Erick Doxey photo
Former Spokane City Council member Karen Stratton, current City Council President Betsy Wilkerson, and Council member Zack Zappone (in addition to former Council President Lori Kinnear, not pictured) were sued by right-wing evangelist Sean Feucht last week over a resolution they passed last fall that criticized former Mayor Nadine Woodward for appearing on stage with him at a worship event.
Sean Feucht thinks the city of Spokane owes him money.
On Wednesday, the right-wing evangelist and touring musician filed a lawsuit alleging that Spokane City Council members violated his freedom of expression and freedom of religion when they passed a resolution last September denouncing former Mayor Nadine Woodward for appearing onstage at an event with him and former state Rep. Matt Shea.
The resolution, which passed 4-3, declared that the City Council “does not condone the hateful and dangerous behavior and beliefs espoused by Matt Shea and Sean Feucht, nor does it condone Mayor Woodward’s public appearance with him.”
Shea is a known quantity in Spokane. He has been tied to extremist groups, and was expelled from the state Republican legislative caucus in 2019 after a report found that he participated in domestic terrorism by helping plan the armed occupation of Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. Feucht is a national figure and right-wing culture warrior who has made derogatory remarks about the LGBTQ+ community.
Woodward attempted to distance herself from both men after video surfaced of her praying on stage with Shea at a “Let Us Worship” concert led by Feucht at the Spokane Podium on Aug. 20. But the controversy only grew. Progressive City Council members introduced the resolution a few weeks later, arguing that it was necessary for the city to take a strong stand against the hateful rhetoric espoused by both Shea and Feucht.
The text of the two-page resolution itself (viewable here on page 429) largely focused on Woodward and Shea. It also describes the city’s commitment to fighting bigotry. Feucht’s name appears five times. He is twice referred to as a “known anti-LGBTQ extremist.”
The resolution carried no legislative impact; It was mainly a formal way for the progressive council members to say they disagreed with the mayor’s decision to associate with the two controversial men.
Regardless, Feucht’s lawyers are now claiming the resolution was passed “to target Feucht’s sincere religious practice by communicating to government officials, and everyone in Spokane, Washington that they should not be involved in worship and prayer with Feucht.” They claim the resolution violated the United States Constitution’s freedom of religion and expression clauses, in addition to various parts of the Washington state Constitution and Spokane City Charter.
Feucht’s lawsuit names the city of Spokane as a defendant, along with the four council members who voted for the resolution: Former City Council President Lori Kinnear, current Council President Betsy Wilkerson, former Council member Karen Stratton and current Council member Zack Zappone.
Both Kinnear and Stratton left the City Council at the end of 2023, though Feucht’s legal filing incorrectly refers to Kinnear as a current council member and Wilkerson as a former council member. It also misspells Zappone’s first name on every reference.
The lawsuit seeks damages due to “emotional distress and other non-economic damages, the full amount that will be proved at trial.” It also asks the judge to declare the resolution null and void, and for an injunction against the city of Spokane to ensure that no other government leader or individual shall be condemned by Spokane for “interacting with him due to his religious beliefs.”
Feucht has spent recent months playing worship shows across the country and rallying against Pride month. He returned to Spokane last weekend — hyping up his lawsuit during a Sunday service at On Fire Ministries, a church led by Shea.
“We are taking a stand against bigotry and hatred against Christians in the city of Spokane,” Feucht said, holding a copy of the lawsuit aloft in front of the congregation. “We’re not backing down.”
Feucht went on to say that he thinks the lawsuit will gain national — maybe even global — press coverage.
If successful, Feucht suggested that he would use the financial payout to throw “the most lavish, expensive, wild worship service this city’s ever seen.”
“The city’s going to pay for it, amen,” Feucht said.
In a statement, city spokesperson Erin Hut said the city has received and is reviewing the complaint with legal counsel, and that the city does not comment on pending litigation.
Zappone said in a statement that the resolution was "within its legal authority, warranted as a matter of policy, and completely constitutional."
Zappone said he "strongly denies" the claims and allegations in Feucht's complaint, and is confident the court will reject them, too. Wilkerson directed requests for comment to Hut, and the former council members named in the lawsuit could not be reached for comment on Friday morning.
Feucht's team replied to an interview request with a brief statement.
"Liberals have gotten away with using the power of government to bully Christians for too long, and we're not putting up with it anymore," Feucht's team wrote. "We have the right to gather and worship and pray without being attacked and maligned by our own government, so we are going to fight back."
Feucht is being represented by the Silent Majority Foundation — a conservative nonprofit based in Pasco, Washington.
The organization was formed in 2021, and has filed a series of largely unsuccessful lawsuits challenging COVID vaccine mandates, Gov. Jay Inslee’s pandemic emergency mandates, and state restrictions on assault-style weapons.
Pete Serrano, the director and general counsel of the Silent Majority Foundation who is listed on Feucht’s legal filing, did not respond to requests for comment. Serrano is a second-term Pasco City Council member who also serves as the city’s mayor. He is also running for state Attorney General this year.
Feucht is also being represented by Marshall Casey — a former law partner of Shea’s.
Shea used to work at Casey’s firm, M. Casey Law. Shea was quietly laid off at the end of 2019 shortly after the Washington state House released the report concluding that he had engaged in domestic terrorism.
It appears that Casey has been preparing to sue the City Council over the resolution for several months.
On Oct. 8, less than two weeks after City Council members passed the resolution, Casey filed a series of records requests asking the city to provide “all written records by any city council member about Christianity,” and all records that mention Shea or Feucht. He also filed requests for call logs, meeting records and copies of all written communications from various council members on the date of the resolution vote.
Casey tells the Inlander that confidentiality rules prevent him from discussing the case and his client.
"The complaint speaks for itself," Casey says.
Despite Casey’s connections to Shea — and the fact that the Council's September resolution largely focused on Shea, not Feucht — the 31-page complaint filed by Feucht’s attorneys on Wednesday does not mention Shea’s name once.
Feucht’s lawsuit claims that, by passing the resolution, the four council members “declared the religious views of certain people to be acceptable or unacceptable.”
“In passing this resolution, Spokane, Washington not only condemned and discouraged [Feucht’s] religious beliefs and practices, but those of many in Spokane, Washington who believe in the Gospel,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit at several points cites Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, a landmark 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a public high school football coach who successfully argued that the U.S. Constitution prevents school board officials from ordering him not to pray on the field after his team's games.
Feucht's lawsuit also argues that a new tort for the violation of Washington's constitution should be created in this instance, as there is "no adequate remedy in common law tort" for when the government unconstitutionally infringes on freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Conservative Council members Michael Cathcart and Jonathan Bingle voted against the September resolution, arguing that it was a political stunt and a waste of time. They also expressed concern about possible legal repercussions. Ryan Oelrich also voted against it, as he had just been appointed as an interim Council member a few weeks prior.
Feucht immediately used the resolution to frame himself as a martyr — referencing it in a fundraising email to supporters. Tax records show that Feucht’s ministry had $5.3 million in income in 2020.
Feucht also used the story of a Spokane homeless man he baptized during the "Let Us Worship" event in fundraising materials, though the man later told RANGE Media that he had been baptized against his will, and that much of the story Feucht told about him was untrue.
In January, Feucht filed a claim for damages against the city — a request for payment for perceived harm that must be filed at least 60 days before someone can formally sue the city. He asked for $2 million, and did not receive it.
The city took the threat of a lawsuit seriously. In early February, the city entered into a contract with Pacifica Law Group to provide "legal services and advice" regarding the damage claim and "any subsequent litigation" brought by Feucht.
"The city's already lawyering up, which is is a good sign," Feucht said at Shea's church over the weekend.
On the night of the September vote, Zappone and the other council members stressed that the point of the resolution was solely to denounce Woodward's actions — not to condemn anybody's religious views.
"Nothing in this resolution prohibits someone from being able to exercise their right to religion," Zappone said from the dais, in front of an unusually testy council chamber packed with supporters and opponents of the resolution. "We believe in separation of church and state, we support peoples' right to practice religion."
Wilkerson noted that she is the daughter of two pastors, and said she "cannot stand by as the mayor of our city stands with a man who used religion to cloak bigotry."
"I will tell you now my friends, I will not be silent when extremism shows up in our city, because hate is not welcome," Wilkerson said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated at 3:17 on Friday, June 7 to include a statement from Council member Zack Zappone.
