Category: LGBTQ+

City Council, homelessness, LGBTQ+, Mayor Wilson, Police

This Week on PubliCola: Wilson’s Budget Lands with Thud at Council, KCRHA Finds “Missing” $8 Million, RV Ban Advances, and More
Still from a promotional reel for Rokid glasses created by an SPD officer who used the glasses to film himself on the job, including while driving his car.

By Erica C. Barnett

Monday, September 28

On Wilson’s Budget, the Council Parts Ways With Reality

The council has started picking apart Mayor Katie Wilson’s budget, which they’ll amend before sending it back to her later this year. Some of their criticisms, however, went beyond differences in spending priorities; Wilson’s council adversaries accused her of trying to defund police surveillance, accused her of slowing down encampment sweeps (sadly, no), and even invented a 2020 council meeting at which Wilson supposedly shrieked “abolish the police!” at the council (which wasn’t even meeting in person at the time).

Greater Seattle: Inclusionary Zoning, Part 2; Amazon as a Percentage of the Budget; Permitted, but Struggling

In this week’s column, Josh takes a second look at inclusionary zoning (our version is called Mandatory Housing Affordability) via a study that found developers passed the cost of affordable housing on to other renters. Also this week, a cautionary consideration of how much the Seattle budget’s backstop depends on a handful of companies, and the necessity of thriving third places.

Tuesday, September 29

KCRHA Consultant Finds the “Missing” $8 Million

As I reported briefly on Bluesky last week, a consultant combing through the regional homelessness authority’s disheveled finances “found” $8 million the KCRHA had previously said the city and county “owed” the KCRHA but had failed to pay. In fact, according to the consultant, the money never went anywhere; it only appeared to vanish because of an accounting error.

Strauss’ RV Ban Moves Forward (But Won’t Ban Sprinters, to Saka’s Dismay)

After a flurry of mostly minor amendments, a City Council committee passed Councilmember’ Dan Strauss’ proposal to prohibit RVs without a special, one-time-only city license from parking for more than two hours anywhere in the city. Rob Saka tried to prohibit Mercedes Sprinters and similar vans from parking overnight as well, but his colleagues said that kind of sweeping ban would have unintended consequences on housed people who own this type of luxury van.

Seattle Cop Used Chinese AI Smart Glasses to Film Inside SPD Facilities, Creating Video for Company

An SPD officer is on administrative leave after using AI smart glasses to film first-person video inside a police precinct, at a crime scene, and in his car while driving. The video was used as a promotional reel by the company that makes the glasses, Rokid.

Wednesday, September 30

Council Learns What “One-Time Funding” Means

City councilmembers, including many who are up for reelection next year, expressed frustration that Mayor Wilson’s budget didn’t find ongoing funds for some $78 million in new programs they paid for with one-time funds last year. Budget director Aly Pennucci repeatedly explained that if they want to find money for things they added last year with one-time dollars, they’ll have to make cuts elsewhere in the budget.

Podcaster’s Advocacy for Anti-Trans Campaign Didn’t Violate Election Law

A statewide campaign to prevent trans girls from playing sports didn’t violate election law when it failed to report campaign speeches and fundraising by right-wing podcaster Brandi Kruse as in-kind donations, the state Public Disclosure Commission found last week.

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

Thursday, October 1

Interim Police Chief Based Complaint Against Detective on Right-Wing Characterization of Anti-Trans Initiative

Interim police chief Andre Sayles based his complaint against a detective who spoke at a pro-LGBTQ rally on Kruse’s characterization of the anti-trans initiative, telling an investigator the detective was being dishonest when she described the potential consequences of forcing some students to submit to genital inspections. Sayles told the investigator he had not read the initiative.

SPD Overpaid Officers By $13 Million. Now the City Wants It Back.

The city discovered in July that police officers were mistakenly paid $13 million as part of their retroactive pay increases under the most recent police union contract; the payments, which ran as high as $32,000 more than officers should have been expecting, went through in June. The city can only recover its money if the police union agrees that officers should have to pay it back.

Saturday, October 3

Two Seattle Nice Interviews This Week: Mayor Katie Wilson and Budget Director Aly Pennucci, and Councilmember Dionne Foster

On Friday, we sat down with Mayor Katie Wilson and her budget director, Aly Pennucci, to talk about Wilson’s deficit-busting budget proposal.

And in case you missed it, we talked to City Councilmember Dionne Foster earlier this week about her proposal to cut MHA fees for some housing projects, including a resolution that calls for subjecting new development in neighborhood residential areas to some kind of MHA fee.

Share

 

Civil Rights, LGBTQ+, Police

Interim Police Chief Based Complaint Against Detective on Right-Wing Characterization of Anti-Trans Initiative
Now-interim Police Chief Andre Sayles at a press conference earlier this year with Mayor Katie Wilson.

In his interview with a city investigator, interim Chief Sayles said he still hadn’t read the initiative and appeared unfamiliar with SPD’s policy on political speech.

By Erica C. Barnett

Seattle’s interim police chief, Andre Sayles, acknowledged that his misconduct complaint against a veteran detective was based, at least in part, on right-wing podcaster Brandi Kruse’s characterization of a statewide initiative that would ban trans girls from playing girls’ sports. The detective, Beth Wareing, faced a backlash from Kruse and other right-wing activists after she spoke at a press conference opposing two anti-LGBTQ initiatives.

Sayles, who was deputy police chief when he filed his complaint, also confirmed that he didn’t read the initiative or seek out other sources of information about it before or after accusing the detective, Beth Wareing of dishonesty and insubordination—both potentially career-ending allegations.

The new revelations come from a recording of Sayles’ interview with an Office of Police Accountability staffer investigating his complaint, which OPA dismissed as unfounded. PubliCola obtained the recording through a records request.

As we reported last month, Wareing retired from SPD over Sayles’ complaint against her, calling it a “poorly considered, unprofessional, and an attempted violation of my First Amendment rights.”

After hearing the details of Sayles’ interview with OPA, Wareing said it was that “Interim Chief Sayles retaliated against me at the direction of a far-right podcaster to damage my hard-earned professional reputation, despite my nearly 30 years investigating child abuse, domestic violence, hate crimes, and other threats.

“He did not read the policies, the language of the initiatives, or endeavor to understand my comments prior to filing what was effectively a career ending complaint. A simple Google search would have revealed the broad availability of analysis regarding these initiatives, which are likely to have extraordinary collateral impacts on children. I am deeply concerned for the LGBTQ+ community and for SPD’s diverse workforce under his leadership. SPD and the City of Seattle can and should do better.”

Kruse, whose claims about the initiatives Sayles parroted in his complaint, is actively involved with the campaign for two initiatives from billionaire Brian Heywood’s group Let’s Go Washington. As a campaign volunteer, Kruse has headlined campaign rallies and raised money for the campaign and used her podcast as a campaign platform

Wareing spoke, with SPD’s permission, at a rally for No Hate in WA State, which is opposing the two Let’s Go Washington initiatives. The first would require school employees, such as counselors, to turn over notes on confidential conversations with students to their parents, raising concerns that students will no longer be able to confide in trusted adults at school about issues like sexuality, gender, and reproductive health care.

The second would ban trans girls from playing girls’ sports. To verify that girls meet the criteria, the initiative would require either proof of an athlete’s sex from a girl’s “personal physician” or—for girls who lack a personal physician—a genital exam or DNA test. Initiative supporters have claimed that girls already have to prove their biological sex to participate in sports, but that isn’t true; the initiative would add proof of sex to the state’s sports physical requirements for girls.

Wareing, a former hate crimes detective who worked on cases involving child sexual abuse, said at the press conference that “sexual predators often set themselves up as authority figures to give themselves more power and access to their victims. I believe this initiative would increase the risk of sexual abuse for girls participating in sports.”

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

 

In his interview, Sayles strongly disputed this, saying that he has three boys who played sports and “I know [that] having to take a physical doesn’t expose you to a high potential for sexual abuse. I think that was an inaccurate statement, and I believe that statement, obviously, it created some angst among people in our community.” Wareing, Sayles continued, was “saying these things without actual factual proof.” (The initiative would not apply to boys’ sports, and the high prevalence of sexual abuse in girls’ sports is not a matter of  serious debate.)

Sayles confirmed in the interview that his concerns about Wareing’s “accuracy” and “stance” were initially sparked by an email containing questions from Kruse about Wareing’s comments in which Kruse characterized Wareing’s statements as inaccurate. Kruse (who calls herself a “real girl” and refers to trans girls as “boys”) followed up on these questions with a barrage of podcasts and social media posts calling Wareing a “liar” promoting an “insane ideology” and demanding that SPD fire her.

Sayles filed his complaint against Wareing a few days after Kruse sent over her questions. By then, SPD was receiving more complaints, according to Sayles.

In his interview, Sayles initially called the pro-LGBTQ rally “not my cup of tea” before clarifying, “I didn’t know what it was about.” Once he “skimmed” a transcript of Wareing’s comments, however, he believed her remarks were “basically fearmongering” about “people’s sexual orientation and potentially being exposed to sexual assault due to potentially having to do physicals to participate in sports.”

If she had wanted to be “accurate,” Sayles said, Wareing should have included specific data points in her remarks.

“[She said] there’s ‘high potential'” for sexual assault, Sayles said. “Is [that] 10 cases, and seven of those 10 cases you can identify that because a person had to do a physical with an adult, that sexual abuse occurred for that child, or that person who identifies as LGBTQ plus or whatever a person may identify?” Sayles said. “And then, when she said, ‘increases the risk of sexual abuse for girls participating in sports,’ how is that accurate? Does it increase it just for girls, or can it increase sexual abuse for boys as well,  or whatever they may identify as? So, I think those statements and those comments were inaccurate.”

The OPA investigator also asked Sayles about the other allegation in his complaint—that Wareing had disobeyed a direct order by representing herself as an SPD officer after agreeing in advance not to do so, in compliance with SPD rules for political advocacy. Sayles acknowledged that Wareing never identified herself as a Seattle police officer, but said that was a “tricky line” to navigate in the modern world when anyone can look up information online, and where a member of the media might have asked Wareing where she works.

“There’s probably someone here at this police department or in the city that probably says the police department should have never let her [speak],” Sayles said. “I’m not going to tell people what they should be doing on their off duty time. But my thing is, if we’re gonna speak and we’re gonna say that we’re law enforcement, knowing that somebody can just Google our name unless we paid the money to have our stuff scrubbed on the internet, we have to give them factual information because they’re going to take it and people are going to run with it.”

Wareing, Sayles elaborated, should have been more careful about expressing such a strong political “stance” because people tend to believe anything a police officer says. “I think a majority of our country cherish the work that we do, and they take what we say and they take it, they take it as as gospel.,” Sayles said. “So they … are going to say, ‘Holy smokes! … This person is an expert in this, and what they’re saying is what’s going to occur.'”

Sayles’ complaint was dismissed after the OPA found that Wareing had not violated any policy  and was expressing her right to express her opinions as a private citizen, which is protected by both the Constitution and SPD’s internal policies. At one point, the investigator asked if Sayles, who was previously police chief in Beloit, Wisconsin, whether he had read SPD’s policy on political participation. Sayles said, “I have not.”

After reading the policy and saying Wareing seemed to have followed it, Sayles appeared to backtrack. “It’s that sticky and uneven line that we have to walk,” Sayles said. “Just as much as she’s giving her opinion… with this OPA complaint, is it me giving my opinion as well?” When weighing whether to submit the complaint, he said, it came down to “Well, I think some of the comments were not objective.”

City Council, Elections, LGBTQ+, Mayor Wilson

Council Learns What “One-Time Funding” Means; Podcaster’s Advocacy for Anti-Trans Campaign Didn’t Violate Election Law

1. City council members who funded an unsustainable budget last year by using one-time dollars to fund tens of millions in new spending are finding out this year what “one-time funding” means.

For years, the council has used a combination of one-time spending and magical thinking to approve new budget adds every year, without creating any kind of plan to pay for them in the future. Last year alone, the council added $78 million in one-time spending to a budget that was already deeply unsustainable. (If you search the budget they approved, you’ll see that the phrase “one-time funding” appears no fewer than 107 times!)

One-time does not mean “actually forever, but we’ll find money for it later (wink).” It means one-time—as city budget director Aly Pennucci repeatedly had to remind outraged councilmembers, who complained that programs they failed to fund for more than one or two years had somehow vanished in Wilson’s budget. These included subsidies for private inpatient rehab, a “district fund” for each councilmember, and a long list of small-business assistance programs. (The budget does include between $10 million and $15 million to make some of the council’s 2026 additions permanent.)

Well into the third day of departmental budget presentations, Rob Saka wanted to know why Wilson was not funding a homeownership program the council funded with one-time dollars last year. Pennucci gave the same explanation she’d been giving for days. Saka, using his oratorical shouting voice (if you watch council meetings, you know the one), responded: “So I hear you saying, it’s not technically a cut, because it was a one-time add!”

To his credit, unlike other councilmembers, Saka did not follow up this comment by continuing to refer to the reduction in one-time funds as a cut.

There was one instance when a council member objected not to the end of one-time funding, but to Wilson’s decision to find money for a priority the council and Harrell previously paid for with one-time funds. Dan Strauss zeroed in on $$4 million for food banks and hot meal programs the council funded on a one-time basis this year. These funds, Strauss said, should be closely scrutinized, because unlike public safety, “providing food is not a charter responsibility.”

Bob Kettle brought up a similar objection when he suggested that the Office of Housing could address some of its own significant budget shortfall by building less affordable housing and counting projects built by the Seattle Social Housing developer, which is separate from city government, toward Seattle’s total number of affordable housing units.

Thinking of affordable housing in the city as one big thing, Kettle said, could help the council “ameliorate” some of Wilson’s “wrong choices”—like setting theoretical caps on police hiring after 2028—by freeing up funding for other council priorities. Counting those units as Seattle affordable housing “could provide some flexibility in the budgeting process because, hey, you know, [the social housing developer has] also got their shoulder in and they’re working hard to contribute to the overall process,” Kettle said. 

Social housing (which the council’s centrists tried to stop) is funded by a dedicated payroll tax, and was designed to create a new kind of mixed-income public housing in which higher-income renters subsidize lower-income renters. It is quite different than the subsidized affordable housing OH funds and builds, and the two aren’t fungible. Getting rid of some low-income subsidized housing would actually eliminate housing for low-income people,

(As an side: Elected officials who support more funding for police often raise this claim about “charter responsibilities,” as in “public safety is our number one charter responsibility.” But actually, the charter lays many other basic responsibilities city government is supposed to address, and “health” actually comes before “safety,” followed by “environment” and “general welfare.”)

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

 

There was also a lot of—what’s the technical term?—nonsense and grandstanding from the council, particular when the Seattle Department of Transportation presented its budget. Struass, in particular, took the opportunity to gripe about hyperlocal issues in his neighborhood, including the fact that King County Metro cut hours on his bus route, which he has consistently characterized as the only bus route from Ballard to downtown Seattle. (It is not). You can read about more of those on my Bluesky.

One other exchange I do want to highlight is Strauss’ suggestion that the city is wasting money by allowing the King County Regional Homelessness Authority to serve as the Continuum of Care for the region. “A bureaucratic system from the county” is “creating inefficiencies for us,” Strauss asserted, adding “I don’t think we have time for that.”

While there have obviously been massive financial problems at the KCRHA—which is why the city is reasserting control over the homelessness contracts it funds—the continuum of care is a federally mandated system that oversees applications for federal funding for programs across King County and its 39 cities. It has never been at the city of Seattle, and a recent forensic audit did not identify it as a source of financial issues.

2. As a few others reported last week (when I was out of town), the state Public Disclosure Commission dismissed a complaint against Let’s Go Washington, the group behind two initiatives targeting children’s rights at school, on September 23. The complaint was filed by Washingtonians for Ethical Government, a nonprofit established in 2015. I reported on the initial complaint back in May

The first initiative would ban trans girls from playing sports in school and require children to prove their sex assigned at birth, through a medically unnecessary physical exam if they don’t have a longtime pediatrician willing to attest that they possess a vagina. The second would give parents access to any notes teachers or counselors make about conversations with students, including conversations about sensitive topics they may feel uncomfortable or unsafe broaching at home, like gender, abortion and birth control, and sexuality.

The complaint alleged that right-wing podcaster Brandi Kruse, who has served as a de facto spokesperson for the campaign, was doing official campaign work when she spoke on the campaign’s behalf. In short, WEG argued that Kruse’s speeches at campaign rallies and fundraisers constituted work on behalf of the campaign, and the campaign should have either compensated her for that work or reported it as an in-kind contribution. The PDC disagreed, agreeing with Kruse and the campaign that the podcaster is just a regular campaign volunteer expressing her personal opinions, and distinguishing her “keynote” speeches to Republican Party groups from her campaign speeches because she does “significant advance planning” for the former.

Kruse argued that the promotion does for the campaign on her own podcast isn’t political advertising either, because the campaign does not directly “control” what she says there. (In theory, she could say something that cast the campaign in a poor light, though she never has). The PDC didn’t address that defense.

homelessness, King County, LGBTQ+, Mayor Wilson, Police, public safety

This Week On PubliCola: Katie Wilson is Jimmy Carter, Key Shelter Provider Closes Abruptly, SPD Delayed Information on Shooting

Inside a Pallet shelter.
Inside a Pallet shelter.

By Erica C. Barnett

Monday, August 31

Poll Tests Anti-Density Messages

A new poll sponsored by groups like Tree Action Seattle and Seattle Residents for Responsible Growth tested out messages opposing the city’s comprehensive plan update (currently tied up in litigation), which would allow modest density increases in areas directly adjacent to existing frequent transit stops and small commercial areas.

Mayor Wilson Does Damage Control

Less than a day before we published our story about interim Police Chief Andre Sayles’ complaint against a detective who spoke at a pro-LGBTQ event, Mayor Katie Wilson assured the city’s LGBTQ Commission that the complaint was less significant than it turned out to be, angering some commissioners.

Ron Davis Has Another Anti-Stranger Manifesto

Former legislative candidate Ron Davis just won’t let the Stranger’s decision to endorse a different candidate go. In a 3,300-word email, he told campaign supporters he has a plan to neutralize the power of the paper’s endorsements, which he called corrupt and oligarchical.

Tuesday, September 1

Greater Seattle: Katie Wilson is to Jimmy Carter as Zohran Mamdani is to Barack Obama

In this week’s edition of his column, Josh says Katie Wilson has a Jimmy Carter problem—unlike NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, she hasn’t dazzled the media with her charisma (and yes, the fact that he’s a he and she’s a she is a factor). Plus, some plaudits for a rare win for affordable homeownership in Seattle.

Wednesday, September 2

King County Assessor Wilson Misused County Resources Amid Stalking and Harassment Allegations: Report

A report from the King County ombuds office concluded that King County Assessor John Arthur Wilson misused county resources to negotiate a lease for a vacation home, violate a domestic-violence protection order, attempt to get the sheriff to visit his ex’s home, and set up campaign meetings to do damage control amid negative media coverage of the allegations against him. Wilson has been ordered to pay a $20,000 fine for the violations.

Thursday, September 3

Pallet, Company That Built Just-Opened Interbay Shelter, Closes Abruptly

Pallet, a nine-year-old company that produced utilitarian individual shelter units, went out of business suddenly this week. The company partnered on the city’s latest modular shelter in Interbay, and was expected to be a key player in Mayor Katie Wilson’s ongoing shelter expansion push.

Friday, September 4

Mayor Wilson Says City Will Improve Crisis Communications In Wake of Shooting

In response to a communications breakdown after a shooting at Seattle Center in late July, Mayor Wilson announced changes she says will improve public access to information during future public safety emergencies. In the future, the city plans to release information within an hour of an incident whenever possible, and push information out on Alert Seattle, an opt-in app. Additionally, no more than three members of SPD’s executive staff can be out of town at a time—during the shooting, the police chief and both of his deputy chiefs were in other cities.

Messages Show SPD Primarily Responsible for Information Gap After Bite of Seattle Shooting

Hundreds of pages of Teams and text messages released by the mayor’s office on Friday reveal that almost all of the delay in disseminating information about the Bite of Seattle shooting resulted because SPD failed to update the public after an initial, alarming X post immediately after the shooting. Mayor Wilson’s office was indecisive about whether to send her to the scene of the shooting (ultimately doing so under media pressure), but her absence, and a brief wait for other elected officials to arrive, did not significantly contribute to the delay, and messages show her team repeatedly and unsuccessfully urging SPD to let the public know what was going on.

Density, Elections, LGBTQ+, Mayor Wilson, Media, Police, Uncategorized

Poll Tests Anti-Density Messages, Mayor Wilson Does Damage Control, and Ron Davis Has Another Anti-Stranger Manifesto
Source: Fulcrum Strategy Group poll

1. A recent messaging poll by a group calling itself the “Green Neighborhoods Coalition” tested talking points against Mayor Katie Wilson’s proposal to finally get moving on the the Seattle Comprehensive Plan, which has been mired in appeals for more than a year. Activists who oppose the plan claim that allowing modest new apartment buildings in and around Seattle’s suburban-style single-family enclaves will “deforest” Seattle, result in the deaths of orcas and salmon, and lead to untold environmental devastation.

The comprehensive plan, which has been pushed back repeatedly since early 2023, epitomizes the concept of “endless delay”—or the “Seattle Process,” if you prefer.

The poll, conducted by Fulcrum Strategy Group (the same pollster behind recent Chamber and Challenge Seattle polls), describes Mayor Katie Wilson’s “taller, denser, faster” approach to the comprehensive plan neutrally, as a series of zoning changes designed “to more quickly address Seattle’s affordable housing crisis by supporting faster development of apartments and condos across Seattle with a particular focus on greater density transit corridors.”

Then, it tests detailed negative messages among people who say they support “a more deliberate approach” to development, including the argument that building more housing will destroy “parks, trees, and greenways”; that the approach “shortchanges climate resiliency” by “ignoring” climate change and “long-term environmental resiliency”; and that (finally) moving forward on the comp plan is a way of “cutting corners, taking shortcuts, excluding community voices, and trying to rush a decision.”

Andrew Thibault, the co-founder of Fulcrum, said the Green Neighborhoods Coalition’s messaging was not “NIMBY/anti-density.”

Editor’s note: This post originally said that the Seattle Parks Foundation was “the group behind” the Green Neighborhoods Coalition. They are the Green Neighborhoods Coalition’s fiscal sponsor, not a direct funder. We regret the error.

2. Less than a day before we published our story about interim Police Chief Andre Sayles’ complaint against a detective who spoke at a pro-LGBTQ event, Mayor Katie Wilson was at a meeting of the city’s LGBTQ Commission, doing a bit of preemptive damage control. At the time of the Thursday night meeting, Wilson’s office still had not responded to our questions for the story we published the following morning.

According to three commission members, and as reported by Seattle Gay News, Wilson and a staffer told the commission our story was basically toothless—specifically, that Sayles had only asserted that the detective, Beth Wareing, represented herself as an SPD detective in violation of orders not to do so. Wilson explained the issue as a “procedural” problem rather than a serious overstep by Sayles, one commissioner said, and let the commission know the case had been dismissed.

Not only did Wareing not mention her affiliation with SPD at the No Hate in WA State press conference, this was not the most incendiary allegation Sayles made against her. He also alleged that she lied about what two anti-LGBTQ initiatives would do, which would be a violation of SPD’s policy against dishonesty and a fireable offense that could have ended Wareing’s career. (She retired rather than continuing at SPD after a sabbatical as the direct result of Sayles’ unfounded complaint). According to OPA, Sayles’ claims against Wareing risked violating her right to free speech.

Jessa Davis, the co-chair of the LGBTQ Commission, said she was most concerned that Sayles seems to have taken right-wing podcaster Brandi Kruse at her word that Wareing lied about what the initiatives would do. Kruse, Davis said, is a “political activist who has publicly advocated in support of these ballot initiatives that the detective was speaking against.” In fact, she’s being investigated by the state Public Disclosure Commission for her advocacy work on behalf of the initiative sponsor Let’s Go Washington, which the PDC calls an in-kind contribution.

“We’ve seen SPD officers engage in political expression before, including statements that many people in Seattle and in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community find deeply troubling,” Davis said, pointing to the double standard that allows SPD officers to express right-wing viewpoints freely. “If we’re going to protect the officers’ rights to political expression, then the rules have to be applied consistently.”

#ff0000;”>PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

 

Wilson’s office said they didn’t have complete information about Sayles’ allegations when they spoke to the LGBTQ+ Commission, and that they were trying to be “transparent and provide them with information” before PubliCola’s story went up. “It was meant to be a high-level heads up, not an attempt to minimize the story or explain it away,” a spokesperson said. “In part, the briefing was for Mayor Wilson to express her expectation that Chief Sayles would be an inclusive leader.”

According to the spokesperson, Wilson had only read the closed case summary about the complaint, which did not include most of the information we reported, when she addressed our story at the meeting.

“The Mayor had only received very high-level information about the case,” and was “actively working with OPA to obtain additional documentation. We believed it was important for us to share with the community the limited information we had received.”

Some commission members, however, left the meeting feeling reassured that Sayles had done nothing serious, and that PubliCola’s story was about a minor incident that fizzled—rather than a serious complaint that led a 30-year detective to leave the department in frustration and disgust.

3. Ron Davis, the former 46th District legislative candidate who ran as an urbanist alternative to state Rep. Gerry Pollet, sent out yet another 3,300-word manifesto to his supporters last week, this one all about the Stranger and its failure to endorse him. In Davis’ mind, this decision was not based on the paper’s actual assessment of him and his candidacy, because that process would have obviously led them to endorse Davis over Will Dreher, the other candidate in the race.

Instead, Davis’ theory is that the “oligarchs” who bought the Stranger (and got rid of three staffers Davis preferred to the current staff) 1) forced the editorial board to endorse Dreher after voting for Davis and 2) maybe (?) told the union that represents Stranger workers to write a statement saying that the board really did prefer Dreher, not Davis, which Davis argues is impossible without interference by publisher Brady Walkinshaw, who knows Dreher. (He also knows Davis, by the way, and endorsed him personally for city council in 2023.)

Assuring readers that he “consulted heavily with two STEM PhDs” in his analysis, Davis spins out a theory in which the Stranger’s endorsement is “always decisive” for lefty candidates, across “hundreds” of past elections, and that there is a knowable, specific “Stranger bump” that applies to all of those candidates, and which Davis should have rightly received.

The whole tendentious essay is almost a textbook definition of correlation-causation confusion, all leading up to Davis’ argument that the new, crowdsourced “Lefty Cheat Sheet” can be a viable alternative to the Stranger’s endorsements, whose “buyout and behavior” have “dismayed and betrayed” its readers.

Candidates are often pissed that they don’t get endorsements. Davis is the first one I can recall who has turnsd a grudge against the Stranger into a proto-crusade against the paper’s endorsements in general. The truth, as Josh argued last week, is almost certainly much more banal—the Stranger met Davis, and they weren’t impressed by him. That should lead to self-reflection, not a multi-volume conspiracy theory.

4. We discussed a counter-complaint against Sayles, KCRHA’s handling of recent layoffs, and Davis’ post-election meltdown on last week’s episode of Seattle Nice—give it a listen if you haven’t already!

LGBTQ+, Police

Police Accountability Office Investigating Retaliation Complaint Against Interim Police Chief

The investigation comes after the Office of Police Accountability said any “further investigation” of Sayles’ complaint against a detective who spoke at a pro-LGBTQ press conference could violate her constitutional rights and open the city to a lawsuit. 

By Erica C. Barnett

The city’s Office of Police Accountability is investigating a complaint filed against interim Police Chief Andre Sayles alleging that he retaliated against a detective who spoke at a pro-LGBTQ rally with SPD’s permission last year. The complaint, filed last month, also accuses Sayles of violating SPD’s policy on professionalism.

As PublCola reported exclusively last week, Sayles filed a potentially career-ending OPA complaint against longtime SPD detective Beth Wareing after she spoke at a press conference held by No Hate in WA State. The group is opposing two initiatives that would take away students’ ability to speak in confidence to school counselors and require girls to submit to genital exams to prove they have vaginas before participating in school sports.

Wareing had written permission to speak at the rally as long as she didn’t mention she worked at SPD or purport to represent the views of the department, and she followed those guidelines in her remarks, which lasted roughly three minutes and were available online shortly after the rally.

It’s not uncommon for police to speak publicly on political issues; former police guild president Mike Solan spouted off every week on his incendiary podcast. What is unusual is for police to express left-leaning views. Wareing’s comments got the attention of right-wing podcaster Brandi Kruse, who promptly told SPD Wareing had misrepresented the initiatives when she spoke. At least partly on the basis of Kruse’s claims, Sayles filed his complaint against Wareing, accusing her of disobeying a direct order and being “dishonest in saying inaccurate and untrue things at the press conference.”

OPA, which is housed in the police department, quickly dismissed the complaint, noting that any further investigation would clearly violate Wareing’s right to free speech and open SPD up to a lawsuit. The complaint against Sayles was opened after the investigation into Wareing concluded.

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

 

According to a notice that went to select city officials, including the mayor, city attorney, and Councilmembers Joy Hollingsworth and Bob Kettle last week, the complaint against Sayles “alleges potential violations of department policy relating to retaliation and professionalism by the Interim Chief of Police.”

Since 2022, when the city codified the first formal process for complaints against the police chief, city law has treated complaints against the chief of police differently than complaints against all other officers. Anyone, including OPA itself, can file a complaint against the chief. Once that happens,  OPA decides whether to consider the case and whether to dismiss it as a “contact log” or conduct a full investigation into whether the chief has violated an SPD policy or a law.

Police chief investigations are rare. At the end of 2025, for example, the Office of Inspector General, an independent police accountability office that certifies OPA cases as timely, thorough, and objective, reported two open police chief investigations and 29 cases that were closed without an investigation.

OPA would not comment on the complaint against Sayles, other than to confirm that it exists. But the existence of an investigation itself indicates that the city’s police accountability system is taking the complaint against Sayles seriously. OPA’s findings (and recommended discipline, if any), along with OIG’s review of those findings, will include the agency’s assessment of whether Sayles violated Wareing’s First Amendment rights or retaliated against her for exercising them.