This is a close up of the anonymous signs posted in the City of Burien. Burien Mayor Jimmy Matta claims this is “Racist”
Phony Outrage, Fake Rewards, Burien’s political class flails away
By Glen Morgan
Burien City Mayor Jimmy Matta made state-wide news claiming “RACISM” because a small number of anonymous (so far) campaign signs were posted around the city which looked like the photo attached. He claimed they were “RACIST” because they had lighting bolts on them. The silliness continued from there.
No city in King County has done more to imitate Seattle’s failed policies than the City of Burien. The 2017 elections ushered in a new crop of Left-leaning city councilmembers in Burien who seem determined to both imitate the failed polices of their big sister city (Seattle) next door, and also become a puppet for King County’s Executive Dow Constantine to control as needed. The current 2021 local election drama continues to reinforce these council goals.
Mayor Matta calls anyone who disagrees with him a racist. Why not? It worked in 2017. King County Executive Dow Constantine even came down and joined in the charade that year. For most of the Burien City Council, it has become a Tourette’s – like response to everyone they don’t like. The cry of “RACISM” is repetitive, dogmatic, and this has become a dogmatic, religious chant regardless of context, reality, or truth. They see racists everywhere. For those who want to see Jimmy Matta’s Tourette’s “Racist” response to everything go here, here and here.
While Mayor Matta was able to divine racism in these signs, he conveniently ignored the reality that this sign appeared to be modelled on some type of Soviet-style propaganda poster, which could be found online at Shutterstock for example if he bothered to spend 5 minutes on Google (or any other search engine). This fact was pointed out to him when he was interviewed by Jason Rantz, local radio talk show host (listen to interview linked here and Rantz’s article linked here). Matta was openly mocked by other radio talk show hosts including Ari Hoffman (linked here). The anonymous posters of this sign were calling Mayor Matta, and his comrades on the Burien City Council “Communists,” which is not nice for sure, but so far it doesn’t look like a racist thing.
Mayor Matta wants to remind us that he knows Racism when he sees it, even if nobody else can divine the racism in that sign. Could Matta be right? After all, the Evergreen State College students want the world to believe their college is “Racist” and State Senator Mona Das wants us to understand that the Washington State Senate Democratic Party caucus is “Racist” behind closed doors (see her claim here). Who am I to argue this? Maybe there are Democratic Party racists behind every closed door and faculty lounge in this state. I can’t always dispute these claims of “Racism.” However, it was certainly a stretch for Mayor Matta to cry “RACISM” in the case of these signs.
As Jason Rantz pointed out to Mayor Matta during his interview – the closed fist represented on this sign is a common image in Antifa/Socialist/BLM circles. These are the same circles where Matta’s fellow councilmembers hang out. In case Matta is confused, he can just ask his fellow councilmember Krystal Marx who demonstrates the Antifa/BLM fist in the nearby photo quite effectively. Even if Marx was just participating in a Cosplay style game so she could blend in with her friends as they burn down Seattle, attack police, and break racist windows, she still has ample first-hand experience of the meaning of the raised, closed fist.
Fake Rewards for Imaginary “Hate Crimes”
Beyond the “I see racists everywhere” element to this story, my favorite part is the fake rewards issued by Jimmy Matta and his fellow election campaign travelers in the city. Mayor Matta originally offered a reward of $2,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the evil RACISTS who must have put up these signs. In an effort to virtue signal even more – fellow Lefty council candidate John White upped the ante to $10,000 (see here).
Of course, both of these “rewards” were fake because they required someone to be “arrested” and “convicted” of a crime. What crime? Free speech? Obviously, someone thinks Matta and these other listed candidates are bad guys, and they wanted to communicate this message to local residents of Burien. The reality is nobody would ever “collect” on this fake reward because nobody is getting arrested or convicted of anything. Maybe if Matta, Marx, and their Antifa/BLM friends can Identify the person or people who made the signs, they can trash their home, assault them, or burn them out – that seems par for the modern Antifa model of governance. THAT would certainly be illegal in a sane world, but since Burien has been imitating Seattle lately, I’m not so sure anymore.
Regardless, the reward is fake because nobody is getting arrested or “convicted” of anything, so the payout will never happen. Apparently, John White eventually figured this out and decided to rescind his phony reward offer (see here).
As anyone who has ever read the glorious and completely Byzantine campaign finance laws of Washington State would know, there is no obligation for anyone to identify who paid for campaign signs on the signs themselves (see RCW 42.17A.320(7) and also the PDC’s helpful guidance on this subject). However, I will point out that whoever put up these signs probably ran afoul of the campaign finance laws by not disclosing them on a C-6 report (See RCW 42.17A.260). Essentially, if they only put up a handful of signs (less than $100) it would be legal for it to remain anonymous. If it was less than $1k, the person(s) would have to file a C-6 report within 5 days of the expenditure. If it was more $1k, the person(s) would have to file a C-6 report within 24hours of the expenditure.
So, someone probably broke a campaign finance law in Burien, but it is funny to hear anyone on the council complaining about it, since they all break those same laws on a frequent basis. For a complete list of their violations, go the end of this article and I will detail each law they have broken, and the wrist slaps they have received from the Public Disclosure Commission (the state agency tasked with enforcing these laws). At the most, someone will get a wrist slap “naughty, naughty” warning letter here, IF the PDC is going to treat this violator just like they treat this city council and all their lawbreaking. Of course, based on the over the top fake outrage displayed by the Matta/Marx crew, maybe this anonymous Signgate crew decided to hold off on their PDC filings to protect themselves from the violence and threats these Antifa groupies like to whip up.
Defacing and destroying campaign signs (both are illegal)
Speaking of lawbreaking, Mayor Matta was understandably upset with whoever was defacing his campaign signs with “Corrupt” stickers as documented nearby. The undefaced signs that Mayor Matta has legally placed around the city look like the one located nearby with the homeless guy sleeping next to it (I have been unable to clarify if that was a temporary sign guard in this case, but the Burien City Council is working hard to imitate Seattle right now). Defacing or stealing political campaign signs is illegal (See RCW 29A.84.040). In fact, it is a misdemeanor, and people have been charged with breaking this law in the past.
Keep in mind that this is still a crime even if “Corruption” is a true expression of Matta’s administration. No matter how corrupt Matta might be, that fact will be no defense for defacing his campaign signs. This is a criminal matter, on par with shoplifting or littering (even if sign defacement is less common in Burien). Since Matta is a Leftist in good standing with the political elite, the local prosecutor might be convinced to prosecute this crime if the perpetrators are caught and exposed.
However, that same prosecutor would need to also charge Burien City Councilmember Cydney Moore who documented her own personal violation of this same law when she stole the same signs and destroyed them herself (see the helpful Facebook photo nearby where she posted evidence of her criminal actions). Yes, RCW 29A.84.040 would apply to stealing and destroying those signs just as much as if Councilmember Moore had placed a “corrupt” sticker on Mayor Matta’s campaign signs (I’m not accusing her of putting the stickers on Matta’s signs, but this is Burien, so who knows?).
Political elite distract from their own failings
Regardless of the outcome of “SignGate” and all the drama it invokes, the simple fact is that this council is clownish by any serious standard. They are great for doing the bidding of Seattle and King County Executive Dow Constantine, but when it comes to serious governance, they are at best the source of great mockery and ridicule state-wide. The poor residents of Burien are suffering from having these goofs in charge of anything. Doubt me? Let’s review just a few:
Pedro Olguin – In a council of clowns, this guy stood tall as the biggest weirdo. He was elected on Jimmy Matta’s slate in 2017, and he gained national attention by being the first Burien City Council member arrested and jailed for failing to appear at a court case in Chelan County (he was arrested on a warrant in Kittitas County). This court case resulted from an incident where he and his girlfriend assaulted a vendor who wanted them to pay for the food they tried to steal at the 2019 Octoberfest in Leavenworth. This wasn’t his first or last run in with the law. He earned proper designation as one of Washington State’s “Weirdos in government” recognition in my video series “Weirdos and Heros” (see video here). Like most of the Burien City Council, he was also a serial violator of Washington’s campaign finance laws and was even fined $900 based on a complaint I filed against him in 2018 (see here). While he stopped showing up to meetings for many months now, the City kept paying him regardless.
Krystal Marx – When she isn’t playing Cosplay dress up as an Antifa/BLM rioter, she also likes to break Washington State’s campaign finance laws, and has also been fined in the past for hiding information on her financial affairs statements (Fined by the PDC, and according to their records, she refuses to pay the fine – see here). Warned by the PDC for other campaign finance violations based on my complaints over the years (see here), and more recently, I filed a complaint against her for obviously lying and falsifying information to the PDC about her campaign finance efforts (see here). She votes mostly in lockstep with Mayor Matta, and this unity ticket has harmed the residents of Burien at every possible decision point. However, she also believes this qualifies her for Congress, which is why she is currently collecting campaign cash for her Congressional race next year (and she is on the ballot this year for Burien City Council as a hedge in case her goals to join the squad in DC are quashed by the voters next year).
Cydney Moore – When she isn’t trying to silence the free speech of others and taking selfies at the same time, she is also in frequent violation of the state’s campaign finance laws. I filed a few of these complaints against her in the past (see here, here, and here). She wasn’t fined for those violations, but it never hurts to document the serial lawbreaking. She is another Matta ally who enjoys importing Seattle’s problems and making Burien the dumping ground for King County’s problems in exchange for more grant-grifting programs.
The Burien City Council has done the city residents no favors since occupying these council seats. Their clownish behavior helps to overshadow the poor governance that inevitably results from electing extremists like these and putting them on the council. This is particularly true when these elected officials are taking their marching orders from Seattle or King County’s Executive Dow Constantine.
The priorities of the Seattle political class is to export the Seattle concentrated drug addiction /homeless camp/ lawlessness mess into the surrounding communities, and the Seattle political elite are working with King County to threaten, cajole, or legally bribe nearby cities like Burien to absorb this population in order to help Seattle look marginally sane. Burien’s council typically does Seattle’s bidding (under Matta’s “leadership”), and it looks like this recent anonymous sign campaign was calling them out for it.
The residents of Burien are suffering under this goofy and weird gang, but the City of Burien can survive temporary periods of political theatre by goofy people. The bigger question is how long the people of Burien have to suffer these fools. Until then, observers will have plenty to write about and local residents will have ample excuses to put up more anonymous signs in the City of Burien.
OUR CONSTITUTION BEGINS WITH THE PHRASE “WE THE PEOPLE.” IT WAS THE FOUNDERS’ INTENT THAT GOVERNMENT BE CREATED BY THE PEOPLE, TO SERVE THE PEOPLE. IT WASN’T THEIR INTENTION FOR THE PEOPLE TO SERVE THE GOVERNMENT. IT WAS ALWAYS INTENDED THAT GOVERNMENT WHICH FAILED TO SERVE THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE “ALTERED OR ABOLISHED.” UNTIL WE RETURN TO THE FOUNDER’S INTENT, WE REMAIN WE THE GOVERNED…
Background articles and links:
Rantz: Mynorthwest – “Mayor claims he was victim of “white supremacy hate crime attack.” He wasn’t”
Ari Hoffman: Seattle area Mayor falsely claims to be target of hate crime
RCW 42.17A.260 (campaign finance reporting for independent expenditures, like these signs)
RCW 42.17A.320(7) (law explaining exemptions for small campaign signs including paid for by statements)
PDC’s helpful guide to campaign advertising
Burien Municipal Code 19.30 (campaign signs are allowed on public right-of-ways with some exceptions)
RCW 29A.84.040 (law about illegality of defacing, destroying or stealing campaign signs)
City of Ladue vs. Gilleo (1994 Supreme Court case striking down city sign ordinances which restrict free speech)
Reed vs. Town of Gilbert (2015 Supreme Court case rejecting City’s ability to restrict content of signs)
Findlaw article: Why are home and yard signs free speech?
Congressional Research Service 2019 report on protected speech
City of Burien official website
Burien City Mayor Jimmy Matta’s official website
Burien City Councilwoman Krystal Marx official website
PDC also warning Marx in 2020 about her campaign finance violations (see warning letter here)
Krystal Marx election campaign website (Burien City Council)
Krystal Marx campaign website for Congress
B-Town Blog – Candidate White rescinds his “reward” cash
Pedro Olguin’s official Burien City Council website
The original complaint filed against Pedro Olguin by Glen Morgan linked here
Pedro Olguin’s official Public Disclosure Commission complaint/fine/case file
Another $100 fine against Pedro Olguin by the Public Disclosure Commission
Olguin arrested and jailed in Wenatchee (article B-Townblog)
Councilmember Olguin arrested for assault (another article)
Published with Permission of wethegoverned.com