Vancouver Attorney Angus Lee obtained and released records showing that candidate’s employment with the Stevenson Downtown Association came to an abrupt end under questionable circumstances
Vancouver area civil rights attorney Angus Lee has recently obtained and released records showing that congressional candidate Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s employment with the Stevenson Downtown Association, a nonprofit organization, came to an abrupt end under questionable circumstances, indicating she was likely fired, after she engaged in a pattern of mistreating volunteers and a staffing review showed 20 percent of Gluesenkamp Perez’s “skills were ranked as needing improvement.”
In an email from “Marie G. Perez,” Gluesenkamp Perez acknowledged her pattern of mistreating volunteers, and the recent staffing review that concluded 20 percent of her skills were ranked as needing improvement.
The records show that in late October of 2019, the Board of Directors for the nonprofit voted to approve a one-year contract with Gluesenkamp Perez, but the contract contained “A 30-day termination notice” clause.
But despite the approval of a one-year contract, Gluesenkamp Perez’s employment ended only a few months later.
Gluesenkamp Perez, apparently off put by the need that she be cordial to those who visited the nonprofit while she worked there, wrote an internal email on December 16, 2019, bemoaning what she viewed as “an exceedingly difficult climate” because “Culturally, I am expected to chat and visit with whoever stops by or risk presenting a cold, unwelcoming face of the SDA.”
Not long after Gluesenkamp Perez sent her email complaining about having to engage in common courtesy with visitors, on December 17, 2019, John Mobley wrote “We should move forward and look for someone that works well with volunteers and has a positive attitude.”
On December 18, 2019, the mayor of the city of Stevenson, Scott Anderson wrote “We should find a replacement as soon as possible. Hopefully she will maintain some professional decorum during transition.”
That same day, Tabatha Wiggins, the current president of the nonprofit, wrote “…I don’t think we can expect anything further from Marie.”
In January, 2020, B. Adams wrote, “Today I plan to call Marie and inform her of the direction we are headed. I will ask her for the website login credentials as well as keys and debit card.”
Gluesenkamp Perez subsequently used her Gmail account to send an email to the nonprofit asking that it consider her application for her old position. In her email application letter Gluesenkamp Perez acknowledged that she had been over-zealous, and had engaged in “a pattern of overlooking volunteer morale.” Gluesenkamp Perez was not rehired.
These records indicate that Gluesenkamp Perez, while in a position of authority as the director of a nonprofit, engaged in a pattern of mistreating volunteers.
Video of a recent event with candidate Gluesenkamp Perez shows that she was not willing to be transparent about this issue. In the video, Gluesenkamp Perez refused to provide any answer when asked if there was documentation showing she was fired from the nonprofit.
Angus Lee stated “as a voter, I would like to see Maria Perez publicly authorize all past and present members of the Stevenson Downtown Association to speak freely about her employment with that nonprofit and disclose any records related to her employment with, or termination from, the nonprofit, so that they can provide truthful and complete information to us the voters about how Perez treated the volunteers.”
Angus Lee stated “as a voter, I would like to see Maria Perez disclose the staffing review that showed she needed improvement in 20 percent of her employment duties.”
Angus Lee stated “running for Congress is the same as applying for a job. The voters are the hiring committee. If Perez wants to be hired to serve us in Congress she should be fully transparent about these issues with her treatment of volunteers.’’
Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat, is opposed by Republican Joe Kent in the race in the Third Congressional District for U.S. Congress representative seat in the Nov. 8 general election.
A representative of Gluesenkamp Perez’s campaign responded to Clark County Today’s request for a response to Lee’s news release.
“It has come to our attention that a fringe-right attorney … has issued a press release making several false and scurrilous attacks related to 3rd Congressional District Democratic candidate Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s tenure as Executive Director of the Stevenson Downtown Association,’’ the statement read. “The attorney, Angus Lee, refers to himself in the press release as a ‘civil rights attorney’ but is perhaps best known for representing Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson. In response to the claims Lee made in the press release, Gluesenkamp Perez’s campaign released the following statement:
“The assertions made in this press release are flatly false, and this is clearly a hyperpartisan smear effort intended to distract voters from MAGA extremist Joe Kent’s radical and divisive conspiracy theory claims and dangerous ideas. Contrary to the claims in the release, Marie was not ‘fired’ by the Downtown Stevenson Association.
“Rather, Marie is proud of the two years of work she did, along with so many other dedicated residents of the Stevenson, WA community, to build the capacity and reach of the Stevenson Downtown Association. Her performance review was in fact strong, and in 2019 the board of the organization sought to renew and extend her contract. But after the SDA board and Marie were unsuccessful in coming to agreement on some of the contract terms for the extension, Marie parted ways with the organization amicably and professionally, as can be corroborated by the then-leaders of the organization.
“Again, the claims in the release are irresponsible and false. We know that Joe Kent and many of his supporters are far-right MAGA radicals who twist the truth and routinely make false claims – for instance, that Loren Culp rightfully won the 2020 gubernatorial race in Washington State (he actually lost by double digits) – and this is just the latest example of this disqualifying pattern of falsehood and conspiratorial thinking.”
Stevenson Downtown Association Executive Director Kelly McKee provided a statement to Clark County Today Wednesday evening.
“As a private 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Stevenson Downtown Association does not discuss personnel matters publicly.
“However, email records and accusations about Congressional candidate Marie Perez were released with a press release on September 20, 2022 by attorney Angus Lee. In the release, Lee uses the words terminated’ and ‘fired’ and ‘employment … came to an abrupt end under questionable circumstances.’ All of these claims are false.
“Marie Perez was a contractor with the Stevenson Downtown Association serving as Executive Director for nearly two years. While contracting with the Stevenson Downtown Association, Marie Perez worked on increasing capacity for the organization and strengthening the downtown Stevenson district through projects and community-building initiatives. Her contract timeline expired and negotiations were underway to have it extended, yet the parties did not come to an agreement on contract terms. This led to the Board of Directors deciding to invest in hiring an employee (instead of a contractor) and creating a new job description for a part-time Executive Director. As per normal hiring process, this position was posted publicly to attract applicants. Marie Perez applied and interviewed for this new position, along with other candidates. Ultimately, the Board hired a Stevenson resident and the transition was normal and amicable.’’
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Please adjust Mr. Lee’s description to read “self-described civil rights attorney” rather than “civil rights attorney”. That would be more accurate, as many people would disagree that partisan right wing political activism constitutes “civil rights” work.
Now let’s see what democrats have done. 2 coup attempts, falsifying testimony, spying on us citizens, persecution of political parties, vax and mask mandates, assassination of us citizens, renaming and redefinition of words to fit the narrative (like the inflation reduction act, affordable healthcare plan, women, recession), crt which teaches people to hate each other because of their skin color, censorship of dissenting opinions, 89000 ARMED irs agents, promoting abortion, support for antifa and blm jackboots, lionizing criminals and demonizing local police, blatant cronyism by elites, politicizing of government agencies like irs and fbi, illegal search and seizures, and on and on.
And more
Replacing GOD with climate cult, taking God out of schools and putting in deviant trans activists, banning and burning books (including 1984, & mark Twain), rewriting history, defining everything thru racist identity politics to create oppressor/victim divisiveness, declaring patriotic symbols of prior generations signs of oppression, banning cars, straws, plastic bags, vaping products, fossil fuels, money, etc (attacking freedom and choice), creating class warfare in scheme to redistribute wealth, government takeover of electricity, healthcare, water, resources.
It looks to me like the right is the only group protecting any civil rights.
Wow, that’s a whole lot of whataboutism, right wing talking points, and conspiracy theories all tied up in one post. Congratulations.
Leftists rarely concern themselves with what “many people would” do if it doesn’t agree with their meme.
The response to this article by MGP tends to reinforce the allegations. Instead of a thoughtful, factual refutation of the article, we’re treated with the playground name calling “leftistisms” that AOC wannabes are known for.
Hate-filled deflection from the issue at hand. A total lack of maturity. It makes her so easy to bait. As predictable as sunrise.
And now, the evidence… the emails… will start leaking out and she’ll be asked about it everywhere she goes… and she’ll HAVE to explain.
And in politics?
Explainin’ is losin’.
Oh,. and where she mentioned “The attorney, Angus Lee, refers to himself in the press release as a ‘civil rights attorney’ but is perhaps best known for representing Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson?”
She left out the word “successfully.” Even MGP knows the charges against Gibson, unlike these allegations concerning her, were actually politically motivated.
But hey, she knew that, right?
I have no problem with Ms. Perez having to explain, and not supporting her if these allegations are actually what they are characterized to be. That’s called integrity. It’s what I wish all of the Trump-ublicans had. And, if we want to get into whataboutism, “leftists” as you characterize them aren’t the only ones who assume that their views are what “the American People” or “most people” believe. That’s pretty much common in politics.
Of course you have no problem with it. Perez being the democrat nominee in this race is proof that democrats would vote for a brick if it had a “D” after it’s name.
If her excuses were true, THAT would be called “integrity.”
A variety of people involved seem to have a different view, but because it doesn’t fit your meme, you act like the evidence doesn’t exist.
For supporters, that’s pretty much common in politics.
Whataboutism: A dysphemism for the term “compare and contrast,” which is (1) An activity universally engaged in by thinking persons;
(2) A commonly utilized dismissive insult by leftists in an attempt to neutralize the negative light in which their policies and activities are often viewed after subjected to such scrutiny, and
(3) A method leftists often employ to discourage the more timid among us from pointing out observable facts that they’d rather not have highlighted.
Why not just publish the documents so that we can see them? That would stop the supposition, and would make it very difficult for her campaign to deflect and deny. Just make them public!
Believe it or not, I’m in favor of that. If this is, indeed, true, then Ms. Perez needs address it more fully.
I doubt the claim Culp lost by ‘double digits’. It is becoming increasingly apparent there was monkeybusiness with the election, especially considering Inslee didn’t even campaign. However, do the audit fully and let us see. We the voters.
We don’t do full forensic audits anywhere in Washington state. Our fully mail in voting is “safe and effective.” Another reason to ditch Kimsey!
Agreed. And his word salad as to why we don’t do full foresenic audits hold no weight whatsoever.
Please provide evidence of this “monkeybusiness”. Your doubts don’t count as evidence.
Hey there. I could point you toward any number of articles showing suspicious activity, the fact as I mentioned Inslee didn’t even campaign, etc. The broad reality is he is not very well liked and if you want to stand on the ground he had enough votes in King County alone to re-elect him, well that is your stance. The election system has been broken for a long time- we need in person voting back and we need full foresenic audits of the voting to bring back trust in the voting system.
You’ve provided no evidence. So I guess that’s where we’ll have to leave it. That’s where the courts left all of the Trump Big Lie lawsuits too. All (over 60) thrown out (many by Trump appointed judges) because there’s no evidence of anything. You can say Inslee “is not very well liked”, and I can say that you are a toaster. Saying it doesn’t make it true.
What you quoted is directly from MSM. But then again, maybe I am a toaster. A toaster that can type.. that is pretty amazing. Are you making the case Inslee is well liked? He hand picks what journalists can attend his ‘briefings’ just like … oh.. wait.. .just like somebody else. You don’t want evidence because you wouldn’t believe it anyway. That is fine. We will leave it at that and see what happens.
I am not someone with much proficiency in the area of statistics, and evidence of election fraud, irregularities and vulnerabilities in the system does require some degree of proficiency in understanding statistics. According to a number of people who do have a proficiency in this area, some of the resultants of the statistical analysis are statistically impossible. We haven’t done a forensic audit of Clark County, but other Counties have. So we can compare the results of their audits and their anomalies to what data is known without a full audit from the other counties. Many cold homicide cases are solved through circumstantial evidence carefully compiled when direct evidence is many times unavailable. And murder convictions are made using such evidence. One piece of circumstantial evidence isn’t going to convict, but if you have enough pieces, it becomes enough for a jury to convict of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Similarly, a detective with the proper background in election processes, statistics, and analysis can build a case with multiple pieces of evidence that in aggregate raise a huge red flag. I would sit down with Brett Simpson, who is running for auditor, over some coffee and ask him for the evidence. Brett knows a retired statistician who tackled this issue to provide proof that the “election deniers” were wrong and this was all an elaborate MAGA hoax. After this expert dug into evidence and ran the numbers 6 ways to Sunday, he found that he couldn’t disprove the allegations of fraud. I believe this guy took this to a number of other retired phD’s who were equally skeptical with similar results. So, I suggest that you do your own analysis after you hear the case. If you don’t have the expertise, find someone you trust who does. Even if I had the expertise, I wouldn’t be able to present something that complex in a thread like this…
“Shooting the messenger” is always a sign that the message is right on target. Sounds like Angus Lee is onto something important here. And no civil rights for conservatives or Republicans? Seriously now.
I’d rather be aware of the biases of the sources of such information, no matter what they are. Wouldn’t you?
As you stated in a previous, better to see the actual documents. A lawyer defending someone who is clearly unpopular with the left is not an example of legal or political bias. This is EXACTLY what civil rights attorneys should be doing. Remember the ACLU?
I actually never mentioned his work defending Mr. Gibson. I agree, he’s entitled to mount a legal defense if accused, as we all are. But there are other examples of his bias that are more telling.
Shrill leftist are typically this type.
At their core, they must protect their emotion-based world view, so they are fast to start reacting and yelling.
Nice. Resorting to broad brush characterizations. I could do the same for those with whose views I disagree, but I’d rather stick to the issue at hand.
Like how you, in your responses so far, have basically referred to “Trump-ublicans” (clever) as conspiracy theorists who lack integrity? You mean that kind of broad brush characterizations?
Sure, I’ll admit that. My apologies, that was rude on my part.
The president YOU support LIVES on “broad brush characterizations.” Or haven’t you been paying attention to his characterizations of “MAGA Republicans?”
Is it a problem for you when HE does it? Of his his hypocrisy endemic with all of the left?
In contrast, Joe Kent’s work history. At “eighteen, I enlisted in the Army as an infantryman and earned my way into the Ranger Regiment and then Special Forces. After 9/11, I volunteered at every opportunity to serve in combat. I did this for over twenty years and eleven combat deployments.”
Exactly. He is not perfect. No one is. But this history alone speaks volumes.
Angus Lee accusing someone of questionable ethics? Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black. Come on man-glass houses and all. I guess we don’t have to worry about good ol’ Angus running for office since he just disqualified himself. So at least we have that going for Clark County.