Republican Rep. Matt Shea’s name has been in the headlines a lot lately for reasons that are truly hard to believe, even in today’s political climate.
First elected to the state House in 2008, Shea has disgraced his North-Spokane Legislative District and our state with his outrageous white supremacist and religious extremist beliefs. Much like national Republicans have willfully ignored the behavior of President Trump, Washington state Republicans have spent the last decade looking the other way.
We refuse to let Shea and his Republican colleagues pretend like this is business as usual. Here are just a few of the things Shea has done in recent years:
- In 2016, Shea visited the infamous far-right activists who illegally occupied federal government buildings in Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
- Last year, he distributed a manifesto called “Biblical Basis for War” that details how to organize a “Holy Army” and “kill all males” who do not obey so-called biblical law. He also claims those who oppose him are a “counter state” of “Marxists” and “Islamists”.
- Shea has supported a group training young men in “biblical warfare,” including how to use knives, pistols, and rifles. He appeared in videos for the group and made public appearances with them at events. The group calls themselves “Team Rugged” and many of their teachings come from a neo-Confederate pastor who is a “leading proponent for training Christians for armed battle”.
- Shea not only has he supported conducting background checks on political opponents, he also sought to purchase GPS devices to track potential adversaries.
This kind of hate and extremism has no place in Washington, especially from an elected official who should be representing all of his constituents. He has been getting away with spreading this extremist rhetoric within his party for years. But since his involvement with so-called “Team Rugged,” another group has started to hold him accountable – his corporate donors.
Shea has consistently used campaign funds to promote his outrageous far-right views, including his plan to secede from Washington by forming a 51st state. He also used campaign contributions to travel to “anti-terrorism training”. These extreme views have proved too much for his corporate sponsors, several who are asking for their money back.
Shea’s now gone so far off the deep end that now even giant corporations are pulling their funding – but the GOP still refuses to expel him from their caucus! He’s already supported biblical warfare, proposed tracking political opponents, and spent campaign funding on his far-right radio program. What are they waiting for? And why are private companies doing more to hold Shea accountable than his own party?
We have called on the Washington Republicans to expel him from their caucus for months, but they still haven’t taken any action. This is unacceptable. We need to keep building grassroots pressure on the House Republicans to expel Shea from their caucus and hold him accountable for his horrific actions. Send them a message now demanding they expel Rep. Matt Shea:
https://fusewashington.actionkit.com/letter/shea/
