Yakima Mayor Janice Deccio: Abuse of Power

Mayor Deccio, Vice-Mayor Soneya Lund, and their allies have been caught up in a scandal again. But this time they used the power of the Mayor's office to target political nobodies in an act of vindictive hubris.

Buckle up, these guys got a messy back-story.

Preamble

For some time, a piece of paper called Project NightFlyer has been circulated throughout Yakima. According to their now defunct website, “Project NightFlyer aims to equip the average layman with principles, tactics and tools to effectively inject truth into our community.” The author(s) of Project NightFlyer are anonymous, and they appear to distribute their pamphlets randomly.

In 2020, then councilman Jason White happened to receive a copy of the NightFlyer titled, “The Dirty Laundry of the Yakima Politicians.” The flyer referenced public records to describe city councilwoman Soneya Lund’s alleged plans to blackmail then Mayor Patricia Byers and other members of the community.

Upon receiving the pamphlet, White posted on Facebook: “Oh yeah...I forgot to add blackmail to the laundry list of malfeasance committed by Soneya Lund. Plenty of hard evidence, including audio. She could just resign...I prefer her stay around and allow ALL of it to come to light. Time for some vindication.”

The audio White was referring to was a recording he would later post on Facebook. The recording is of a conversation between councilman White and councilwoman Lund following Jason’s censure. The following is a transcript of Jason’s phone call on April 22, 2020:

Jason White: This is bull [expletive]!
Soneya Lund: I did support it [White’s censure]. Do you want to know why I supported it?
JW: Why?
SL: Because I got a phone call from A Way Home Washington who is about to write the city a check for $2.5 million for youth, to end youth and young adult homelessness. And they were thinking about... they were wanting to pull it.
JW: That’s fine. I’m not for sale.
SL: No, it’s not about being for sale.
JW: Yeah, that is. That’s the definition of being for sale.
SL: I want you to...I want you to be able to...you can say whatever you want to say!
JW: I know I can.
SL: But at the same time, we have to be able to say, “Okay, we don’t agree with that,” [White’s comments on transvestites in Idaho sports, and resisting the governor’s Covid mandates] and that’s it.
JW: Well, that’s up for the public to decide. If people want to say they agree with it, that’s great. If they don’t, they don’t. If they do, they do. Move on. Take each situation as it comes because each situation is its own situation.
SL: Right, right.

The NightFlyer and White’s Facebook posts instigated a wave of negative publicity.

Newstalk KIT 1280

The attacks kicked off with an interview on NewsTalk KIT 1280. The news radio station brought councilwoman Lund on their morning show where the host, Dave Ettl, provided Lund an unprecedented platform to attack Jason White.

Throughout the course of the interview, Ettl disdained Jason’s attempt to censure Lund’s unethical behavior, ignored mounting evidence of likely corruption, and questioned the legality of the recorded conversation White had posted. Ettl failed to ask Lund about the validity of the NightFlyer’s allegations and refused to address the public record referenced in the pamphlet.

The Public Record

After making several public records requests, the Rain Shadow’s reporters discovered the following: These messages were, in fact, exchanged.

On March 4th, 2021, images of the exchange were officially submitted to the public record by Verlynn Best, President and CEO of the Greater Yakima Chamber of Commerce. The messages themselves were exchanged on February 1st of 2021.

The messages appear to be between Yakima City Councilwoman Soneya Lund (District 5) and Xander Deccio (Janice Deccio, his wife and Yakima’s current mayor, was running for District 4 at the time).

In the messages, Lund allegedly assures Xander Deccio that she can prevent Yakima Mayor Patricia Byers and Verlynn Best from “attacking” candidate Deccio and use her “dirt” to forward a political ambition that includes securing council seats for Deccio in District 4, Wallace in District 6, and a then unknown woman in District 2.

Candidate Deccio eventually confirmed on KIT 1280 that her husband did exchange these messages with Lund, but asserted that she “doesn’t know Lund.” She also described the text conversation between her husband and Lund as a continuation of a phone conversation she had with Lund earlier in the day.

Deccio’s claims are difficult to accept as the messages imply that the Deccio’s were aware of Lund’s alleged “dirt” and her plans to use that leverage to blackmail several influential members of the community, helping Deccio secure a council seat. Janice Deccio has asserted that the text conversation was carried on without her knowledge, despite the apparently familiar nature of the exchange.

Following the Money Trail

Less than a month before Jason White and Lund’s April 22nd phone conversation, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported that three local homelessness organizations collectively received $2.4million dollars from the state, $2 million of which went to Rod’s House for a 20-bed shelter in Union Gap.

Lund was listed on the governing board of Rod’s House at the time; she would later become their board President.

A Way Home Washington, the organization referenced in Lund and White’s recorded conversation, is a state partnered nonprofit co-chaired by Trudi Inslee - Governor Inslee’s wife. This foundation is particularly focused on assisting homeless youth who suffer from gender dysphoria or have had surgical sex reassignment.

Any money from A Way Home Washington would likely have gone through the Yakima County Homelessness Coalition, which is responsible for distributing most of Yakima’s homeless funding. Lund serves on the Coalition’s Executive Committee.

In the leaked April 22nd phone call between Lund and Jason White, Lund alleges that she voted to censure Jason in order to secure a $2 million grant that she believed was going to be pulled if Jason’s personal Facebook comments went unpunished. Specifically, if the city council failed to punish Jason for asserting that Governor Inslee’s Covid response was nonsensical and that male transvestites shouldn’t compete against female athletes in organized sports.

Consolidating Power: Assistant Mayor Lund & Mayor Deccio

Soon after the blackmail scandal broke, Deccio was elected to represent District 4. With Deccio replacing Funk, and Herrera taking Jason White's position, the previous political balance was upset. This upset abolished the alliances that had put Byers into the position of Mayor.

With Deccio and Lund enlisting Herrera to back their play for Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Byers and Cousins were jettisoned, and the alleged blackmailers became the most powerful elected officials in City Government.

September 3rd, 2023: Harassing the Petitioners

I was speaking with a longtime business colleague when he mentioned, in passing, that the Mayor had called 911 on signature gatherers outside the West Valley Walmart.

I was skeptical at first. Say what you like about Mayor Deccio, she’s successfully avoided public criticism — which a flagrant abuse of power for partisan reasons would create.

But, given that it was a credible source, I sent two of my reporters to look into the rumor. They were able to interview the signature gatherers before the end of the day. What they discovered was extraordinary and combustible.

The RSR Interviews the Petitioners

There were two people gathering signatures outside the West Valley Walmart. It appeared to be a typical set up with a table and sign. Easily missed, they were not blocking foot-traffic and had no “confrontational” or inflammatory paraphernalia.

Of the two men present, the one who had the most to say was an elderly man. Lenard Ruthford was wearing a simple western style shirt, a nondescript ball cap, and had a neatly trimmed, white beard. He was clean cut and seemed polite, though due to a hearing impairment, tended to speak loudly.

Forced to communicate in writing, my reporter learned that a group of people had approached him. The group then began directing shouted insults at Ruthford and the persons near him. Lenard is 77 years old and does signature gathering full time. The group then entered Walmart.

Not long after this interaction the police arrived. The officers asked Lenard if he was alright, informed him that someone had lodged a complaint, and let him know he was not violating the law. The officers then left.

The second signature gatherer on shift that day was a man named Hatfield who looked to be in his early thirties and wore shorts, a t-shirt, and glasses. He described the police as professional and “chill.” According to Hatfield, the police observed the petitioners for a time and eventually “advised them to be safe” and left.

Both Walmart & the signature gatherers deny that Walmart management ever asked that the petitioners leave the premises or in any way cease or desist their activities.

Walmart never asked them to leave.

The Mayor's 911 Call

Despite my skepticism, I eventually learned that Deccio had been one of the people who called the Yakima Police Department to remove legal petitioners from the West Valley Walmart…and that she had done so in her official capacity.

The first local news agency to break the story was “Accurate Perspectives,” a blog and vlog news website run by Dave Mullen. His story was thorough and biting. In it, he proved that Deccio had used the emergency hotline to issue a directive in her official capacity. Deccio had explained to the dispatcher that she was the Mayor of Yakima and that she had emailed the Chief of Police about the signature gatherers.

It’s important to note that Mayor Deccio used her personal cell phone to call 911. The members of Yakima’s city council are issued a city cell-phone and are advised to use the city issued device for all official business.

This is common practice for elected officials, as it insulates private affairs from public business. It is sometimes the case, however, that an elected official will seek to sidestep accountability and use their private cell phone for civic business, thereby enabling the elected official to exercise power or influence without accountability.

The following is an excerpt from Mayor Deccio’s September 3rd emergency 911 call:

“Hi, this is Mayor Deccio. I know this isn’t an emergency call, but I need to, uh, talk to someone. I’ve emailed the Chief but…there’s some far right wing petitioners at Walmart, and they’re not leaving after Walmart has asked them if they could leave—and the police have not, uh, taken them off the premises.”

Soon after Accurate Perspectives broke the story, several larger outlets picked it up, including We the Governed, Fox News, and The Daily Mail.

The Yakima City Council Meeting

The first Yakima City Council meeting held after the scandal broke was a crowded one.

Kicking off the meeting, Deccio read a pre-prepared statement and declared she would be ignoring any questions about her behavior. She also explained that she believed herself blameless, that her personal phone number had been disclosed by what she termed “Inaccurate Perspectives,” and alleged that she had received several crass and threatening phone calls. She went on to claim that the events of the last several days had upset her husband, Xander Deccio, an Air Force veteran who suffers from PTSD.

The target of Mayor Deccio, Xander Deccio, and Assistant Mayor Lund’s alleged blackmail scheme, councilwoman Patricia Byers was present at the meeting. After the Mayor had finished reading her statement, Byers moved to censure the Mayor for her behavior. The move to censure failed with a vote of three supporting and four opposing. Mayor Deccio declined to recuse herself from the vote.

Noting the relatively crowded room of citizens, councilwoman Cousens and councilman Brown attempted to move public comment forward from its current position as one of the last items on the agenda, allowing the persons who were in attendance to offer public comment and forego the minutia of city government.

Mayor Deccio objected to the change. The vote failed along the same lines as the censure.

Eventually the Public was able to weigh in, with two, well-known community activists attempting to frame the Mayor's behavior as acceptable, casting her as a victim of anti-woman sexism.

Finally, libertarian, moderate, and Republican citizens were allowed to speak. Among them, populist hero and former Yakima resident Tim Eyman, and local businessman Eric Torres.

In my opinion, Mr. Torres stood out as a cogent representative of the public sentiment.

“If there would’ve been any hint of remorse [in your prepared statement]) or even just saying, ‘I’m sorry about the misunderstanding,’ I would’ve abdicated my time tonight, but I do find it shameful that instead of remorse, you gave yourself a pass…I heard the recording and your use of ‘extreme right wing’ — what is the difference between being conservative and being ‘extreme right wing?’ What does that even mean?…You are trying to criminalize being somewhat conservative.”

A Personal Cell Phone

Mayor Deccio’s use of her personal cell phone to conduct city business makes that device available for public records requests. This is common knowledge among all elected officials. After using a personal device to conduct city business, deletion of messages, or tampering with call logs is illegal, and doing so constitutes a felony.

When Tim Eyman and others made public records requests — requests which required information off of the Mayor’s personal cell phone — Deccio asserted that she couldn’t comply with the requests. Deccio alleges that she had programmed her phone to automatically delete messages after 30 days.

Under Washington State law, texts and other communications about public business by elected officials must be kept for two years. Anyone who destroys a public record that’s earmarked for preservation is guilty of a felony. This act is punishable by a fine and up to five years in prison.

Ignorance of the law is not an acceptable excuse, but it seems to be the only one Deccio is currently offering.

Editorial

Having spent some time on this subject, two things just don’t add up: the claims Deccio makes in the 911 call, and the subsequent coverup.

First, it is my opinion that the Mayor is mistaken. Citing an anonymous source, Deccio claimed that “There’s some far right wing petitioners at Walmart and they’re not leaving after Walmart has asked them if they could leave—and the police have not taken them off the premises”

Walmart, the petitioners, and the Yakima Police Department contradict her claims. Yet despite this, Deccio and her partisan allies insist that the petitioners were asked to leave and failed to do so.

Second, it is my opinion that Mayor Deccio, when faced with the prospect of having her political machinations exposed to her voters, chose to risk punitive legal action over transparency. But just because it seems likely doesn’t make it true. It is possible that Mayor Deccio is negligent or inept…and not maliciously subversive.

If you would like to see an improvement in City Hall by replacing the current mayor, please remember that the city council selects the mayor. By replacing even two of the city council with unaligned representatives, she will likely lose her position.

If you want a new Mayor, fill out your ballot.

RED Endorses

Here are the candidates that will not stand for Deccio’s blackmail or tyranny. They will, almost certainly, replace the current mayor with someone more qualified.

RED is proud to endorse the following: