In April, The Washington State GOP held their State Convention in Spokane where over 1,800 delegates from across 39 counties convened to vote on early endorsements for candidates running for State positions – none more anticipated than the race for governor. At that meeting, Semi Bird received 72% of the vote against Dave Reichert. Since then, we have seen a coordinated effort to discredit Semi’s character and call into question his credibility and viability to be our State’s governor. These tactics are not unfamiliar in politics, especially for candidates at this level. It’s an unfortunate reality that citizens are faced with when trying to make a truly informed decision on who to vote for.
Bird’s campaign has addressed the allegations of stolen valor and has given proper context to the documents that are now in the open for the public to see. The State Party’s Chairman Jim Walsh addressed these allegations in a press release as well. Rather than entertain the narrative that has been made against Semi, I want to bring up the most important points to realize in all of this.
- This is dirty politics 101. Nothing more, nothing less.
- These documents were never meant to be made public and were unveiled with the intended purpose to bring confusion and to build distrust in Semi Bird.
- The process he went through has seen it’s finality. This is not an open case. This is not something that he is on trial for. The court of public opinion with limited information and context should not have been weighed in on this issue at all.
- Semi went on to receive more medals and earn a higher status until he retired and was honorably discharged from his time serving.
If the allegations that are being framed on Semi held any serious merit, he would’ve lost credentials or would have possibly been faced with being dishonorably discharged but instead, he was given a minor reprimand for an issue, continued to serve with valor, earned one of the highest security clearances allowed and retired from his military service with an honorable discharge.
We felt that it was necessary to bring attention to this issue but any further unethical and deceiving tactics to discredit our endorsed candidate for governor will not be given any more attention than it deserves.
Matthew Bumala
Chair CCRP