Sportsmen’s Alliance Petitions Washington Gov. Ferguson for Removal of Four Fish and Wildlife Commissioners

Petition cites proof of corruption, secret conferences and exclusion of tribes and different teams from public conferences

As we speak, Could 16, 2025, the Sportsmen’s Alliance Basis (SAF) filed a petition with Gov. Ferguson (PRA proof and citiation linked onine) asking for the removing of Washington Fish and Wildlife Commissioners Barbara Baker, Lorna Smith, Melanie Rowland, and John Lehmkuhl after proof of corruption and unhealthy practices was uncovered by the group in its lawsuit to power disclosure of inner communications.

“We thought the proof of corruption could be unhealthy, however the mountain of proof we’ve uncovered is like nothing we’ve seen earlier than,” stated Evan Heusinkveld, President & CEO of the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “That is unhealthy authorities on steroids. Secret conferences, exclusion of tribes and others from public conferences, an apparent and open contempt for the general public, and a complete disregard of the regulation – it’s all there, and it’s apparent that that is merely the best way these 4 commissioners do enterprise. We’re hopeful the governor stands up for the nice folks of Washington and shuts this down.”

Governor Ferguson has the complete authority to take away Fish and Wildlife Commissioners for trigger, and the SAF petition is replete with examples of behaviors that decision for the governor to train this authority and put an finish to those ongoing abuses. The petition additionally references a mess of different paperwork the group has that illustrate further examples of how deep this corruption goes with these commissioners.

“We now have hundreds of pages that exhibit how these behaviors are repeated many times,” stated Heusinkveld. “We will likely be making these paperwork public over time, however we wish to give the governor area to think about our petition whereas our lawsuit continues to uncover much more. Extra paperwork will merely imply extra proof, however what we’ve given the governor is greater than sufficient for a swift removing of this cabal of unhealthy actors.”

The SAF petition consists of a number of elements, however amongst its most damning proof is recurrent violations of Washington’s Open Public Conferences Act (OPMA) by Commissioners Baker, Smith, Rowland, and Lehmkuhl. To garner a majority vote, these commissioners would “daisy-chain” conferences, the place three or 4 would meet via e-mail or on Groups/Zoom, then one or two would attain out to different commissioners to tug collectively majority votes on points. Baker was typically the fifth vote when the group needed to maneuver one thing, however she was all the time looped in to solidify a call earlier than a public assembly, generally even weeks earlier than.

“This daisy-chain method, the place you place collectively a majority whereas claiming to not have a quorum, is nothing greater than a popular and long-standing trick of corrupt public officers, the place you place collectively a majority with out ever assembly collectively directly,” stated Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel for SAF. “This corrupt follow is usually utilized so members of a cabal can declare, ‘we didn’t have a quorum current, so no official assembly passed off,’ however all of us see via this nonsense for what it’s: quaint corruption.”

There isn’t a time restrict on how lengthy Governor Ferguson can think about the petition earlier than taking motion. Neither is there a requirement that the governor reply the petition come what may. In the meantime, the SAF lawsuit to compel manufacturing of insider communications continues, with extra exercise anticipated on that case in coming weeks.