(This article was originally published on the Freedom Foundation blog on May 8, 2014, written by Trent England, while he was at the Freedom Foundation. The original article posting was deleted by the Freedom Foundation in 2017. It has been reposted here exactly as it was originally written. Some links no longer work and have been removed)
May 8, 2014
Under Director Ted Sturdevant, agency staff had called citizens at a public hearing “rabble” and paid a consultant to devise a public relations against “freedom and prosperity.
Part of the Freedom Foundation’s mission is “to advance … limited, accountable government.” To do that, we often file public disclosure requests when citizens believe a government agency is engaging in bad behavior. Last year, we filed a request with the Department of Ecology asking for documents that might indicate unfair treatment or bias. What we received was surprising—and disturbing.Ted Sturdevant Glares at Republicans
Under Director Ted Sturdevant, agency staff had called citizens at a public hearing [sic] “rable” and paid a consultant to devise a public relations against “freedom and prosperity.” Tone comes from the top, as they say, and Sturdevant’s emails revealed him as a narrow-minded ideologue who described opponents—including legislators—in the most vulgar terms.
After Ecology, Sturdevant went on to become one of Gov. Jay Inslee’s top advisors, responsible for the Governor’s legislative agenda.
The Freedom Foundation’s Glen Morgan revealed the findings of our records request to legislators and the public at a hearing last month. Today, Sturdevant announced he will resign. Unsurprisingly, he complained in his resignation message about the “lack of privacy [and] public disclosure.”
You can find Sturdevant and his staff’s emails, as well as Glen’s presentation, at our previous post: State Senators Hold Hearing Exposing DOE’s Abuse of Citizenry and Local Government.
