Washington state Republicans are being faced with a tough choice: keep supporting a veteran lawmaker who has held top leadership positions in the state House, or boot him out of their caucus for his increasingly open embrace of the violent politics of far-right extremism.
Rep. Matt Shea, a representative from the Spokane Valley, has come under fire once again this week after reporter Jason Wilson of the Guardian revealed that Shea had been exchanging messages with other far-right activists that discussed violent retribution against their critics, along with surveillance and “psyops.”
Remarkably, in responding to Wilson’s report, Shea posted an attack on Wilson on Facebook claiming he is linked to “violent Marxist revolutionaries”—while including a link to an insane Australian white-nationalist site renowned for posting vile anti-Semitic articles.
Shea has a long record of both espousing extremist “Patriot” movement ideas as well as multiple dalliances with far-right extremists, notably participating in a press conference at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge standoff supporting the radicals at the federal center there. More recently, he was revealed to have authored a document favoring creation of a 51st state that suggested a “Holy War” against nonbelievers in the new state, including an edict: “If they do not yield – kill all males.”
Shea, who is the third-most senior Republican in the state House, was stripped of his leadership positions as head of the House GOP caucus in November after the document became public. He is, however, enduringly popular in his district, winning his most recent election with 58 percent of the vote.
The most recent revelations involve conversations between Shea and other “Patriot” activists—notably militiaman Anthony Bosworth, who has a long track record of armed protests and confrontations—in November 2017 related to right-wing hysteria over a supposed “civil war” outbreak being planned by antifascists.
Already, House Republicans are voicing concern about allowing Shea to remain within the caucus.
“Threats of political violence have no place in our society and I condemn them in the strongest terms,” House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox (R-Yelm) said in prepared remarks. “The statements made by others in a text conversation with Representative Matt Shea were wrong and deeply upsetting. I take these statements seriously and condemn them with no reservation.”
“My conversations with Matt and Leadership will continue,” he added.
Washington Democrats have demanded Shea’s ouster from the GOP caucus. “We also call on the State Republican Party to formally condemn and sanction Representative Shea,” party chair Tina Podlodowski said. “To do anything less is to condone and support the cancerous growth of extremism within your own ranks.”
Sherriff Ozzie Knezovich, a conservative Republican, voiced his concern too:
The allegations concerning Rep. Shea are troubling; however, they are not surprising. Shea has used these types of tactics against anyone he deems to be a political enemy for years and is currently being sued by a Spokane County Deputy Sheriff for the use of similar tactics.
To me, it is unconscionable that a State Representative would be involved in such discussions targeting those he has been elected to represent and protect. It appears that Shea has no use or respect for the Constitutions of the United States, the State of Washington nor the principles upon which our nation was founded."
Shea’s extremist advocacy and alliances made him subject to monitoring by the Southern Poverty Law Center long ago, which has long listed him as an extremist political candidate. His record in recent years has become substantially linked to far-right “constitutionalist” belief systems, and is especially problematic for anyone holding an official position within state government:
- Participating in both armed standoffs involving rancher Cliven Bundy and his sons, first in Nevada in April 2014 (Shea’s remarks at the standoff included the incendiary claim: “This is a war on rural America”), then in 2016 at the Malheur. At the latter standoff, Shea met with the participants and pleaded for law enforcement not to harm them.
- Shea turned up among a group of Oath Keepers, III Percenters, and others in Olympia in February 2015 to protest the state's policy banning guns from the Statehouse floor, and made a long speech in which he laid out a list of 27 grievances, including “directing government workers to spy on Americans and create linkage charts of patriotic Americans,” “carrying out military drills and lockdowns in American cities,” and “allowing the establishment of Sharia Law in parts of our country.”
- Distributing the “Biblical Basis for War” document that contemplated creating a new state that would be based on “constitutional” and “biblical” principles, including outlawing homosexuality and open public lands, and negating the power of the federal government.
- Helped organize the Spokane chapter of the Islamophobic organization ACT! for America in 2016. It is listed by the SPLC as a hate group.
- After the election, Shea participated in a gathering of far-right extremists advocating for a 51st “constitutionalist” state in Montana that included Ammon Bundy.
- Shea also came under fire for skirting Washington state campaign laws in order to funnel $5,500 in donations to far-right nonprofits in Colorado and Arizona. State elections authorities are currently investigating the actions.
