Greg Brotherton as county commissioner has steered millions of dollars to an organization he heads as its chairman. That organization is OlyCap. Brotherton has violated state laws prohibiting such conflicts of interest because he has voted for and actively lobbied the other commissioners to approve the unprecedented large grants and contracts to OlyCap, according to a formal complaint pending with the State Auditor. Rosemary Shurman, a licensed attorney living in Port Ludlow, filed that complaint. Because the State Auditor says they won’t be able to address the complaint until next year, we are publishing Shurman’s explanation of why she alleges that Greg Brotherton has broken state law.
— The Editors
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In an apparent conflict of interest, Jefferson County Commissioner Greg Brotherton has used his elected position to promote spending millions of dollars of county funds to benefit a nonprofit organization that he chairs. Contrary to State law, Brotherton has advocated for and voted to approve funding to Olympic Community Action Program (OlyCap) of over $3.5 million in the form of grant monies and real properties held by the County.
Most of this largesse has been in the form of grants and service contracts. Close to a million dollars was in real estate, including the sale of a county property for a tenth of its assessed value.
Brotherton began his term as County Commissioner in 2019. He is up for re-election this fall and is being challenged by Marcia Kelbon. I decided to explore the legal issues surrounding an alleged ethical violation by Brotherton based upon his dual roles as a County Commissioner and Chair of OlyCap’s Board of Directors. For full disclosure, I support Kelbon based upon her reasonable and practical responses to multiple issues facing our county.
From my reading of the law, I conclude that Brotherton’s actions violate ethics laws. A complaint has therefore been filed with the Washington State Auditor to address this issue. The WA State Auditor’s Office has indicated that they will be considering this issue next year during its regular audit process. The Assistant Director of Local Audits indicated that they lack the resources to conduct an audit at this time.
Contrary to the opinions of Brotherton’s supporters, the complaint is not simply “politicking.” It is a legal issue that deserves an opinion from an unbiased decision maker.
Mr. Brotherton is a Jefferson County Commissioner (a municipal officer) and is a member of the board of directors of a nonprofit – OlyCap. Brotherton has repeatedly advocated for passage of certain funding and land divestment resolutions, at County Commissioner meetings and in his capacity as a County Commissioner. He has showered OlyCap with millions of dollars and acres of land at below market value. Brotherton’s advocacy for resolutions which provide direct financial benefit to OlyCap is the type of “influence” contemplated by the legislature, which elevates what is otherwise a “remote interest,” to that which is prohibited under the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 42.23.
Jefferson County awarded a total of $2,709,163.70 in grant agreements and service contracts to OlyCap from 2019 through the first quarter of 2022, during which period Brotherton served as both a County Commissioner and as Chair of the Board of OlyCap. (See Exhibits A-E, documents received from Jefferson County in response to a public records request.)
In addition, in September 2019, Jefferson County sold to OlyCap a parcel of land (at 7th and Hendricks streets, Port Townsend) which was assessed at $362,280 for $36,200 — 10% of its market value and a discount of at least $326,080. In 2021, Jefferson County purchased another parcel of land (on Mill Road, Port Townsend) for a price of $602,000, which has been dedicated exclusively for use by OlyCap. In August 2022 the County signed a 42 year lease with OlyCap for this property for rent of ten dollars ($10.00).
The following table summarizes the total contributions by Jefferson County to OlyCap through March 2022:
The amounts awarded to OlyCap from 2019 through the first quarter of 2022 reflect a steady increase from the historic level of payment by Jefferson County to OlyCap. In 2018, for example, $552,808.94 was awarded to OlyCap. Brotherton has routinely voted, as part of a three-member board of county commissioners, in favor of the award of service contracts and grant agreements to OlyCap. It appears that Brotherton has not recused himself from any OlyCap funding votes.
Influencing Officials to Award Contracts to OlyCap
In violation of RCWs, Brotherton routinely Influences or attempts to Influence other County Commissioners to award contracts to the organization he chairs. Below are some examples during 2022 of his efforts to influence the other two commissioners in connection with approving grant agreements or service contracts to OlyCap:
January 3, 2022 – Workshop between the Jefferson County Commissioners and OlyCap concerning additional funding for the “Caswell Brown” tent shelter being run by OlyCap
“Commissioner Greg Brotherton requested the special workshop around funding for Caswell-Brown Village. He advocated for spending $500,000 more of American Rescue Plan Act funding toward Phase 2, which would provide sewer infrastructure to the site. Phase 3 would see the installation of showers and a kitchen area.
‘There is a groundswell of funding for housing and affordable housing right now,’ Brotherton said. ‘I think we should be willing to spend up to another $500,000 to get the infrastructure squared away… Finishing the first permanent emergency shelter is something that I think we should commit to.'”
March 28, 2022 – Meeting of the Jefferson County Commissioners (Brotherton’s comments are shown in italics and obvious typographical transcript errors have been corrected. Time stamp 1:50:59)
Commissioner Eisenhour: “So now we’re gonna have a workshop on the Caswell Brown Village and this was an item that Commissioner Brotherton brought to the agenda.”
GB: “You know, I think we’ve all been waiting with baited breath for kind of a budget for what? Phase 2-A and 2-B look like for this kind of audacious and large program, which is critically needed. And I’ll just remind folks of where we were before we started this, which was an unmanaged encampment which was still costing us quite a bit of money at the Jefferson County fairgrounds and the um, that the impacts have been dramatic, both in the quality of life of the, of the residents who really have no other place to go as well as for the surrounding neighborhood and the fairgrounds and this is, I’m still proud of. This is a, as a visionary project which, which steps up and takes responsibility for a problem that doesn’t necessarily fall on our shoulders, but that is part of our community and so does fall on your shoulders. Thank you.
April 4, 2022 – Meeting of the Jefferson County Commissioners. (Brotherton’s comments are shown in italics and obvious typographical transcript errors have been corrected. Time stamp 1:56:49)
GB: “So can I just restate the ask to understand kind of where we are. The way that I see it, the million dollars that we committed so far is eaten. And we have operations to consider which are right around 30K a month, $875K, say a million dollars to get to the end of the year, and into the RFP process and for recording fees, and housing fund board funds for operations and potentially other funding mechanisms for ongoing operations. And I really like the possibility of a sale to recoup funds to help supplement this. I think we’ve got some other funding mechanisms that are, you know, that could do part of it, you know, I think this would be a really good candidate for 1590 funds, we still have no process yet and its, and we of course committed to a collaborative process with our housing fund board on figuring out that process. But you know projects like this and the Evans Vista work force housing project and habitat’s project, we’ve got some big projects in front of us, that look like. I mean I feel like we could really move the needle on some of these projects with those funds. So that’s just my personal and I have not talked about that with the housing fund board or anything. And as I say, that is a collaborative decision, we might have the final pen on paper but the whole idea is that we make those in partnership with our city and citizen representatives. But, to me, moving this project forward again, is really critical, a $500K lifeline right now to get this going and talking about what we want with the property, I’d be willing to certainly carve out those additional parcels and maybe even the Larry Scott trail piece that has more potential for future development down the line and then selling what’s left for Phase 2A and Phase 3 at the very least to OlyCap would be kind of my starting point for consideration.”
The meeting continued. Following deliberation, in which both other County Commissioners expressed concerns over this additional spending, Greg Brotherton moved for and the Commissioners approved the award of the additional $500K funding to OlyCap.
April 25, 2022 – Meeting of the Jefferson County Commissioners in which Brotherton argued for use of ARPA funding to further support the Caswell-Brown shelter operated by OlyCap in the face of concerns by the other commissioners. (Obvious typographical transcription errors have been corrected and Brotherton’s comments are in italics. Time stamp 4:53:24)
GB: “We could use that 262 would make a big dent on Caswell Brown.”
County Administrator: “Well, right. I mean when Heidi and I were monkeying with this sheet, I put 18 in there for Mill Road and then we went To -37000 down below. And then Heidi consulted with Kate. Okay. They take out that 300 because we haven’t committed it yet. So that’s the only reason we have the 262 at the bottom.”
Commissioner Eisenhour: “Yeah, this is what’s committed.”
GB: “Well, I mean we don’t have something else to use it will have that money and we need it, it would start the project again. If we could get this…”
Commissioner Dean: “We could also take um, you know, commit a chunk of capital funds to the Hadlock sewer instead of ARPA.”
GB: “Oh right Mhm. I mean if we could get you know, 400 that would turn everything on again. They just finished Phase 2-A.”
Commissioner Eisenhour: “So when is it gonna stop though? I mean we’ve spent, well if we do that we’ll have spent two million of our funds on it and then it was that enough.”
GB: “That’s enough to get Phase 2-A. And they’re looking for housing trust fund and other funds.”
Commissioner Eisenhour: “So that would be other sources of funding that get mobilized for it.”
GB: “Or for any future development. That’s what yeah, that’s what OlyCap has presented to us and that’s the plan. So yeah, that would be the end of the infrastructure investment from us. There’s operations, they think they can get some funds for operations and shift stuff around but if they’re not moving to permanent supportive housing for years, which is what I think will happen. It’s I don’t I’m not sure if this operation funds are actually realistic. Um So but you know, we have other revenue streams, you know, our normal Um you know, recording fees and everything that we have RFPs for already. So they’ll look for it but you know, 400 would finish Phase 2-A. Mhm. Yeah and capital funds could be used for the sewer. Right, that’s not a problem. What do you guys think about that?”
Commissioner Eisenhour: “I don’t know, I would love to see us putting more money into other segments of housing.”
August 26, 2022 – Commissioner Brotherton made a motion to approve the 42 year term lease with Olycap for $10 a year. The motion was approved. (Time stamp 09:20:02 & Agenda pg.2) Although the county retains the deed for the property, the appearance of impropriety remains, in light of the overwhelming favoritism shown to this organization by an elected official who sits on their board.
Revised Code of Washington – Code of Ethics Laws Prohibit Influencing Officials
The Jefferson County Civil Deputy Prosecutor’s analysis of RCW 42.23.030 and conclusion that Commissioner Brotherton’s conflict of interest is nonexistent — merely because he does not directly receive monetary compensation from OlyCap — completely ignores both the stated purpose of Chapter 42.23 and RCW 42.23.040.
The purpose of Chapter 42.23 is to “prohibit certain instances and areas of conflict,” particularly with respect to “the transaction of business” by elected officials, such as Brotherton. However, the statute also permits certain conflicts of interest which are “deemed to be only remote” (RCW 42.23.010).
RCW 42.23.030 prohibits municipal officers from being “directly or indirectly” “beneficially interested” in a contract. RCW 42.23.040 defines scenarios when a conflict of interest is “remote” and thus the municipal “officer is not interested in a contract within the meaning of RCW 42.23.030.” The scenario where a municipal officer holds a position as a “non-salaried officer of a nonprofit corporation” is explicitly labeled a “remote interest.”
This type of remote interest is considered a conflict of interest, but it is one sanctioned by the legislature when the conflict is disclosed because it qualifies as only a “remote” conflict. However, RCW 42.23.040 also reverses the “remote interest” distinction where the municipal “officer influences or attempts to influence any other officer of the municipality.” Under this scenario, the municipal officer is considered “interested… within the meaning of RCW 42.23.030.”
RCW 42.23.040 can be read as follows:
“A municipal officer is… interested in a contract, within the meaning of RCW 42.23.030, if the officer has only a remote interest in the contract… [and] the officer influences or attempts to influence any other officer of the municipality of which he or she is an officer to enter into the contract.”
Under RCW 42.23.040, the legislature classified this specific scenario: a municipal officer also holding a position as a non-salaried officer of a nonprofit corporation, who exerts influence or attempts to exert influence over other municipal officers when making a decision related to a business transaction involving the same nonprofit, as a prohibited conflict of interest “within the meaning of 42.23.030.”
That is the exact scenario which took place in the examples above.
Jefferson County conveniently ignored RCW 42.23.040 when concluding there is no conflict under RCW 42.23.030, even though .040 expressly addresses an ethics violation for a County Commissioner who is a “nonsalaried officer of a nonprofit corporation.” Furthermore, the argument that there is no ethical violation because there are more than 50 nonprofit organizations that have Jefferson County Commissioner board members and no one has ever been challenged, is illogical.
A practice that has not received judicial review does not mean that the practice is lawful. Nor does the County’s citation to a 1996 Court of Appeals decision resolve the legal issues when the decision does not even address RCW 42.23.040 and its provision which specifically addresses Brotherton’s position as a “nonsalaried officer of a nonprofit corporation.”
Mr. Brotherton advocates for financial awards to OlyCap, as well as votes for such awards, contrary to RCW 42.23. Even the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington (MRSC) states:
Moreover, if the County is so confident in its legal position with respect to Brotherton’s ethical dilemma, why hasn’t it requested an opinion from the Washington State Attorney General? The Jefferson County prosecutor is one of the few government officials who can make such a request. Private citizens cannot make a request.
In addition to the law which prohibits Brotherton’s conflict of interest, there is an appearance of fairness issue. Deciding to donate almost four million dollars to a nonprofit (primarily for homeless shelters and housing) and then serving as the chair of the nonprofit’s board of directors has the appearance of impropriety.
No one is criticizing the nonprofit. But you would think that Brotherton would follow the MRSC advice and refrain from participating in County decisions that give money to the nonprofit that he is significantly involved with. Brotherton is taking an unnecessary risk. RCW 42.23.050 states that a contract made in violation of the ethics laws “is void” and could be “grounds for forfeiture of his… office.”
Why not take the high road and just refrain from participating in those decisions? The citizens of Jefferson County deserve that.
“This is not over,” Julie Jaman told the Port Townsend City Council on October 3, 2022.
At that meeting Katie Daviscourt, a reporter with Rebel News, confronted Mayor David Faber with his own words about having sex with dead chickens and a dog, and declaring that, “As mayor, I am legally required to be a pervert and deviant.” Faber has yet to explain using his title as mayor in connection with such statements.
Women’s rights advocate Amy E. Sousa addressed council about sexism and the misogynist lies of transgender ideology. She promised she would be back to seek council’s support for a declaration like the one it issued to “especially” recognize people who have declared themselves a man though born a woman, and vice versa. The forthcoming declaration, Sousa said, would call upon council to stand up for women and girls. Will Port Townsend City Council lift up women and girls as much as it has wrapped its arms around people who say they are transgender?
Earlier that day Daviscourt had attempted to deliver to the YMCA more than ten thousand signatures on a petition circulated by Rebel News to “Let Julie Swim.” But the Y and Mountain View Pool were again closed. Was another day of locked doors and dimmed lights due to lack of staffing or to duck Daviscourt?
The Mountain View Pool has been closed quite a bit since August 2 when we published the first story on how Jaman — an 80-year old woman who had been using the pool for much of her life — was banned for stating her objection to a man in the women’s showers. Jaman encountered “Clementine” Adams in a woman’s swimsuit when she was naked. She states she saw him watching little girls in states of undress. Jaman has also said he was leering at the little girls. She told him to get out and repeated herself to the Y’s pool manager who had entered the room. Unknown to Jaman at the time, this man was a Y employee who in March of this year decided he would henceforth be a woman. He acknowledges he is biologically still quite male and “interested in women.”
Adams, we learned from his interview on a Stitcher podcast, never returned to work. Thus Jaman accomplished her objective of getting him out of the women’s showers. The Y has since been advertising an opening for an “Aquatics Program Lead,” the title of the person who banned Jaman on the spot, as she stood naked and wet from her shower. As we reported, both the male employee in the woman’s bathing suit and the aquatics manager failed to safeguard children in accordance with basic YMCA policy and the common sense of anyone with the slightest concern about the dignity, privacy and safety of women and children.
Adams gave his only public statement in that Stitcher podcast that we wrote about on September 10. His admissions hurt himself and his former employer. Public officials for their part (the pool is public property, owned by the school district and leased to the city) have chosen to hide behind a bland and inaccurate statement drafted by City Manager John Mauro. That statement repeats the smear that Jaman had a history of misbehavior that justified her permanent banishment — allegations never explained or supported by the plentiful documents we were once assured existed. Two months after publicly spreading accusations that Jaman had a history of misconduct, the Y still has not told even Jaman, let alone her attorneys or the media, what horrible things she allegedly did that justified barring an elderly woman from using a public pool to keep up her health and fitness.
The Mayor distinguished himself by excreting infantile and sick comments on Twitter that have made Port Townsend a national embarrassment. His glib and cruel dismissal of the concerns of rape victims prompted the women’s press conference on August 15 that turned into an ugly mob scene more fitting of Portland and Seattle than the “welcoming” laid-back Victorian seaport and arts community of Port Townsend. His comment the day after older women were knocked to the ground outside City Hall — that the previous evening’s confrontation had been “beautiful” — only further fanned flames, leading to the September 3 rally by members of the Proud Boys and Washington Three Percenters who cast themselves as champions of women and free speech.
There was at least one gun among the mob on August 15 assaulting women’s rights advocates. According to law enforcement sources, there were plenty of guns on both sides at the September 3 rally. An overwhelming law enforcement presence, including a police spotter on City Hall’s roof and the Washington Highway Patrol Rapid Deployment Team at the ready, kept things quiet and even comical. At one point, a burly Three Percenter danced with willowy counter-protestors to The Village People’s iconic “YMCA.” A more recent version of that tune, adapted specifically to the Julie Jaman/YMCA controversy, was released this summer by comedian Mr. Menno. Called “Y Chromosome.” It’s cringey and wickedly funny.
It has been an interesting past couple of months, and as Jaman promised, it’s not over.
On October 6, Daviscourt returned to the Mountain View Pool with a camera crew, Sousa and Jaman. Daviscourt was attempting again to deliver more than 10,000 signatures on the petition calling for the Y to “Let Julie Swim.” As of this writing the signatures on that petition now exceed 11,000.
Daviscourt checked to make sure the pool would be open. It was, but minutes later, a sign went up banning media from entering. The doors were locked and it went dark inside. When Daviscourt knocked, a business card for the Y’s communication director along with the sexist pink and blue banner of the trans movement (remember when boy/girl stereotypes were condemned?) were slipped through the door. Minutes after that the Y called police and the women were ordered to leave and threatened with arrest if they returned. Daviscourt’s video report may be viewed here.
Enter Councilor Wennstrom
Port Townsend City Councilor Libby Wennstrom
Which brings us to Port Townsend City Councilor Libby Wennstrom. Following the August 15 mobbing of older women who were calling for respect for women’s dignity and safety, she posted on her Facebook page a call to expel all “TERFS” from Port Townsend. That acronym for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists has become a sexist term used to justify violence and threats against women who do not buy into the fiction that a man or boy — human males — can magically become a woman or girl — human females — by snapping their fingers and switching around the blue and pink in their wardrobe. Ana Wolpin covered that bit of hate-mongering from Wennstrom in her article, “City Officials Lead Hate Campaign Against Women.”
Wennstrom’s Facebook post with the tagline “Libby Urner Wennstrom updated her cover photo.”
Wennstrom removed the post once The Free Press reported on it here and at our Facebook page. Her comments, which were partially preserved by one of our readers, show an even deeper malevolence, particularly towards Sousa. Wennstrom later said she “never intended it to go public, but in retrospect as a public official she doesn’t think she should have posted it.” She only meant to share it among friends, not publicly, as if that excuses her actions. If she does not want her actions to be those of a public official, she should not have accepted elected office.
Shortly afterward, Wennstrom participated in the Stitcher podcast released September 1 that revealed much about the YMCA’s failures to safeguard children, including Adams’ bizarre, unsolicited claim that he was so blind — due to not wearing his eyeglasses, though he was on duty as a children’s caretaker — he had trouble seeing around the women’s showers.
The podcaster, a fellow named Garrison, repeatedly expressed his misogynist contempt for women. He’s a man who says he’s been taking hormones for a year, presumably testosterone suppressants. Somehow that qualifies him to judge which women are really feminists and which are “so-called feminists,” the latter identified as any woman who does not embrace transgender ideology and holds to biological truths about men and women.
The podcast also interviewed some anonymous local residents who disclosed they’ve been training themselves in “gun clubs” with members of the “queer community” and people who say they are trans. They claim they are “getting this really good organic network building throughout the community” to kick Jaman “out of their businesses on sight.” Despite all the calls for calm and the prudent discretion of other city officials (with the exception of the warped Mayor), Wennstrom chose to participate in this broadcast.
Contrary to the desires of anonymous thugs on Stitcher, Jaman has not been kicked out of any Port Townsend business. She is not having to do all her shopping and dining in Silverdale and Sequim. Instead, she has been given surprising support from local businesses. I was interviewing her when she received well-wishes from the head of one of downtown’s largest business operations. On that same day she had received several letters of support, including one envelope with a gift of cash. The only operation that has excluded Jaman is the YMCA.
Lies and Agitprop
According to Wennstrom’s podcast statements, Julie Jaman “attacked” the young man in the women’s shower area and “made a jerk of herself.” Further, the Port Townsend Free Press itself was responsible for causing the mob scenes, the Proud Boys event, the months of disruption and civic discord and PT’s bad international press. “Right wing media” piled on and Amy Sousa tried “to force her way” into the Mountain View Pool to film patrons as they were undressing, Wennstrom lied. And, Proud Boys are everywhere, also PTFP‘s fault.
Wennstrom uttered so many false, derogatory and inflammatory statements in her few minutes in the interview, it’s difficult to believe anything she said.
She is apparently greatly impressed by Port Townsend Free Press’ impact. She thinks we have the ability to ignite a global firestorm about the trampling of women’s rights in little Port Townsend. She says we got “so many” facts wrong, and in the same breath accuses us of not reporting that Adams was a YMCA employee. Hold on, councilor Wennstrom… that’s contradicted by the fourth sentence of PTFP‘s first report about the incident, which states: “The woman [Jaman] had to stand naked in the presence of the male, a YMCA employee, despite her pleas that he leave.”
In blaming — crediting? — Port Townsend Free Press for igniting the firestorm Wennstrom completely ignores the broader coverage — much of it original — from the feminist and LGB media (that’s lesbian, gay and bi-sexual, and no “T” for transgender). While PTFP wrote the first story, it was the widely-followed Reduxx that launched it nationwide. Reduxx describes itself as a publication of “pro-woman and pro-child safeguarding and commentary.”
While Adams’ name was available in the police reports (that’s how we identified the man in the woman’s bathing suit described by Jaman), Reduxx was first to publish a photo of Adams in connection with the story. They didn’t have to dig very deep. Adams has published his photo for the world to see on a GoFundMe page, where he is asking for money so he can pay for amputation of his penis and testicles and cutting of his vocal chords.
And though our photos and initial reporting were sometimes used or mentioned, coverage by Matt Osborne of LGB United (a lesbian, gay and bi-sexual platform) propelled the story even further. Post Millenial journalist Andy Ngo and Substack commentator Mattie Watkins were the first to uncover Mayor David Faber’s sordid, sick alter-ego in which he identifies himself as a “chickenfucker,” discusses sex with a dog, defends child pornography and public masturbation, and aligns himself with a YouTube character who calls for decriminalization of child pornography and lowering the age of consent so adults can have sex with children. Then Mandy Stadtmiller, a New York magazine and former Penthouse columnist, asked aloud in an article by the same title, “Why is Self-Described ‘Pervert and Deviant’ Mayor David Faber So Excited About Terrorizing an 80-Year Old Woman Who Doesn’t Want Men in Little Girls’ Changing Rooms?”
We did not write the first coverage of the mobbing and bullying of women permitted by the City of Port Townsend on August 15. Osborne beat us to it. He had his story up within hours of Julie Jaman and her daughter being escorted to their car by four Highway Patrol officers.
We did enjoy unprecedented traffic to our website, far more readers in those days than the Peninsula Daily News and The Leader regularly attract. But our big numbers pale in comparison to the readership in the hundreds of thousands of the Twitter posts and stories by Osborne, Sousa and Watkins, and the more than a million hits we understand Reduxx got on its Twitter posts.
Left Wingers Now “Extreme Right Wing”
That was all separate and independent of what Wennstrom may consider “right wing media,” unless she dumps women’s advocates, lesbians, gays and bisexuals fighting against pedophilia and the sexualizing and grooming of children into her mental “right wing” basket of deplorables. Mayor Faber apparently does, as he dismisses all those concerned about men around naked women and girls — including rape survivors — as suffering from “right wing moral panic.”
Wennstrom labelled The Port Townsend Free Press as “extreme right wing” and “the blog of one person.”
If that’s not it, maybe it’s the in-depth reporting that undermined the imposition of dictatorial decrees by the Governor and local health officer, coupled with commentary favoring liberty and personal choice? If that’s not it, maybe it’s reporting on how the YMCA banned a family from its facilities for reporting the display of child pornography. And if not that, maybe we’re “extreme right wing” because of those articles opposing turning over public parking spaces to a handful of downtown businesses, and exacerbating the already severe parking problems in our fair city’s commercial core?
One last shot in the dark: were we “extreme right wing” because we were the only media reporting on the human tragedy — the drug abuse, crime and suffering — in the troubled encampment at the Fairgrounds that left one young woman dead and led to another suicide? That’s it… writing about the suffering of the homeless and how they were ignored by the city makes us “extreme right wing”!
The current editors of this publication (I started the Free Press in 2018 but handed it off more than a year ago) would laugh at being called “extreme right wing.” They have been fixtures of PT’s progressive, liberal and peace activist community for decades. And as for this being “the blog of only one person,” this site has published articles by over two dozen authors.
We haven’t surrendered our critical thinking abilities. We do our own research, believe what our eyes and ears tell us, and reach our own conclusions. We’re independent thinkers still capable of seeking objective truths. We are not helplessly, blindly “woke.” To Wennstrom, that equates with “extreme right wing.”
Proud Boys Under Every Rock
Anyone who doesn’t toe Wennstrom’s ideological line is “right wing,” and probably a Proud Boy, too (even if female). For example, Wennstrom brought up the Back the Blue rally organized by wives of local law enforcement. She had been asked if Port Townsend had seen much in the way of large-scale protests, and this was what came to her mind.
As we reported on August 31, 2020, a car and truck parade in support of law enforcement stretched over six miles from H.J. Carroll Park in Chimacum to downtown Port Townsend. I personally counted about 400 vehicles in the cavalcade. A former judge, local business owners, law enforcement families, members of the Rakers car club, and local citizens participated in showing support for law enforcement during a summer when they were under attack by the Port Townsend City Council.
Mayor Faber, then a city councilor, had wanted city police disarmed and there was serious talk of defunding and cutting the police department. Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County (now virtually defunct, along with the international, multi-million dollar scam umbrella organization) tried to humiliate our sheriff and police chief. A KPTZ travesty of a radio program subjected the sheriff to fantastical, delusional accusations from a BLM leader who, in addition to having a long history of substance abuse-related incidents — including crashing his bicycle into the Fort Worden gate and urinating himself — had just months before been arrested for trying to break into an occupied Port Townsend residence.
So the community rallied in huge numbers for the men and women of the Port Townsend Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office… about which Wennstrom deceived podcast listeners by calling it a Proud Boys event.
That Evil Amy Sousa and Inciting A Mob
Wennstrom has some grudge against Sousa. She leveled personal attacks against Sousa in Facebook comments to her now-deleted post (preserved partially by one of our readers) calling for the expulsion from Port Townsend of all women who don’t like having men in their bathrooms. She implied that Sousa was in this fight just for the money and insinuated that Sousa had caused a young child’s suicide — then disingenuously distanced herself from her own words.
In the Stitcher podcast, she said that Sousa, accompanied by a camera crew “tried to force” her way into the Y’s locker rooms while they were being used by patrons. Wennstrom admits she wasn’t there, but makes the accusation anyway, just as she spread the rumor that Jaman had “attacked” Adams.
Katie Daviscourt, the Rebel News reporter mentioned previously, did politely ask to film in the Y and left when her request was denied. Daviscourt recorded this in her report and you can see her request to film at the 2:22 mark.
That’s not the only lie Wennstrom has spread to inflame people against Sousa, Jaman and her boogey-men of the “right wing media.” In her comments accompanying her hateful “TERFS Out of Port Townsend” call to action, Wennstrom wrote:
“The narrative that’s circulating is that a ‘known pervert’ (sometimes it’s a ‘sex offender’) was masturbsting [sic] and touching/undressing little girls in the locker room. Which is a crime, and would be charged as such. But that’s not even remotely what happened.”
I’ve read almost everything published on the Jaman matter, but I have never seen any allegation anywhere that Adams was masturbating or that he was a sex offender. Jaman distanced herself from claims he had touched the little girls. It was Adams himself in his later Stitcher interview who admitted to touching at least one young girl as she was dressing/undressing.
Wennstrom condemned herself in her own comments when she wrote that “creating outrage from a false or misleading story is part of a larger political playbook.” She herself helped organize the counter-protests against Jaman at the Y and whipped up the crowd that turned into the mob that tore down suffragette flags and called women TERFs and c-nts at the same spot where previous Women’s Marches had rallied.
Indeed, This is Not Over
Conflicts between women’s rights and men invading women’s spaces are being repeated across the country. In Vermont, most of a girls’ high school basketball team was banned from their own locker room because they dared express their true feelings about having to undress in the presence of a young man who calls himself trans, and having to be with him as he undresses and showers. Lawsuits challenging men invading women’s sports are pending in many jurisdictions. A growing number of states are not tolerating the nonsense of men gaining access to women’s private, vulnerable spaces by putting on a bit of make-up for the day.
Wennstrom and other council members will be asked to issue a proclamation in support of the dignity, safety and privacy of women and girls, as Sousa will be coming back to City Council. It was Wennstrom’s suggestion to issue the proclamation declaring that the city is “especially” supportive of people who call themselves trans. Faber and council members Owen Rowe and Amy Howard have cheered on Adams’ quest for funds to cut off his penis by giving him money to pursue “gender reassignment” surgery. Where will she and the rest of city council stand when called upon to affirm by official proclamation that women’s rights are human rights?
The meme “Trans Rights are Human Rights” is on yard signs across PT, along with the slogan “Science is Real.” But it is biology that stands in the way of men magically becoming woman. As Mr. Menno’s fun parody song drives home, that persistent Y chromosome that makes men men resides in every cell, sinew, muscle, bone, nerve and speck of brain matter. It does not go away when a man puts on women’s attire and cosmetics — the truly sexist equivalent of blackface.
One last time. If you haven’t watched Mr. Menno’s message, take a few minutes. This is a very gay man speaking through his music and comedy, not someone Wennstrom can blithely deride as “extreme right wing.”
When a skeleton is unearthed, its very structure speaks “male” or “female”. Transgenderism is denial of science and biology. It is ideology pulling us back to the dark ages when logic, reason and the scientific method were suppressed in service to tribalism and religious orthodoxy. Indeed, transgenderism is best understood as tribalism and a faith system. Only by pounding it into people’s heads — by indoctrination of the impressionable or the intimidation of mobs like those Wennstrom whipped up screaming “Trans women are women” — can this lie take hold. It is the stuff of totalitarianism rooted as it is not in any immutable, verifiable, objective truth, but in a fabricated narrative imposed by various manifestations of force.
J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has become a leading opponent of the trans agenda that erases women and sexualizes and victimizes children. She has stood up to attacks far more vicious and threatening than those Wennstrom has leveled against local women. The horrors of the trans agenda now coming to light in the United Kingdom are proving her right. Rowling’s challenge to the “genderists” can be leveled with equal justification against Wennstrom and her fellow council members.
On the heels of revelations about the massive injuries inflicted on children by puberty blockers and mutilating surgeries, Rowling recently wrote in response to the exposure of pedophilia in Britain’s “establishment” trans activist lobby:
“You know, I thought things were pretty bad when you were arguing to put convicted rapists in women’s jails, when you shrugged off masked men roughing up lesbian protestors and tried to shout down de-transitioners talking about what was done to them by ideologically-captured doctors. Women, gay people and vulnerable kids have suffered real harm and you? You cheered it all on. You still prefer wilful blindness and four word mantras to considering you might have got this badly wrong. You became part of an authoritarian, misogynist, homophobic movement and you didn’t even notice. Enjoy the sense of your own righteousness while you can. It won’t last.”
