Jason “Dangercup” Coots (Source: Facebook)

(Disclaimer – images and content may not be appropriate for young or sensitive viewers – reader discretion advised) 

In Washington State, City Council candidate Jason “Dangercup” Coots is on the ballot for the special election February 13th in the City of Shelton. In addition to aspiring to become one of Shelton’s next City Councilmembers, Mr. “Dangercup” Coots, according to his Facebook account, also says that two of his “…favorite things are cocaine and half naked girls.”  It remains to be seen whether the voters of Shelton share Mr. “Dangercup” Coots’ passions, but we will find out next month.

Mr. “Dangercup” Coot’s quixotic campaign for public office began last year.  The City of Shelton was one of the last cities in Washington State that still had a traditional three commissioner form of government.  Last November, city voters approved “Proposition 1” which changed the structure of the city government from three elected officials to seven.  This means that in February, the new four elected positions are on the ballot, and the free-for-all scramble to fill the positions is happening next month.  

All four positions are contested with at least three candidates running for each position.  For position #4, Jason “Dangercup” Coots is facing two other challengers, which means this race will be a primary election and the top two vote getters move on to a general (final) election in April.  Judging from the recent political scandals and drama in Shelton, this election is sure to be colorful and entertaining.  Jason “Dangercup” Coots helps add additional drama to the local political scene, beyond the cool nickname.  While “Dangercup” is prominently displayed in his campaign logo, sign, and website, he dropped it for his ballot listing, and is running for office under the more pedestrian name “Jason Coots,” which might confuse some people.

According to Jason’s Facebook page, despite living in Shelton, he considered moving to Miami a few years ago because his two favorite things were “cocaine and half naked women.”  Additionally, when throwing parties in Shelton, he claims to have invited the state’s sex offenders to a party with “hookers, drugs, guns, live music, you name it.”  If Mr. “Dangercup” Coots is successful in his effort to become Shelton’s newest councilmember, his extra curricular activities may ensure you will never look at Pineapple juice the same again.  Mr Coots did not attempt to purge and scrub his Facebook account of any references to cocaine, drugs, sex offenders, hookers, half naked women, and other entertaining subjects, which allows them to be viewed by anyone with access to Facebook.

The City of Shelton has been rocked by scandals related to violations of the Open Public Meetings Act, some Public Records Act violations and some serious fiscal challenges, which led, in part, to the motivation of the voters to change the local form of government.  This is a classic case of a local scandal producing real change.  According to Mr. “Dangercup” Coot’s website, he was heavily involved in exposing these problems with the council, and he also filed a PDC complaint (linked here) against one of the incumbent council members.  

We’re fans of local citizens getting involved in local politics.  We also support local citizens exposing problems in local government.  While “Dangercup” may not fit the mold of a typical political candidate, at least the voters of Shelton can’t claim their candidates were “all the same.” Mr. “Dangercup” Coot’s website carries the tagline “Everyone is a tough guy till it’s time to do tough guy stuff.”  We will have to wait until February to see if the voters of Shelton believe Mr. “Dangercup” Coots is tough enough for the Shelton City Council.

(Please note, this article was changed after it was originally posted – the candidate, Mr. “Dangercup” Coots contacted the author and he has clarified that he did not scrub or erase anything from his Facebook pages, and it is all still there (he has multiple pages), also the original story erroneously identified 5 positions up for grabs, when there are actually 4)

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OUR CONSTITUTION BEGINS WITH THE PHRASE “WE THE PEOPLE.”  IT WAS THE FOUNDER’S 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 links:

Election Results November 2017 – Prop1 in City of Shelton

Explanation Sheet for Proposition 1 (2017) in Shelton

PDC complaint filed by Jason “Dangercup” Coonts against Shelton Commissioner Gary Cronce

List of candidates running for the Shelton City Council (February 2018)

Interview with Jason Dangercup on Youtube (iFiberone News Radio)

Jason “Dangercup” Coots website (campaign site too?)

 

 

14 COMMENTS

  1. I think people who know Jason know that he is scarcastic most of the time. I do think it’s sad that in today’s world, these are the things that get attention. His comments have been externally inappropriate in the past, but I applaud him for not deleting them, he’s not trying to hide anything… like him or don’t. At least he’s not fake.

  2. I am a little confused about your conclusion of the article. I don’t see how toughness is relevant in this situation. The limited information you have shared does not seem like enough to bring a persons toughness into question. I believe the message of your article is predicated on transparency. It also seems to me that Mr. Coots (old) comments exemplify the values that he preaches. A politician who’s actions are as true as the words he speaks isn’t common in the world today. Should Mr. Coots be criticized for being a man of his word?

  3. I don’t know Jason on a personal level, but anybody with half a brain can tell those old Facebook posts are sarcasm at its finest. Glen Morgan, do you have something personal against Jason, or are you just slow? Or maybe I’m completely missing the point here, is this whole article meant to be sarcastic as well? Because I can’t take this article serious at all. And why is all the info you dug up from Facebook so old and irrelevant?

    • Kevin, I don’t know Mr. Dangercup Coots personally, but I’m interested in meeting him now. I also don’t know either of the folk he is running against in this race. I have had some less than positive interaction with the former City Commission back in 2014, but most of those folk are no longer there. When you run for public office, your words become public. Our current president has experienced this as well as dozens of other elected officials. I think it is an effective strategy to claim that these were jokes, but it doesn’t matter what I think. The voters of Shelton get to make up their own minds. I like it when people get involved and run for office regardless of their background, and this race is sure worth following now.

  4. It will be interesting to see this election results. At the least the public will know who another dirt bag is.

    • I like the fact that people have a choice. I don’t know the other two people on the ballot for this same position, but I want to watch the race much closer now.

  5. I enjoyed the article. I appreciate the fact that people look out for people. Writing an article about a guy who makes people laugh but not writing an article about a mayor or commissioner who lie and break laws regularly is questionable, but to each their own. I think Glen imagined that he had some wow factor, but most who even know my name know everything in the article. I shared it. Having a sense of humor doesn’t make you a bad person nor is it something to be ashamed of.

    • I hadn’t heard about the recent drama in Shelton (I was dealing with a few other things lately), but I am definately interested in finding out more. It sounds interesting, particularly the Open Public Meetings Act violations discovered through Public Records requests and also the PDC complaint – which I had seen a while ago, but the context of the PDC complaint makes more sense now. It is also unusual to have a city make the Home Rule Charter switch on the form of government, and the special election in February also adds to the drama. Good times, and throwing your hat in the race just makes it better.

  6. I fear that in the future, candidates lacking the ability to project even a facade of respectable behavior or morality will become the norm. Dangercup will make a fine addition to the complement of politicians in Washington State and around the US.

    Can President Camacho be that far off?

  7. Cuddos to Mr. Coots for being who he is. Actions speak louder than words. His actions were not to edit his Facebook to make himself appear to be something he is not. Clearly he has a sense of humor. This article is a Facebook trolling fail in my opinion.

Comments are closed.