I know the title to this blog is long but this story is crazy.Shanee Colston, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCHRA) Continuum of Care (CoC) co-chair, refuses to resign after she defended the nomination of a homeless pedophile to the board.Colston even went off on one member who claimed she had a bad experience with him:
Fellow board member Kristina Sawyckyj, who shared in a 2016 interview that she was a Navy veteran and a survivor of a rape that occurred while serving, objected to Crowfoot’s nomination and revealed that she had a “bad experience” with him specifically in the past.
We have a code of ethics on this board and Thomas Whitaker-Raven Crowfoot is a sex offender… repeat sex offender… and I have had bad experience with him,” Sawyckyj can be heard saying in the meeting.
Almost immediately, Colston exploded and began defending Crowfoot while lambasting Sawyckyj.
We can’t disclose people’s personal business here… right? Although that’s public disclosure, we have no right to out anybody in this space,” Colston raised her voice to say. “That’s just not OK, at all. I won’t stand for that as a co-chair. We’re not here to discover people’s backgrounds.And I’m actually glad that is the case that he’s here because sex offenders are another population that is most vulnerable that don’t have housing,” Colston added, “People do change.”
Um, what?! Another board member told Sawyckyj to take her accusations against Whitacker to the police.
Colston told Sawyckyj she’d mute her over her accusations.
It sounds like Whitacker shouldn’t even be out of jail. But Colston doesn’t care because equity is more important:
I don’t care if they’re a sex offender. I don’t care if they’re black. I don’t care if they’re indigenous. I don’t care if they’re a criminal. I don’t care if they’re coming out of jail or prison,” Colston said before again repeating that “everyone deserves housing.”When we talk about a Code of Ethics at the CoC Board, we will be respectful of all people,” Colston added.
KCRHA Chief Program Officer Peter Lynn asked Colston to resign from the board:
KCRHA shares the concerns of our community about the nomination of a registered sex offender for the Continuum of Care Board, and does not support that nomination,” the spokesperson told TND.We agree that the behavior by the current Board Co-Chair in shouting down the board member who identified that the nominee is a registered sex offender was unacceptable, and we immediately asked the Co-Chair to resign,” the spokesperson continued. “The KCRHA is continuing actions to ensure safety for the board, staff, and members of the public.”
Colston refused to resign.
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