Democrat Senator Kevin Ranker resigned from the Washington State senate over the weekend

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Democrat State Senator Ranker (40th LD) is bolting from the Washington State Senate under a cloud of investigations into sexual harassment and other problems like tax fraud and campaign finance violations

Over the weekend, Washington State Senator Kevin Ranker (Democrat, 40th Legislative District) officially resigned his seat (See story background linked here and here).  Ranker’s email resignation statement sent Saturday is linked here. The primary motivation for his resignation was the inevitable fallout from the sexual harassment investigation being conducted by the Washington State Senate into accusations filed by his former legislative aide and former legislative liaison for the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Department.  Her accusations included claims that Senator Ranker threatened to cut the budget for the agency unless she renewed sexual relations with him.  Senator Ranker is married and was married at the time of the original affair.

Senator Ranker is counting on his close relastionship to San Juan County Prosecutor Randy Gaylord (Left) to keep him out of any real trouble.

Theoretically, the investigation into his behavior continues under the new process developed and championed by Senator Ranker himself in the last legislative session.  However, most observers expect this investigation to ratchet down and become a footnote with Senator Ranker’s resignation.  In addition, this author helped initiate a few additional investigations of Senator Ranker’s behavior in other areas.  The first was with the Washington State Department of Revenue for falsifying at least one Real Estate Excise Tax form submitted to the DOR for the purpose of committing tax fraud (see article here).  The second was with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission for concealing his property assets on his Financial Disclosure Reports (see complaint linked here and earlier complaint filed against him in 2017 by this author linked here). 

Former Democrat State Representative Brendan Williams (22nd LD) (pictured on the right) was recently publicly exposed for harassing women while a State Legislator.

Lost in the sexual harassment investigation into Ranker’s past actions is the apparently cavalier attitude it reveals about how agency budgets are negotiated in Olympia.  This still seems like a much bigger story than just another story about a corrupt politician in Olympia.  When stories first broke about former Democrat legislator Brendan Williams in late 2017 (Olympia – 22nd Legislative District), they generally involved Representative Williams prolifically harassing a variety of female lobbyists working at the State Capital.  The concerns raised in all these cases involve the fear expressed by the women that their careers, their jobs, and the interests they represented were placed in jeopardy depending on how they responded to Brendan William’s harassment.  Similarly the investigation into Ranker’s harassment involve the open threat of budget cuts or job termination based on sexual (or lack thereof) favors.

Senator Kevin Ranker may get away with most of his violations and only receive a slap on the wrist.   He has reliably pushed the most extreme Leftist agenda in his role as a Democratic Party politician, as a San Juan County Commissioner, as the former Executive Director of the Friends of the San Juans, and as an Evergreen College student.  He is not a Republican or a conservative, so he gets kid glove treatment and the general whitewash that is traditionally accorded the political insiders from the ruling party in Olympia (remember, according to the Ann Larson complaint, she originally brought these issues up back in 2011, but they were ignored and vanished – it only was made public when she recently sent them to the Governor’s office). 

Who gets appointed to Ranker’s vacant seat?

Some Serious Democratic Party infighting usually occurs during the appointment process

Senator Ranker’s resignation is sure to initiate a feeding frenzy within the Democratic Party as they fight over the nomination process, first at the PCO level, and then when the elected councilmembers from San Juan County and Whatcom County and the commissioners from Skagit County convene to make the final appointment.  Backroom negotiating has been occuring quietly for months now, but with the official announcement of Ranker’s resignation, the real fight begins.  Traditionally, when a Senator resigns or leaves office early, the appointment is most likely going to be a sitting legislator in that district of the same party.

For example, this has happened recently in the 31st Legislative District when Republican Senator Pam Roach was elected to the Pierce County Council in 2016 and recently elected Representative Phil Fortunato was appointed to fill her seat. Another example includes the 28th Legislative Distrct when Republican Senator Mike Carrell died in 2013 and Representative Steve O’Ban was appointed to fill this seat and.  Another example is the 2017 appointment of Republican Senator Brian Dansel in the 7th Legislative District whose seat was filled by the appointment of Representative Shelly Short. There are many other examples. If this tradition continues in the Ranker resignation situation, then this nomination and vote process will occur twice – first with the vacated Senate seat, and secondly with the newly vacated Legislative seat. 

Jeff Morris, attempting to explain how large his violations of the state’s campaign finances were

Democrat state Representative Jeff Morris is the senior legislator in the 40th district.  This author filed a PDC complaint against Representative Morris (linked here), which resulted in a lawsuit filed by the AG against him (linked here), which resulted in a paddy-cake settlement (linked here).  To read more about this case go here. Representative Morris is also currently under investigation for harassment, although this investigation appears to be less significant or sensational than the Ranker sexual harassment investigation. There has been some speculation that this investigation is really part of a Democratic Party intramural squabble and was triggered recently in an effort to reduce the chance that Morris could be appointed to the vacant seat. All these factors reduce the likelihood that Representative Morris would be appointed to Ranker’s vacant seat.

Representative Debra Lekanoff (40th LD)

The most likely candidate to be appointed is the recently elected legislator from that district – Democrat Representative Debra Lekanoff.  She was elected with 67% of the vote, and the recent successful election ensures her name familiarity with local voters. She is just as extreme as Senator Ranker on all the issues that matter (maximum taxes, supports growing the abusive administrative state, a strong supporter of Gang Green, etc).  Assuming Lekanoff is appointed to Ranker’s seat, then this means her legislative seat will also then be vacant and require another round of the appointment process. 

Investigations, Political Insiders, and the cycle continues

Senator Ranker stands in front of fake Orca whale at “Salish Sea Stands in Capitol Hill Day” event at the Wasington State Capitol in Olympia, Feb. 13, 2017.

Meanwhile, the investigations into Senator Ranker’s various behavioral problems continues.  Part of stepping down likely involved a negotiated end to the #Metoo investigation.  His resignation is probably adequate for political insiders.  The investigators are unlikely to explore any further the sex in exchange for agency state budget votes – THAT is a rock they won’t want to turn over.  The PDC will slap his wrist for his failure to properly comply with the law.  The Department of Revenue is also likely to give him easy treatment for his attempt to evade taxes and his falsification of documents he provided to them in 2013.   

If you have tracked scandals like this in the past, then you know full well that not everyone is equal under the law in Washington State.  The political minority and disfavored will be persecuted.  The politically correct will get kid glove treatment – if they are caught.  However, it is still important to expose the truth and to pay attention.  These are the same people who believe they are smarter than you, who demand that you be forced to pay more taxes, get offended when you don’t trust them, and who believe they can dictate to you how to live your life because THEY clearly know better.

Senator Kevin Ranker (D - 40th LD) gets some practice being behind bars
Senator Kevin Ranker (D – 40th LD) gets some practice being behind bars (photo credit – Kevin Ranker’s Instagram account)

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Related Articles:

Senator Kevin Ranker commits felony and tax fraud, based on court documents

Democrat Senator Kevin Ranker’s sex harassment case raises questions – how much sex is traded to increase agency budgets?

Seattle Times – “Washington state Sen. Kevin Ranker resigns amid misconduct accusations”

Seattle Times – “Woman says Washington State Sen. Kevin Ranker threatened to cut her agency’s funding after she rebuffed his sexual advances”

NWNews Network – “State Senator acknowledges previous relationship with former legislative assistant”

San Juan Islander – “Harrassment allegations against Kevin Ranker under investigation by state Senate”

Cascadia Weekly – “Et tu, #Metoo” (Progressives lamenting the fall of Ranker)

Dem Represenative Morris settles AG lawsuit quietly and cheaply

Seattle Times – “Officials in State Legislature launch workplace review of Representative Jeff Morris”

WACOPS letter, published in the Island Guardian August 10, 2008 (please note additional LTE in favor of Ranker with editor’s notes also linked here)

Adventures of a Bellinghamer – “Questions for Kevin Ranker” (2008)

The Olympian (2015) – “Legislative Aide, accused of stealing money from State Senator Ranker”

The Islands’s Sounder – “Ranker receives honor” (if link is removed, here is the original article)

Seattle PI – “Woman raped by Fish & Wildlife boss: ‘I used to be so happy’”

The Olympian – “Greg Schirato sentenced to more than 10 years for rape of co-worker”

The Olympian – “Fish and Wildlife sexual assault case in the hands of the jury”

Fishery Nation.com – “Rape allegation against division manager reveals ‘highly sexualized’ culture at state agency’”

Source Documents

Senator Kevin Ranker’s email statement announcing his resignation was sent to supporters on Saturday January 12, 2019

Summary and Excerpts from Olympia Police Incident Report #95-6735, also references Citation #169761

Senator Ranker’s 2016 Financial Affairs Form (F1) filed with the PDC on April 14, 2016 (no reference to new property given to him by mother)

Kevin Ranker – Real Estate Excise Tax Affidavit form submitted to the WA Dept of Revenue on October 21, 2015

San Juan County Superior Court Case #18-2-05026-28 – Lake City Federal Bank vs. Kathleen McNay (Kevin Ranker’s mom) defendant and Kevin Ranker garnishee defendant(Most relevant pages 5-8)

2 COMMENTS

  1. Your absolutely right, Glen. We should be like Idaho; make the Dumbocrats irrelevant and bring in perpetual one-party rule for the goodest people ever, the GOP!

    #MAGA

    • I suspect corruption can come in either party, but for sure, in Washington State, the Democratic Party is the party in power, so logically the corruption is concentrated there…

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