels like when we electpeople, it would be nice if they
would stay in office or if they choosenot to - it's not the job for them
- that they create every opportunityfor their voters to replace them.
Yeah, I think that's fair.
Essentially, this is the differencebetween if this decision would
have been made just a month ago.
(08:56):
And to be clear, this has actuallybeen rumored and people have
been talking about this behindthe scenes for quite some time.
It wasn't a surprise to manypeople when she said she had been
thinking about this for a while.
So waiting until after filing week,which is in mid-May - if she would
have done it just a month ago, theywould be able to vote for a replacement
(09:19):
in this August primary election andNovember general election, and someone
who could take office this year.
Waiting just that month sticks District5 with this appointed, unelected
representative for a full additional year.
And think about how many-
Thank you for correcting my math.
No worries.
(09:40):
But the amount of decisionsthat are going to be made.
The Comprehensive Plan is supposedto be decided in that amount of time.
We have a number of issues.
There's going to be an entireadditional budget cycle that happens
that will be voted on in that time.
Major decisions that impact the city ofSeattle - the Comprehensive Plan is the
(10:02):
plan for the next decade, the budgetis going to determine the direction
of the city and what gets funded,what the priorities of the city are.
And these are now going to be madeby an unelected representative
for District 5 because of thetiming of this announcement.
So that is, I think, an unfortunatething that is not going to be wonderful
(10:25):
- well, that many people assume is notgoing to be wonderful, because of the
track record of appointments of thisCouncil that have not turned out, I
think, as well as even this Councilwould say they wanted them to turn out.
So now that we look at this, whatis the appointment process and who
has talked about interest in this?
Boy, I feel like because therehave been so many appointments,
(10:46):
I've actually gotten pretty good atexplaining the appointment process.
So the appointment process is - onceCathy Moore steps down, the Council
has 20 days to pick a successor.
They go through a process that iskind of determined by the Council,
but generally has included somepublic hearings where people get to
watch the Council ask questions ofwhoever applies for the appointment.
(11:10):
And then there's a vote, and they pick.
And in the last two rounds of this,where Tanya Woo and Mark Solomon got
appointed, they chose to pick someone whohad lost - actually, in both cases, lost
to Tammy Morales, the councilmember whoresigned at the beginning of this year.
And so, we'll see.
The names I've heard include PatienceMalaba, who is the head of the
(11:32):
Housing Development Consortium.
Colleen Echohawk, who is the formerhead of the Chief Seattle Club, she's
now the CEO of Eighth Generation.
And Nilu Jenks, who lost to Cathy Moorein last year's election - she actually
lost in the primary, but she is apparentlygoing to put her name in the hat.
(11:52):
And I'm sure there's going tobe lots of others, including
people we haven't heard of.
But it'll probably be a feisty process,like it has been the last couple of times.
Despite Cathy Moore's somewhatunderstandable distaste for the job - I
wouldn't want to sit there and get yelledat either - people are just constantly
wanting to throw themselves on the pyre,as somebody put it to me last night.
(12:15):
So I think we'll see a lot ofapplicants for the position.
I think we'll see a lot ofapplicants for the position.
And, as other people have been joking- wondering if Tanya Woo, whose name seems
to pop up because of her own actionsin every endorsement process, wondering
if she's going to be zooming up toDistrict 5 to figure out a place of
(12:38):
residence and to add fuel to that fire.
Moderated a forum of citywide councilcandidates and mayoral candidates last
night - which you were also at andcovering - and Tanya Woo was also there.
So who knows - you know - what it is.
She's everywhere.
She was sitting rightbehind me, apparently.
She's inevitable, evidently.
(12:58):
Just Tanya Woo, everything- death, taxes, and Tanya Woo.
But, speaking of people who areperennially around - also this week,
Seattle socialist Kshama Sawant announceda run for Congress against Adam Smith
in the 9th Congressional District.
(13:18):
How did this come about?
Why does Kshama say she is running?
Well, she says she's running becauseshe wants to end the genocide in Gaza
and implement her socialist policies.
And I would say we should note thatKshama Sawant is not a typical socialist.
She's always described as a socialist,but she's not in the mainstream
(13:40):
of socialism - such as it is.
She worked for Jill Steinto defeat Kamala Harris.
She is a firebrand, but a very specifictype of socialist firebrand in her
own kind of little mini-niche - shestarted her own political party.
So she's running - she'snot going to win this race.
She's going to raise issues- maybe they'll get discussed.
(14:01):
That is always a good thing, I think, forlongtime incumbents to have opponents.
But if you're asking my opinion of whyshe's actually running, I think she does
not like being on the other side - inthe activist role - after being a city
councilmember for so long, where she hadsome real power and a real bully pulpit.
(14:21):
And even when she was campaigningfor other things - she ran for State
Legislature - she got attentionfor herself and for her ideas
in a way that showing up to CityCouncil meetings and getting kicked
out really doesn't accomplish.
And I've just gotten a sense thatshe does not love being on the other
(14:42):
side of the dais at City Council.
She's obviously not - she decidednot to run for City Council again.
But I think she feels morecomfortable in this role.
I really don't know enough to speakto what her personal motivation is.
I do think that this is aninteresting development.
(15:02):
Adam Smith has been obviously theCongress member for a long time,
but his support has been softeningfor a while now - increasingly.
And the district has changedpost-redistricting - the district
moved north a little bit.
So you have a district that's asignificant slice of kind of central
(15:23):
to south Seattle, large personsof Kent, Renton, other places like
Federal Way, Normandy Park, Bellevue-
Real socialist enclaves.
And they are not.
But I think that's what makes thedynamic that we've seen in the last
several cycles interesting - and Iam in the 9th Congressional District.
(15:47):
So again, this is an area that still,there are cities here and legislative
districts that still elect Republicans.
This is an area that's trending alittle bit bluer lately, but a lot of
this district has been pretty purple,if not red, in some of the eastern and
southeastern parts of the district.
And so you would think that - okay,kind of centrist-y Democrat
(16:12):
Adam Smith would be a great fit,according to the conventional wisdom.
And that has not beenthe case for a while.
And the support has been softening in thepopular vote - has been so significant
that where this area used to veryreliably pass through a Democrat and
a Republican to the general election,several recent ones have passed through
(16:35):
two Democrats, essentially saying thatthe Democratic vote is going to win this.
When you get to, especially when it comesto national-level rhetoric, where issues
like reproductive choice, abortion rights,civil rights, health care are involved
- this district sides with Democratson those top line big federal issues.
(16:59):
A lot more happens when you get to someof the local issues, but on those big
federal issues, they're pretty blue.
But that blue has split and iskind of split with Adam Smith
and something further left.
And Adam Smith has been helped by thefact that the Democratic Party itself
has largely been unwilling to say - Okay,this guy's popularity is softening.
(17:23):
Maybe we're going to throw oursupport behind an alternative.
I think there have been differentelements of willingness there, kind
of in the beginning, and then maybenot being in love with some of the
candidates they saw willing to step up.
But also a number of candidatessaying - We don't see the support
of Democratic Party, the allies,especially like major unions, stepping
(17:46):
in and giving Adam Smith's war chest- financial war chest - that makes a
huge difference in getting elected.
I'm going to need massiveresources to do that.
I'm not going to be able to putthat together if I don't get
the Democratic Party behind me.
On the ground, legislative districtshave been endorsing against Adam Smith.
They endorsed his essentially non-funded,very outsider opponent this past time.
(18:12):
And you saw his opponent get asignificant percentage of the vote,
get through to the general election- which many people were not expecting.
And then siphon a lot of his vote.
So his support has been softening.
But he still got 67% of the vote,which is major supermajority.
Absolutely.
But I do think that primary votewas pretty telling in that - when
(18:32):
there were more choices there, therewere a lot more who did move there.
And that does not mean that thosepeople who voted for another Democrat
or who were just very dissatisfiedwith Adam Smith overall are going
to be comfortable voting for someonewith a Socialist next to their name.
That is something that Seattlevoters are used to now and they don't
(18:53):
have much of a problem with - theyfeel pretty comfortable with that.
I would not say that's thecase - at this point in time - with
the rest of the district.
But Kshama is known for being a turnoutmachine, assembling an army of supporters
who gets a reach into areas and voterswho don't often turn out for other
(19:15):
elections and getting them to turn out.
And Kshama's saying her platformis end the genocide in Gaza.
No military aid, no occupation, freehealth care for all, tax the rich.
We need rent control, makecorporate landlords pay.
That is from Kshama's website.
And so those are issues thathave been gaining traction in the
(19:35):
9th Congressional District andessentially got an unfunded, unknown
opponent into the general election.
Now, that opponent had a D by theirname and not a socialist brand.
But I think Kshama is going to be someonewho can't be ignored in this race.
I think Kshama can put togethersignificant resources on a national basis
- she's shown the ability to do that before.
(19:58):
Although she doesn't havea national party anymore.
And not that Socialist Alternative was ahuge party, but I believe what she'll have
by her name now is Workers Strike Back,which is the political party she started.
I could be incorrect - maybeit will just say Socialist.
But I think that she has narrowedher own base of support in some ways
by saying that she has ideologicaldifferences with Socialist Alternative,
(20:19):
which is already kind of a fringeparty within the broader socialist
movement, with Democratic Socialistsof America being the biggest party.
So not to get into all the nuances,but I think that she has, in some ways,
marginalized herself more by sayingthat she has this separate party.
And also, frankly, by working againstKamala Harris with Jill Stein.
Locally, I think a lot of lefties kindof poo-poo that and say - Oh, well, it
(20:43):
was just about this one issue, aboutwarmongering and spending money on Israel.
But it's a pretty good talking pointfor Adam Smith - I'll just say that.
And I absolutely agree with you there.
I actually think that just that one issue- campaigning against Kamala Harris - is
almost more than anything else going to besomething that sours a lot of voters, who
(21:06):
may even have been so dissatisfied withAdam Smith that they're willing to lend an
ear to someone to his left, that that isgoing to be something that most voters who
are Democrats, find to be unforgivable.
But we will see.
We're just talking.
But I do think that Kshama is goingto be someone who is going to be part
(21:27):
of the conversation in this race, andwe'll see what happens from there.
Also want to talk about KingCounty Assessor John Wilson having
allegations - new allegations- there were previous allegations.
These are new stalking allegationssurface against him, which brought a
(21:48):
number of calls for his resignation fromDemocratic officials across the state.
What are these allegations, andwho's calling for him to leave?
Well, as you said, there were allegationsbefore - this is by his ex-domestic
partner, who is a prominent localpublic affairs consultant, Lee Keller.
(22:08):
And she is alleging - and I thinkJohn Arthur Wilson, the assessor, is
not denying this behavior - that heessentially would not leave her alone
after she told him that they were done.
She has a restraining order againsthim that includes a lot of text
messages and communications thatshow that he is saying things
(22:30):
like - I will never leave you alone.
And basically, you know, harassingher and refusing to leave her alone.
He has in the past shown upat her house, followed her
around, allegedly tracked her.
And so it's just kind of - I hate to saytypical stalker behavior - but if you
have ever been in this position, a lotof this stuff will be quite familiar.
(22:52):
And Wilson is claiming - I think notvery credibly - that he and Keller are
doing just fine, they're still together,she's lifted the restraining order.
She says that's not true and theyaren't together, and she's not lifted
the restraining order - which iswhat court records currently support.
But people should go to PubliCola.com,where I broke this story last week,
(23:16):
and just look at some of the stuffthat is in the restraining order.
It is very disturbing.
I would say it is disqualifyingfor a public official.
And so, as you mentioned, Crystal, alot of people have been asking or have
been demanding that he resign, includingseveral members of the King County
Council - two of his opponents for theCounty Executive race, Girmay Zahilay
(23:38):
and Claudia Balducci, as well as RodDembowski, Teresa Mosqueda, Jorge Barón.
King County Executive ShannonBraddock, the King County Democrats
- I mean, it's pretty universal.
And he said to a couple of other reportersthat he has no plans to step down.
So that kind of leaves - because he's anelected official, the only way to remove
(23:58):
him is for there to be a countywiderecall vote, which seems somewhat
unlikely at this point, but we shall see.
Yeah.
Another added dimension here isthat John Wilson is currently a
candidate for King County Executive.
So in addition to being someone whoholds countywide elected office right
(24:19):
now, he's also running to be theexecutive, which - and this has not gone
unnoticed - if he were to be successful,which looks very unlikely, but if he
were to be, he would be put in charge.
He would be the boss of the people who arerunning this investigation, ultimately.
He would be in control of the people andresources that are involved in this court
(24:43):
case, and investigating his actions,and potentially overseeing and being
some of the methods of accountability ifwrongdoing were officially to be found.
Now, to your point, he's notdenying that he has essentially
continued to communicate withthis woman without consent.
(25:05):
Pretty conclusive text that youshow on PubliCola, where she's
saying - LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!
And he just responds, like - Never.
And keeps going and keeps texting.
And this is in-line withwhat he had done before.
And like you said, to have been insituations where people will not
accept no - will not stop despitewhat you say, despite your wishes - is
(25:30):
just a horrible situation to be in.
And just - he doesn't seemto have a problem with it.
He doesn't seem to recognize thatthis is any kind of a problem.
And everyone else who does - he'sjust ignoring and saying,
essentially, they're haters.
And, oh, this is just the two peoplerunning against me and it's a campaign
(25:52):
tactic - ignoring the fact that it is somany more people, down to Bruce Harrell,
calling for this man's resignation.
I forgot about Bruce.
Yeah, yeah, he got in on that.
I will say, too, in the previouspetition - which Lee Keller did drop,
and I don't think that we should considerthat just positive of anything - people
go back to abusive relationships allthe time, for all kinds of reasons.
(26:15):
And I think that the more compellingevidence is that he does not
deny doing all these things.
And one of the things that he does notdeny doing is - he called the employer
of somebody that she had dated brieflywhen they were not together and tried to
get him fired by making false allegationsof sexual assault against this man.
(26:38):
And there are text messagesabout that as well.
And so this is justlike, appalling behavior.
This man is not going to be aKing County Executive - he's
polling in a distant third.
It's, I think, a sign of - well, I don'tknow what it's a sign of - certainly ego,
that he will not drop out of this raceand stop wasting people's time by putting
himself out there on the campaign stage.
(26:59):
But I also think that most - maybenot most elected officials - but most
people would consider it a problem ifbasically every elected official in
the county where they are an electedofficial, was calling on them to resign.
(27:20):
And he just seems that - his publicface, anyway, has been fairly
blithe about it - I'm not going toresign, I've done nothing wrong.
And I think that is justkind of chilling, personally.
Yeah, very chilling.
And essentially - We're backtogether again, that makes it okay.
And essentially, that was his defense tothe prior round of allegations - We're
(27:40):
back together, that makes it okay- without any kind of examination or
accountability for his actual behavior.
One last thing I just have to say here.
This is why it is so important topay attention when these people are
running for office and to plug intolocal politics - because there was a
(28:00):
glaring red flag when he was running.
And that was the fact that he hireda campaign consultant who himself
had significant allegations of sexualharassment, sexual misconduct, in addition
to a lot of other types of misconduct.
And the County Democrats, several peopleraised the flag when John Wilson was
(28:25):
running - and essentially, this personhas been blacklisted because of their
behavior from Democratic politics.
It had been reported quite a lot - theywere ousted from positions, Bailey
Stober's ouster from the King CountyDemocrats was covered by PubliCola
and a lot of what led up to it.
And the fact that John Wilson didn'thave any problem with hiring this person,
(28:48):
having him as one of his closest advisors- despite warnings, despite penalties
- was, to me, a glaring red flag.
If you don't have that kind of issuewith behavior of people inside your inner
circle, that's a signal you don't have aproblem with that behavior for yourself.
And not just that, but Bailey Stoberwas one of John Arthur Wilson's
(29:10):
top staff at the assessor's officeduring, when all that was going on.
And I wrote about that on PubliCola- Bailey was accused of sexually harassing
a employee of his at the Democratsand Wilson stood by him at the time.
And I thought that was telling.
Absolutely.
So when you see things like that inlocal politics and there are people
(29:33):
raising flags - there is an issuesimilar to this happening in King
County right now, in a legislativeseat - that you pay attention and that
you take these warnings seriously.
Because not having a problem with thiskind of behavior is itself a red flag.
So - now, speaking about red flagbehavior, challenging behavior, people
(29:55):
being ousted - also news this weekthat you wrote about in PubliCola,
more insight into the ouster offormer Seattle Police Chief Adrian
Diaz and controversy surrounding- allegations of a forged note.
So please enlighten us - and you coveredthis in detail - what is the latest here?
(30:19):
What did we learn?
Well, there's not a new investigationreport or anything like that.
What we received this week - andby we, I mean myself and some other
reporters who've been waiting onthis records request for a while
- is the investigation documents.
So all of the interviews, transcripts,recordings of interviews, notes into
(30:40):
this investigation that former chiefDiaz was involved in a relationship
with Jamie Tompkins and that heselected her, created a job for her,
and promoted her as his chief of staff.
And then, subsequently - this would be aseparate piece of misconduct - lied about
it to investigators, as allegedly did she.
(31:02):
So, one of many pieces of evidence - andI'm including many interviews with SPD
staff, including all of Adrian Diaz'ssecurity detail - one of the other pieces
of evidence is this note that allegedlyJamie Tompkins wrote to Adrian Diaz that
was found by one of his security guards.
It's a love note on an Ewokcard - probably everybody
(31:25):
listening to this is aware of it.
And there's a handwriting analysisthat found that it was overwhelmingly
likely that she wrote it.
And the analysis used, among otherthings, a note that Jamie Tompkins
wrote that was turned over as part ofevidence - and it basically found that
the handwriting was extremely similar.
(31:47):
And you can see the note and some ofJamie Tompkins' handwriting samples on
PubliCola - I published a bunch of them.
I understand there's also beenallegations from Jamie Tompkins that
this note was forged and that this isall part of an elaborate conspiracy.
Well, it had been previouslyreported that Tompkins believed
that she was collateral damage ina conspiracy to remove Adrian Diaz.
(32:12):
I will link an article by Kelly Hatmakerin Fox 13 News, where this is detailed.
She said that there was a Star Wars-themedbirthday card, which ended both of their
careers, and said that was a forgery.
Essentially, that there were a numberof people involved with fabricating
allegations and various nefariousactions to take down Adrian Diaz - they
(32:38):
saw her as a tool and orchestratedthis ouster and that evidence.
Yeah.
And I will just say there is - on thehandwriting analysis, which was among
the evidence, but it was not maybe thesmoking gun that it has been portrayed
to be - but the handwriting that ison this card and handwriting samples
(32:58):
that they included in the analysis fromall kinds of documents, including her
mortgage, just to compare the signatures.
And you can look at it - it'sthe same handwriting.
And they also found that - in asecondary handwriting analysis that she
did, she had to provide two samples.
The second sample, they found shetried to disguise her handwriting.
(33:19):
And I also have images of that.
And it just is one of those,like zebra-horse questions.
To believe that there is a conspiracyto remove Adrian Diaz, you have to
believe that all three of his securitydetail, whose stories were remarkably
consistent - and not just consistent,but like, consistent in ways that
(33:43):
suggest a reality as opposed to tellinga story that's the same, like recounting
different parts of the same conversation.
So you'd have to believe thatthey all conspired to lie.
That Brian Maxey, the chief operatingofficer of the police department,
was also in some ways dishonest.
(34:03):
That they had a motivation todo so, which is totally unclear.
And that there were other forgeriesof Jamie Tompkins' writing.
It would have to beextraordinarily elaborate.
I do really encourage people to listento the interviews if you have time - I
posted a couple of them on PubliCola.com.
(34:23):
I, having looked at now thousandsof pages of evidence and listened to
these interviews - it just, it lookslike a horse to me, not a zebra.
It looks like there was anaffair, there was a cover-up.
And I'm not saying that I know this.
I'm just saying my personal opinion,based on reading thousands of pages of
(34:43):
this stuff and covering this for so long,is that it seems more likely to me than
not that this investigation is accurate.
And most of the people, interestingly,that were interviewed about
this said a couple of things.
One was - We don't careif he had an affair.
Like, that's not great, but thatdoesn't matter to being police chief.
(35:06):
And that the issue was lying, and theissue was promoting someone and creating
a job for someone that didn't exist basedon a personal relationship like this.
And the second thing they said - becauseAdrian Diaz did come out as gay on a
right-wing radio show last year andsuggested that this meant that he
couldn't have had an affair with a woman.
(35:27):
And what almost everyonesaid was - Okay, he's gay.
That doesn't mean he couldn'thave had an affair with a woman.
And you see these like police departmentguys saying stuff about like, you
know, fluidity and sexual orientationchanging over time and pretty
progressive-y sounding stuff about that.
And so I don't think that "I'm gay."was perceived as a sort of credible
(35:52):
defense by most people in the policedepartment, because a lot of them
said - Well, both things can be true.
You're married to awoman and you have kids.
So both things could be true.
Yeah, yeah - I think a lotof people saw it that way.
So we will continue to followalong with this - as and if
more information comes out.
(36:12):
But certainly an interestingtwist of events there.
Just a couple of other final notes.
This week - just yesterday, actually,Wednesday, June 4th - was the Pride flag
raising at the state Capitol during anevent with the state's LGBTQ Commission.
And it was interrupted by the WashingtonState Patrol marching through that
(36:38):
ceremony as a trans person was speaking.
The Washington State Patrol eventuallyapologized for it, but weirdly,
it was not shown on the livestream- someone sent me a video of it.
But how do you see this one?
Does this seem super innocent to you?
Does this seem just, you know, like- this was so - they gave what sounded
(37:04):
kind of a profuse apology, sayingthat they didn't intend any harm.
But the optics were horrible here.
Yeah, I mean, I've watched this video thatyou posted - and the optics are horrible.
I could see it being an innocentmistake, certainly, as opposed to a
nefarious attempt to disrupt this event.
I don't have an opinion onit because I wasn't there.
(37:25):
But clearly, in this video, it doesn'tseem like it's that many people.
It seems like it would have beenquite easy for them to go around
like a sane person would have done.
So I'm not discountingnefarious motives, either.
It was just bizarre.
It was bizarre.
And it really is like, there'sa person speaking at a podium,
(37:46):
there's a crowd listening to them.
And the State Patrol troopers marchdirectly between the podium and the crowd.
Dozens of them are inthe video doing that.
Evidently, they were on their wayto a graduation ceremony, it was
part of the graduation ceremony.
But especially given how under attackthe trans community is, how many
(38:09):
attacks on just their ability tolive, to do everyday things that other
people are doing, the legislation andhate speech that we're seeing against
them - you could certainly understandhow that would feed into a lot of fear.
And that those feelings offear are real, very real.
Well, yeah - I mean, watching a bunchof sort of militarized people march in
(38:32):
lockstep through a gay Pride or an LGBTQPride event - it seems like it would
have been potentially quite scary to bethere live, participating in this event,
and see these troopers march through.
The State Patrol said that there - itwas a cascade of errors that led to this,
which, okay, again, seems like you couldhave just marched your little butts around
(38:55):
it instead of right through the event.
You have eyes.
You're supposed to have some sortof ability to determine appropriate
conduct as state troopers, right?
I don't know.
It's just - "cascade of errors" - seemslike there was one error and it was
to not go around this event thatwas obviously happening in your way.
Yep, definitely.
(39:15):
Finally, just wanted to mention that wehave some new legislators, following the
passing of Senator Bill Ramos in April.
The King County Council hasappointed Victoria Hunt to the
Senate seat to replace Bill Ramos.
She was a former representative - justprior to this was a representative.
(39:38):
And so that left her House seatvacant, and they appointed Zach
Hall to fill that House seat.
He was formerly on the IssaquahCity Council, so now there is a
vacancy on the Issaquah City Council.
But just wanted to make sure we allknow that we have a new representative
and a new senator - both Democrats- and to be on the lookout for that
(40:01):
Issaquah City Council appointment.
And with that, we thank you forlistening to Hacks & Wonks on
this Friday, June 6th, 2025.
The producer of Hacks & Wonks isShannon Cheng - and she's amazing.
Our insightful co-host today wasSeattle political reporter, editor
of PubliCola, and co-host of theSeattle Nice podcast, Erica Barnett.
(40:22):
You definitely want to check outPubliCola this week because it is
full of the news and lots of detailsthat we didn't even cover here today.
You can find Erica on Bluesky at@ericacbarnett - that's two Ts
at the end - and PubliCola.com.
You can follow Hacks & Wonkson Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks.
You can follow me on Bluesky at@finchfrii, that's F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I.
(40:47):
You can catch Hacks & Wonks on ApplePodcasts, Spotify, or wherever you
get your podcasts - just type "Hacksand Wonks" into the search bar.
Be sure to subscribe to thepodcast to get the full versions
of our Friday week-in-reviewshow and our Tuesday topical show
delivered to your podcast feed.
If you like us, please leavea review wherever you listen.
You can also get a full transcriptof this episode and links to the
(41:09):
resources referenced in the showat officialhacksandwonks.com.
Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next
time.
Welcome to Hacks & Wonks.
I'm your host, Crystal Fincher.
On this show, we talk with policy wonksand political hacks to get insight into
(00:21):
local policy and politics in Washingtonstate through the lens of those doing
the work, with behind-the-scenesperspectives on what's happening, why it's
happening, and what you can do about it.
If you missed this week's topical show, Ichatted with Jeanie Chunn, candidate for
Seattle City Council District 2, abouther stance on housing affordability,
small business support, and more - aswell as significant changes she advocates
(00:43):
for to the city's approach to publicsafety, housing, and budget priorities.
Today, we are continuing our Fridayweek-in-review shows, where we review
the news of the week with a co-host.
Welcome back to the program, friendof the show and today's co-host:
Seattle political reporter, editorof PubliCola, and co-host of the
Seattle Nice podcast, Erica Barnett.
(01:03):
Welcome back!
Thanks, Crystal.
Good to be here.
Great to have you here.
Well, this has been a week full ofnews - starting off with Seattle City
Councilmember Cathy Moore resigning,following withdrawal of her bill to lower
ethics standards for City Council people.
(01:23):
What happened here?
How did we get to this pointwhere Cathy Moore is resigning?
Oh my gosh.
Well, as you said, the ethicslegislation seems to have
been some sort of final straw.
She had proposed legislation that - ofcourse, she called just a fairly minor
technical fix to the ethics code - thatwould have rolled back ethics standards
(01:47):
for City Councilmembers to allow themto vote on matters where they had a
direct financial conflict of interest.
This was a wildly unpopular bill.
I don't think that there wasany - well, certainly not any
significant public support - Ididn't see any public support for it.
And some of the feedback thatCathy Moore and others got on
(02:08):
the bill was quite negative.
And I'm not just talking about thepeople who showed up with Kshama Sawant
and marched around Council chambers andscreamed and said they all had to go.
But I'm talking about hundredsand hundreds - perhaps thousands
- of emails from the public.
And then lots and lots - in fact,a lot more people just showing up
from the general public to Councilchambers, to ethics meetings
(02:31):
to say - We don't want this.
Why are you doing this?
Please don't roll this back.
Cathy Moore, I think consistentlythroughout her year and a half on
the Council, has interpreted negativefeedback as hate and as personal attacks.
And I know that sometimes the Councildoes get personal attacks in emails and
(02:52):
to some extent in public comment, butthere's nothing particularly unusual
about it - it is part of the job.
But I think Cathy Moore justreally didn't like that part
of the job - and she resigned.
She said she's stepping down on July 7th.
And so that means she will haveserved just about a year and
a half of her four-year term.
(03:13):
I think that is shocking to a lotof people - that it was so short.
We did see another recent resignation, butit was in a councilmember's second term
and by all accounts, according to them,they seemed to enjoy the work of the job.
And the challenge, according to them,was they were no longer permitted
to do that work by their colleagues.
(03:35):
This, as you just pointed out,seems to be a reaction, or continued
reaction - a result of justdisliking hearing contrary opinion.
And it feels like we got an early taste ofthis when early on in Cathy Moore's tenure
- during public comment, she requested thatpolice be summoned to control a crowd,
(04:01):
which I think was surprising to a lotof people because that kind of crowd,
reaction, feedback had not been uncommonat Council in the immediate years prior.
Yeah, it is somewhat ironic thatthis Council got elected saying
that they're going to bring in thislike era of good feelings because
they all are on the same page.
(04:22):
It's a less progressive council - theyreplaced the old Council - and
for their first year, most ofthem spent a lot of time blaming
the old Council for everything.
But those old Council meetings- Kshama Sawant was on the Council
and she could summon hundreds ofpeople if she wanted to, to disrupt
meetings and to yell and scream.
And now what we're mostly talking about- the reason that particular meeting went
(04:44):
off the rails, I think, is because SaraNelson, as Council President, decided
to shut down Council Chambers and hada bunch of people - about, I think, six
people - arrested for refusing to leave.
So that was something that theCouncil did to, I would say,
provoke an angry response.
And Cathy Moore, as people werebanging on the wall, having been shut
(05:08):
out of the Council Chambers, saidthat they should all be arrested.
And that is not how democracy works.
Even Sara Nelson was like - Well, let'scalm down the rhetoric a little bit.
But yeah, I mean, she got very emotional.
She said that she was afraid for hersafety, that they were going to break
down the wall, and said they were a mob- but implied they were going to storm the
(05:29):
Council Chambers and harm the Councilthemselves, which is not anything there's
any kind of historical precedent for.
So it just felt like every singletime there was negative pushback, she
took it extremely personally, got veryself-righteous, very angry, said that
she was being subjected to hate and thatshe shouldn't have to put up with that.
(05:52):
And it's just part of the jobof being a councilmember in the
city of Seattle, where peoplereally care about local politics.
And sometimes they care loudly.
They really do.
And I think what sticks out to a lotof people is that, again, that type
of reaction by public commenters,by protesters was fairly common
in the terms of her predecessors.
(06:13):
And during the campaigns, that seemedto feel justified to her - that there
was anger from the public towardsdecisions that she did not disagree with.
However, when she was there andpeople disagreed with her, then
it seemed to be unjustified.
So I think the lack of consistency hasbeen what a lot of people have noticed.
(06:34):
Now, I do think it's important tomention that one of the things that
she cited, as she was announcingthis, were some health concerns.
And we certainly do notwish anyone poor health.
We hope that those are able to be resolvedand wish her the best as she moves on.
Now, let's talk about what's nextand what timing is involved with
(07:00):
the choice of her predecessor.
And how her timing of resignation mayimpact how long that person may be there.
Well, Cathy Moore decided to, beganmaking this decision - she told
others, she did not speak to me aboutthis - but she had been thinking
about it for a while, clearly.
And yet, she waited until afterthe filing deadline for this year's
(07:24):
elections in November, when we mighthave been able to elect a replacement
for whoever gets appointed to this seat.
She waited until after that deadlineto announce this, which means that
we as the voters will not be ableto pick a successor to represent her
district, North Seattle, until 2026.
And so, as a result, there's goingto be someone in place for - I'm
(07:48):
bad at math, but let's say two yearsor more, who has not been elected
by the people of her district.
And I just think we can get intowho might be looking to replace
her on an interim basis in a sec,but I do want to just point out
that is incredibly anti-democratic.
It is the process that we have, but toelect somebody - if you're a constituent
(08:12):
in District 5, you elected Cathy Moore.
Or maybe you didn't - maybeyou voted against her.
You thought she was going to be inthere for at least four years, and she's
bowing out after a year and a half.
And somebody else picked by thisCouncil, which, by the way, includes
another appointed councilmember whowas never elected - Mark Solomon.
And they're going to pickwho represents District 5.
(08:34):
It just feels like when we electpeople, it would be nice if they
would stay in office or if they choosenot to - it's not the job for them
- that they create every opportunityfor their voters to replace them.
Yeah, I think that's fair.
Essentially, this is the differencebetween if this decision would
have been made just a month ago.
(08:56):
And to be clear, this has actuallybeen rumored and people have
been talking about this behindthe scenes for quite some time.
It wasn't a surprise to manypeople when she said she had been
thinking about this for a while.
So waiting until after filing week,which is in mid-May - if she would
have done it just a month ago, theywould be able to vote for a replacement
(09:19):
in this August primary election andNovember general election, and someone
who could take office this year.
Waiting just that month sticks District5 with this appointed, unelected
representative for a full additional year.
And think about how many-
Thank you for correcting my math.
No worries.
(09:40):
But the amount of decisionsthat are going to be made.
The Comprehensive Plan is supposedto be decided in that amount of time.
We have a number of issues.
There's going to be an entireadditional budget cycle that happens
that will be voted on in that time.
Major decisions that impact the city ofSeattle - the Comprehensive Plan is the
(10:02):
plan for the next decade, the budgetis going to determine the direction
of the city and what gets funded,what the priorities of the city are.
And these are now going to be madeby an unelected representative
for District 5 because of thetiming of this announcement.
So that is, I think, an unfortunatething that is not going to be wonderful
(10:25):
- well, that many people assume is notgoing to be wonderful, because of the
track record of appointments of thisCouncil that have not turned out, I
think, as well as even this Councilwould say they wanted them to turn out.
So now that we look at this, whatis the appointment process and who
has talked about interest in this?
Boy, I feel like because therehave been so many appointments,
(10:46):
I've actually gotten pretty good atexplaining the appointment process.
So the appointment process is - onceCathy Moore steps down, the Council
has 20 days to pick a successor.
They go through a process that iskind of determined by the Council,
but generally has included somepublic hearings where people get to
watch the Council ask questions ofwhoever applies for the appointment.
(11:10):
And then there's a vote, and they pick.
And in the last two rounds of this,where Tanya Woo and Mark Solomon got
appointed, they chose to pick someone whohad lost - actually, in both cases, lost
to Tammy Morales, the councilmember whoresigned at the beginning of this year.
And so, we'll see.
The names I've heard include PatienceMalaba, who is the head of the
(11:32):
Housing Development Consortium.
Colleen Echohawk, who is the formerhead of the Chief Seattle Club, she's
now the CEO of Eighth Generation.
And Nilu Jenks, who lost to Cathy Moorein last year's election - she actually
lost in the primary, but she is apparentlygoing to put her name in the hat.
(11:52):
And I'm sure there's going tobe lots of others, including
people we haven't heard of.
But it'll probably be a feisty process,like it has been the last couple of times.
Despite Cathy Moore's somewhatunderstandable distaste for the job - I
wouldn't want to sit there and get yelledat either - people are just constantly
wanting to throw themselves on the pyre,as somebody put it to me last night.
(12:15):
So I think we'll see a lot ofapplicants for the position.
I think we'll see a lot ofapplicants for the position.
And, as other people have been joking- wondering if Tanya Woo, whose name seems
to pop up because of her own actionsin every endorsement process, wondering
if she's going to be zooming up toDistrict 5 to figure out a place of
(12:38):
residence and to add fuel to that fire.
Moderated a forum of citywide councilcandidates and mayoral candidates last
night - which you were also at andcovering - and Tanya Woo was also there.
So who knows - you know - what it is.
She's everywhere.
She was sitting rightbehind me, apparently.
She's inevitable, evidently.
(12:58):
Just Tanya Woo, everything- death, taxes, and Tanya Woo.
But, speaking of people who areperennially around - also this week,
Seattle socialist Kshama Sawant announceda run for Congress against Adam Smith
in the 9th Congressional District.
(13:18):
How did this come about?
Why does Kshama say she is running?
Well, she says she's running becauseshe wants to end the genocide in Gaza
and implement her socialist policies.
And I would say we should note thatKshama Sawant is not a typical socialist.
She's always described as a socialist,but she's not in the mainstream
(13:40):
of socialism - such as it is.
She worked for Jill Steinto defeat Kamala Harris.
She is a firebrand, but a very specifictype of socialist firebrand in her
own kind of little mini-niche - shestarted her own political party.
So she's running - she'snot going to win this race.
She's going to raise issues- maybe they'll get discussed.
(14:01):
That is always a good thing, I think, forlongtime incumbents to have opponents.
But if you're asking my opinion of whyshe's actually running, I think she does
not like being on the other side - inthe activist role - after being a city
councilmember for so long, where she hadsome real power and a real bully pulpit.
(14:21):
And even when she was campaigningfor other things - she ran for State
Legislature - she got attentionfor herself and for her ideas
in a way that showing up to CityCouncil meetings and getting kicked
out really doesn't accomplish.
And I've just gotten a sense thatshe does not love being on the other
(14:42):
side of the dais at City Council.
She's obviously not - she decidednot to run for City Council again.
But I think she feels morecomfortable in this role.
I really don't know enough to speakto what her personal motivation is.
I do think that this is aninteresting development.
(15:02):
Adam Smith has been obviously theCongress member for a long time,
but his support has been softeningfor a while now - increasingly.
And the district has changedpost-redistricting - the district
moved north a little bit.
So you have a district that's asignificant slice of kind of central
(15:23):
to south Seattle, large personsof Kent, Renton, other places like
Federal Way, Normandy Park, Bellevue-
Real socialist enclaves.
And they are not.
But I think that's what makes thedynamic that we've seen in the last
several cycles interesting - and Iam in the 9th Congressional District.
(15:47):
So again, this is an area that still,there are cities here and legislative
districts that still elect Republicans.
This is an area that's trending alittle bit bluer lately, but a lot of
this district has been pretty purple,if not red, in some of the eastern and
southeastern parts of the district.
And so you would think that - okay,kind of centrist-y Democrat
(16:12):
Adam Smith would be a great fit,according to the conventional wisdom.
And that has not beenthe case for a while.
And the support has been softening in thepopular vote - has been so significant
that where this area used to veryreliably pass through a Democrat and
a Republican to the general election,several recent ones have passed through
(16:35):
two Democrats, essentially saying thatthe Democratic vote is going to win this.
When you get to, especially when it comesto national-level rhetoric, where issues
like reproductive choice, abortion rights,civil rights, health care are involved
- this district sides with Democratson those top line big federal issues.
(16:59):
A lot more happens when you get to someof the local issues, but on those big
federal issues, they're pretty blue.
But that blue has split and iskind of split with Adam Smith
and something further left.
And Adam Smith has been helped by thefact that the Democratic Party itself
has largely been unwilling to say - Okay,this guy's popularity is softening.
(17:23):
Maybe we're going to throw oursupport behind an alternative.
I think there have been differentelements of willingness there, kind
of in the beginning, and then maybenot being in love with some of the
candidates they saw willing to step up.
But also a number of candidatessaying - We don't see the support
of Democratic Party, the allies,especially like major unions, stepping
(17:46):
in and giving Adam Smith's war chest- financial war chest - that makes a
huge difference in getting elected.
I'm going to need massiveresources to do that.
I'm not going to be able to putthat together if I don't get
the Democratic Party behind me.
On the ground, legislative districtshave been endorsing against Adam Smith.
They endorsed his essentially non-funded,very outsider opponent this past time.
(18:12):
And you saw his opponent get asignificant percentage of the vote,
get through to the general election- which many people were not expecting.
And then siphon a lot of his vote.
So his support has been softening.
But he still got 67% of the vote,which is major supermajority.
Absolutely.
But I do think that primary votewas pretty telling in that - when
(18:32):
there were more choices there, therewere a lot more who did move there.
And that does not mean that thosepeople who voted for another Democrat
or who were just very dissatisfiedwith Adam Smith overall are going
to be comfortable voting for someonewith a Socialist next to their name.
That is something that Seattlevoters are used to now and they don't
(18:53):
have much of a problem with - theyfeel pretty comfortable with that.
I would not say that's thecase - at this point in time - with
the rest of the district.
But Kshama is known for being a turnoutmachine, assembling an army of supporters
who gets a reach into areas and voterswho don't often turn out for other
(19:15):
elections and getting them to turn out.
And Kshama's saying her platformis end the genocide in Gaza.
No military aid, no occupation, freehealth care for all, tax the rich.
We need rent control, makecorporate landlords pay.
That is from Kshama's website.
And so those are issues thathave been gaining traction in the
(19:35):
9th Congressional District andessentially got an unfunded, unknown
opponent into the general election.
Now, that opponent had a D by theirname and not a socialist brand.
But I think Kshama is going to be someonewho can't be ignored in this race.
I think Kshama can put togethersignificant resources on a national basis
- she's shown the ability to do that before.
(19:58):
Although she doesn't havea national party anymore.
And not that Socialist Alternative was ahuge party, but I believe what she'll have
by her name now is Workers Strike Back,which is the political party she started.
I could be incorrect - maybeit will just say Socialist.
But I think that she has narrowedher own base of support in some ways
by saying that she has ideologicaldifferences with Socialist Alternative,
(20:19):
which is already kind of a fringeparty within the broader socialist
movement, with Democratic Socialistsof America being the biggest party.
So not to get into all the nuances,but I think that she has, in some ways,
marginalized herself more by sayingthat she has this separate party.
And also, frankly, by working againstKamala Harris with Jill Stein.
Locally, I think a lot of lefties kindof poo-poo that and say - Oh, well, it
(20:43):
was just about this one issue, aboutwarmongering and spending money on Israel.
But it's a pretty good talking pointfor Adam Smith - I'll just say that.
And I absolutely agree with you there.
I actually think that just that one issue- campaigning against Kamala Harris - is
almost more than anything else going to besomething that sours a lot of voters, who
(21:06):
may even have been so dissatisfied withAdam Smith that they're willing to lend an
ear to someone to his left, that that isgoing to be something that most voters who
are Democrats, find to be unforgivable.
But we will see.
We're just talking.
But I do think that Kshama is goingto be someone who is going to be part
(21:27):
of the conversation in this race, andwe'll see what happens from there.
Also want to talk about KingCounty Assessor John Wilson having
allegations - new allegations- there were previous allegations.
These are new stalking allegationssurface against him, which brought a
(21:48):
number of calls for his resignation fromDemocratic officials across the state.
What are these allegations, andwho's calling for him to leave?
Well, as you said, there were allegationsbefore - this is by his ex-domestic
partner, who is a prominent localpublic affairs consultant, Lee Keller.
(22:08):
And she is alleging - and I thinkJohn Arthur Wilson, the assessor, is
not denying this behavior - that heessentially would not leave her alone
after she told him that they were done.
She has a restraining order againsthim that includes a lot of text
messages and communications thatshow that he is saying things
(22:30):
like - I will never leave you alone.
And basically, you know, harassingher and refusing to leave her alone.
He has in the past shown upat her house, followed her
around, allegedly tracked her.
And so it's just kind of - I hate to saytypical stalker behavior - but if you
have ever been in this position, a lotof this stuff will be quite familiar.
(22:52):
And Wilson is claiming - I think notvery credibly - that he and Keller are
doing just fine, they're still together,she's lifted the restraining order.
She says that's not true and theyaren't together, and she's not lifted
the restraining order - which iswhat court records currently support.
But people should go to PubliCola.com,where I broke this story last week,
(23:16):
and just look at some of the stuffthat is in the restraining order.
It is very disturbing.
I would say it is disqualifyingfor a public official.
And so, as you mentioned, Crystal, alot of people have been asking or have
been demanding that he resign, includingseveral members of the King County
Council - two of his opponents for theCounty Executive race, Girmay Zahilay
(23:38):
and Claudia Balducci, as well as RodDembowski, Teresa Mosqueda, Jorge Barón.
King County Executive ShannonBraddock, the King County Democrats
- I mean, it's pretty universal.
And he said to a couple of other reportersthat he has no plans to step down.
So that kind of leaves - because he's anelected official, the only way to remove
(23:58):
him is for there to be a countywiderecall vote, which seems somewhat
unlikely at this point, but we shall see.
Yeah.
Another added dimension here isthat John Wilson is currently a
candidate for King County Executive.
So in addition to being someone whoholds countywide elected office right
(24:19):
now, he's also running to be theexecutive, which - and this has not gone
unnoticed - if he were to be successful,which looks very unlikely, but if he
were to be, he would be put in charge.
He would be the boss of the people who arerunning this investigation, ultimately.
He would be in control of the people andresources that are involved in this court
(24:43):
case, and investigating his actions,and potentially overseeing and being
some of the methods of accountability ifwrongdoing were officially to be found.
Now, to your point, he's notdenying that he has essentially
continued to communicate withthis woman without consent.
(25:05):
Pretty conclusive text that youshow on PubliCola, where she's
saying - LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!
And he just responds, like - Never.
And keeps going and keeps texting.
And this is in-line withwhat he had done before.
And like you said, to have been insituations where people will not
accept no - will not stop despitewhat you say, despite your wishes - is
(25:30):
just a horrible situation to be in.
And just - he doesn't seemto have a problem with it.
He doesn't seem to recognize thatthis is any kind of a problem.
And everyone else who does - he'sjust ignoring and saying,
essentially, they're haters.
And, oh, this is just the two peoplerunning against me and it's a campaign
(25:52):
tactic - ignoring the fact that it is somany more people, down to Bruce Harrell,
calling for this man's resignation.
I forgot about Bruce.
Yeah, yeah, he got in on that.
I will say, too, in the previouspetition - which Lee Keller did drop,
and I don't think that we should considerthat just positive of anything - people
go back to abusive relationships allthe time, for all kinds of reasons.
(26:15):
And I think that the more compellingevidence is that he does not
deny doing all these things.
And one of the things that he does notdeny doing is - he called the employer
of somebody that she had dated brieflywhen they were not together and tried to
get him fired by making false allegationsof sexual assault against this man.
(26:38):
And there are text messagesabout that as well.
And so this is justlike, appalling behavior.
This man is not going to be aKing County Executive - he's
polling in a distant third.
It's, I think, a sign of - well, I don'tknow what it's a sign of - certainly ego,
that he will not drop out of this raceand stop wasting people's time by putting
himself out there on the campaign stage.
(26:59):
But I also think that most - maybenot most elected officials - but most
people would consider it a problem ifbasically every elected official in
the county where they are an electedofficial, was calling on them to resign.
(27:20):
And he just seems that - his publicface, anyway, has been fairly
blithe about it - I'm not going toresign, I've done nothing wrong.
And I think that is justkind of chilling, personally.
Yeah, very chilling.
And essentially - We're backtogether again, that makes it okay.
And essentially, that was his defense tothe prior round of allegations - We're
(27:40):
back together, that makes it okay- without any kind of examination or
accountability for his actual behavior.
One last thing I just have to say here.
This is why it is so important topay attention when these people are
running for office and to plug intolocal politics - because there was a
(28:00):
glaring red flag when he was running.
And that was the fact that he hireda campaign consultant who himself
had significant allegations of sexualharassment, sexual misconduct, in addition
to a lot of other types of misconduct.
And the County Democrats, several peopleraised the flag when John Wilson was
(28:25):
running - and essentially, this personhas been blacklisted because of their
behavior from Democratic politics.
It had been reported quite a lot - theywere ousted from positions, Bailey
Stober's ouster from the King CountyDemocrats was covered by PubliCola
and a lot of what led up to it.
And the fact that John Wilson didn'thave any problem with hiring this person,
(28:48):
having him as one of his closest advisors- despite warnings, despite penalties
- was, to me, a glaring red flag.
If you don't have that kind of issuewith behavior of people inside your inner
circle, that's a signal you don't have aproblem with that behavior for yourself.
And not just that, but Bailey Stoberwas one of John Arthur Wilson's
(29:10):
top staff at the assessor's officeduring, when all that was going on.
And I wrote about that on PubliCola- Bailey was accused of sexually harassing
a employee of his at the Democratsand Wilson stood by him at the time.
And I thought that was telling.
Absolutely.
So when you see things like that inlocal politics and there are people
(29:33):
raising flags - there is an issuesimilar to this happening in King
County right now, in a legislativeseat - that you pay attention and that
you take these warnings seriously.
Because not having a problem with thiskind of behavior is itself a red flag.
So - now, speaking about red flagbehavior, challenging behavior, people
(29:55):
being ousted - also news this weekthat you wrote about in PubliCola,
more insight into the ouster offormer Seattle Police Chief Adrian
Diaz and controversy surrounding- allegations of a forged note.
So please enlighten us - and you coveredthis in detail - what is the latest here?
(30:19):
What did we learn?
Well, there's not a new investigationreport or anything like that.
What we received this week - andby we, I mean myself and some other
reporters who've been waiting onthis records request for a while
- is the investigation documents.
So all of the interviews, transcripts,recordings of interviews, notes into
(30:40):
this investigation that former chiefDiaz was involved in a relationship
with Jamie Tompkins and that heselected her, created a job for her,
and promoted her as his chief of staff.
And then, subsequently - this would be aseparate piece of misconduct - lied about
it to investigators, as allegedly did she.
(31:02):
So, one of many pieces of evidence - andI'm including many interviews with SPD
staff, including all of Adrian Diaz'ssecurity detail - one of the other pieces
of evidence is this note that allegedlyJamie Tompkins wrote to Adrian Diaz that
was found by one of his security guards.
It's a love note on an Ewokcard - probably everybody
(31:25):
listening to this is aware of it.
And there's a handwriting analysisthat found that it was overwhelmingly
likely that she wrote it.
And the analysis used, among otherthings, a note that Jamie Tompkins
wrote that was turned over as part ofevidence - and it basically found that
the handwriting was extremely similar.
(31:47):
And you can see the note and some ofJamie Tompkins' handwriting samples on
PubliCola - I published a bunch of them.
I understand there's also beenallegations from Jamie Tompkins that
this note was forged and that this isall part of an elaborate conspiracy.
Well, it had been previouslyreported that Tompkins believed
that she was collateral damage ina conspiracy to remove Adrian Diaz.
(32:12):
I will link an article by Kelly Hatmakerin Fox 13 News, where this is detailed.
She said that there was a Star Wars-themedbirthday card, which ended both of their
careers, and said that was a forgery.
Essentially, that there were a numberof people involved with fabricating
allegations and various nefariousactions to take down Adrian Diaz - they
(32:38):
saw her as a tool and orchestratedthis ouster and that evidence.
Yeah.
And I will just say there is - on thehandwriting analysis, which was among
the evidence, but it was not maybe thesmoking gun that it has been portrayed
to be - but the handwriting that ison this card and handwriting samples
(32:58):
that they included in the analysis fromall kinds of documents, including her
mortgage, just to compare the signatures.
And you can look at it - it'sthe same handwriting.
And they also found that - in asecondary handwriting analysis that she
did, she had to provide two samples.
The second sample, they found shetried to disguise her handwriting.
(33:19):
And I also have images of that.
And it just is one of those,like zebra-horse questions.
To believe that there is a conspiracyto remove Adrian Diaz, you have to
believe that all three of his securitydetail, whose stories were remarkably
consistent - and not just consistent,but like, consistent in ways that
(33:43):
suggest a reality as opposed to tellinga story that's the same, like recounting
different parts of the same conversation.
So you'd have to believe thatthey all conspired to lie.
That Brian Maxey, the chief operatingofficer of the police department,
was also in some ways dishonest.
(34:03):
That they had a motivation todo so, which is totally unclear.
And that there were other forgeriesof Jamie Tompkins' writing.
It would have to beextraordinarily elaborate.
I do really encourage people to listento the interviews if you have time - I
posted a couple of them on PubliCola.com.
(34:23):
I, having looked at now thousandsof pages of evidence and listened to
these interviews - it just, it lookslike a horse to me, not a zebra.
It looks like there was anaffair, there was a cover-up.
And I'm not saying that I know this.
I'm just saying my personal opinion,based on reading thousands of pages of
(34:43):
this stuff and covering this for so long,is that it seems more likely to me than
not that this investigation is accurate.
And most of the people, interestingly,that were interviewed about
this said a couple of things.
One was - We don't careif he had an affair.
Like, that's not great, but thatdoesn't matter to being police chief.
(35:06):
And that the issue was lying, and theissue was promoting someone and creating
a job for someone that didn't exist basedon a personal relationship like this.
And the second thing they said - becauseAdrian Diaz did come out as gay on a
right-wing radio show last year andsuggested that this meant that he
couldn't have had an affair with a woman.
(35:27):
And what almost everyonesaid was - Okay, he's gay.
That doesn't mean he couldn'thave had an affair with a woman.
And you see these like police departmentguys saying stuff about like, you
know, fluidity and sexual orientationchanging over time and pretty
progressive-y sounding stuff about that.
And so I don't think that "I'm gay."was perceived as a sort of credible
(35:52):
defense by most people in the policedepartment, because a lot of them
said - Well, both things can be true.
You're married to awoman and you have kids.
So both things could be true.
Yeah, yeah - I think a lotof people saw it that way.
So we will continue to followalong with this - as and if
more information comes out.
(36:12):
But certainly an interestingtwist of events there.
Just a couple of other final notes.
This week - just yesterday, actually,Wednesday, June 4th - was the Pride flag
raising at the state Capitol during anevent with the state's LGBTQ Commission.
And it was interrupted by the WashingtonState Patrol marching through that
(36:38):
ceremony as a trans person was speaking.
The Washington State Patrol eventuallyapologized for it, but weirdly,
it was not shown on the livestream- someone sent me a video of it.
But how do you see this one?
Does this seem super innocent to you?
Does this seem just, you know, like- this was so - they gave what sounded
(37:04):
kind of a profuse apology, sayingthat they didn't intend any harm.
But the optics were horrible here.
Yeah, I mean, I've watched this video thatyou posted - and the optics are horrible.
I could see it being an innocentmistake, certainly, as opposed to a
nefarious attempt to disrupt this event.
I don't have an opinion onit because I wasn't there.
(37:25):
But clearly, in this video, it doesn'tseem like it's that many people.
It seems like it would have beenquite easy for them to go around
like a sane person would have done.
So I'm not discountingnefarious motives, either.
It was just bizarre.
It was bizarre.
And it really is like, there'sa person speaking at a podium,
(37:46):
there's a crowd listening to them.
And the State Patrol troopers marchdirectly between the podium and the crowd.
Dozens of them are inthe video doing that.
Evidently, they were on their wayto a graduation ceremony, it was
part of the graduation ceremony.
But especially given how under attackthe trans community is, how many
(38:09):
attacks on just their ability tolive, to do everyday things that other
people are doing, the legislation andhate speech that we're seeing against
them - you could certainly understandhow that would feed into a lot of fear.
And that those feelings offear are real, very real.
Well, yeah - I mean, watching a bunchof sort of militarized people march in
(38:32):
lockstep through a gay Pride or an LGBTQPride event - it seems like it would
have been potentially quite scary to bethere live, participating in this event,
and see these troopers march through.
The State Patrol said that there - itwas a cascade of errors that led to this,
which, okay, again, seems like you couldhave just marched your little butts around
(38:55):
it instead of right through the event.
You have eyes.
You're supposed to have some sortof ability to determine appropriate
conduct as state troopers, right?
I don't know.
It's just - "cascade of errors" - seemslike there was one error and it was
to not go around this event thatwas obviously happening in your way.
Yep, definitely.
(39:15):
Finally, just wanted to mention that wehave some new legislators, following the
passing of Senator Bill Ramos in April.
The King County Council hasappointed Victoria Hunt to the
Senate seat to replace Bill Ramos.
She was a former representative - justprior to this was a representative.
(39:38):
And so that left her House seatvacant, and they appointed Zach
Hall to fill that House seat.
He was formerly on the IssaquahCity Council, so now there is a
vacancy on the Issaquah City Council.
But just wanted to make sure we allknow that we have a new representative
and a new senator - both Democrats- and to be on the lookout for that
(40:01):
Issaquah City Council appointment.
And with that, we thank you forlistening to Hacks & Wonks on
this Friday, June 6th, 2025.
The producer of Hacks & Wonks isShannon Cheng - and she's amazing.
Our insightful co-host today wasSeattle political reporter, editor
of PubliCola, and co-host of theSeattle Nice podcast, Erica Barnett.
(40:22):
You definitely want to check outPubliCola this week because it is
full of the news and lots of detailsthat we didn't even cover here today.
You can find Erica on Bluesky at@ericacbarnett - that's two Ts
at the end - and PubliCola.com.
You can follow Hacks & Wonkson Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks.
You can follow me on Bluesky at@finchfrii, that's F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I.
(40:47):
You can catch Hacks & Wonks on ApplePodcasts, Spotify, or wherever you
get your podcasts - just type "Hacksand Wonks" into the search bar.
Be sure to subscribe to thepodcast to get the full versions
of our Friday week-in-reviewshow and our Tuesday topical show
delivered to your podcast feed.
If you like us, please leavea review wherever you listen.
You can also get a full transcriptof this episode and links to the
(41:09):
resources referenced in the showat officialhacksandwonks.com.
Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next
time.
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