It's been nearly four years since he was shunned by his own party for alleged domestic terrorism and religious extremism, but former state Rep. Matt Shea, a Spokane Valley Republican, still managed to stir up drama during this year's election season.
On a Sunday evening in late August, while the sky burned hazy with wildfire smoke, Shea stood on stage at a Christian worship and concert event and gave a short speech where he condemned the "problem" of same-sex marriage and encouraged the crowd to "vote our faith." Then he invited a surprise guest on stage: Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward.
Video of Woodward praying with Shea and hugging him as she left the stage spread quickly and triggered widespread condemnation. Mainstream politicians tend to stay very far away from Shea. The "controversies" section of his Wikipedia page has eight subsections — including "'Biblical Basis for War' manifesto," "violent right-wing chat group," "Road rage" and "Ukrainian children."
Woodward released a damage control statement the next morning saying that she didn't know Shea would be at the event and that his politics are a "threat to our democracy." But the controversy only grew. National news outlets picked up the story of a mayor standing with an extremist, and Woodward's mayoral challenger, Lisa Brown, was quick to use a photo from the event in fundraising emails.
Woodward wasn't alone on stage. She was joined by Spokane City Council candidate Earl Moore, who said in a statement that she didn't know Shea would be there and that she stands "strong against hatred of any kind."
Spokane Valley City Council candidate Jessica Yaeger, who is also the Spokane County chapter chair of the right-wing political group Moms for Liberty, appeared on stage with Shea as well. She declined to comment when the Inlander asked about the incident.
Several weeks into the controversy, Woodward's campaign released a statement arguing that Brown also had appeared alongside someone with a problematic history. In this case, Brown had attended a campaign event at a retirement community that was co-hosted by Michael Poulin, who served time for attempted murder in the 1970s and then in the early 2000s for sabotaging electric infrastructure. Brown said she wasn't aware of his history and called the comparison baseless.
More than a month after the Shea incident, the Spokane City Council voted 4-3 to pass a resolution formally denouncing the mayor's actions. Conservatives called the vote a political stunt and a waste of time. Liberals said it was necessary for council members to send a strong message against hate.
During a late September debate hosted by Rotary Club of Spokane #21, Brown said that Woodward had apologized for the mistake and that it was time to move on.
But the specter of Shea is hard to escape.
At a KHQ debate two weeks later, Brown brought the incident up again when candidates were asked about combating extremism in the wake of a string of anti-LGBTQ+ vandalism this month.
"Who you stand on the stage with matters," Brown said. "Leadership matters when you tweet about rainbow crosswalks and then rainbow crosswalks are vandalized."
Woodward says she's a supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, and she highlights that the first person she hired as mayor was a member of the community.
