Carolina Mejia
A supporter of Thurston County Commission candidate Bud Blake is accusing front runner Carolina Mejia of being ineligible to run for office -- and the accusation is being called racist by a chorus of local and state Democrats.
Blake said Thursday he's not involved and is just finding out about the allegation. He came in third place in the results certified Tuesday, leaving him out of the November election.
Mejia easily won the seven-candidate primary for commissioner in District 1, with Republican C Davis coming in second.
Under state law, county commission candidates must be registered voters, and to register to vote, people must pledge that they are citizens.
Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall said Mejia has provided documentation showing that she is a naturalized citizen and holds a U.S. passport. Mejia said she emigrated to the U.S. with her family from Honduras in the early 2000s.
Jon Pettit, a frequent, active participant in local government affairs, is the one accusing Mejia of not being a U.S. citizen and ineligible to be elected based on what he called a "comprehensive report ... as to her background and to determine if she meets qualifications to run for the office of County Commissioner" that he commissioned from Lacey-based Cicero Intel.
In a recent letter to the Thurston County Canvassing Board, Pettit questioned the validity of Mejia's Social Security number and asserted she is "probably an illegal alien."
"I fear she may not want to withdraw, but the potential outcome of not withdrawing could possibly place her into incarceration or even deportation," he wrote.
Hall thinks the accusation also is meant to make people think that non-citizens are registering to vote, as a way of calling election results into question.
"They're trying to expand this myth that non-citizens register to vote, and there is no evidence of that, because the penalties when you do that are harsh," she said. "You can be deported for that."
In an interview with The Olympian Tuesday, Mejia called Pettit's allegations "shameful" and said she has since received messages from individuals that contain personal information such as her full Social Security number. She's filing an informational report with Olympia Police Department about the breach, she said, for fear of identity theft.
Victor Minjares, chair of the Thurston County Democrats, called the allegation "despicable" in a phone interview with The Olympian Wednesday.
"False accusations are a part of any campaign," Minjares said. "This accusation in particular, though, is racist to the core. It's birtherism."
Minjares is among several Democratic leaders who are strongly denouncing Pettit's actions. The Washington State Democratic Party held a virtual press conference Thursday to condemn the allegations. Mejia spoke alongside party figures such as state Rep. Laurie Dolan and local Congressman and current candidate for Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck.
Messages of support for Mejia poured into the Facebook chat from party members and organizations.
"Well, birtherism has arrived in Washington state and Thurston County," Rep. Heck said. "And, really, now, the only question is: How far is this going to go?"
Heck called the move "the ugliest form of political tactic or behavior or attitude or value imaginable."
"This cynical political attack is disheartening, but also invigorating, as it assures me that my perspective, that as a first-generation U.S. citizen, is needed in county government," Mejia said as part of her statement.
Thurston County Assessor Steven Drew, a Democrat, told The Olympian he regularly agrees with issues Pettit brings to the county commission, but this time is "so disappointed."
"This is an obviously false smear," Drew said. "It's cynical, it's racist. It's a Trump-like strategy, and it just has no place in this Washington."
In a phone interview with The Olympian, state Democratic Party Chair Tina Podlodowski said the party has been working on retaining legal counsel and connecting Mejia with attorneys who are experts on topics such as campaign law and identity theft and plans to investigate whether this was a coordinated effort.
Auditor Hall said when she read Pettit's letter, she expected a challenge to Mejia's voter registration, much like the challenge filed in 2017 alleging then-candidate for Olympia City Council Lisa Parshley wasn't legally registered to vote at an Olympia address. The Canvassing Board found in that case that Parshley was legally registered.
In anticipation, Hall said she did her due diligence and confirmed there was no voter fraud so she could move on and not be delayed in mailing ballots.
"I didn't doubt it from the beginning, but I like to get things done," she said.
Pettit has said he plans to take action in court, following a process laid out in a 2017 article from Municipal Research and Services Center, a nonprofit that provides legal and policy guidance to local governments.
Pettit told The Olympian this was from his own "particular position" as one of the most active citizens in local government. He said it's nothing personal, and he'd drop the issue if he saw her certificate of naturalization -- a demand local Party Chair Minjares said is a hallmark of birtherism.
"If she is an illegal immigrant, as such, the ramifications could be horrendous for her if we go through this action," Pettit said. "I'm concerned for her, but I'm not going to let her take office if she's not a citizen."
At Thursday's press conference, state Party Chair Podlodowski called on local and state Republicans to "condemn these lies" and to urge Mejia's general election opponent C Davis to do the same.
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