Eatonville School Board Director Matt Marshall jumps in house race against incumbent J.T. Wilcox

New Eatonville School District Board director, Matt Marshall, is running against fellow Republican, Washington State Representative J.T. Wilcox, minority house leader.

If elected, Marshall will begin serving as Washington State’s second legislative district’s representative, second position, beginning 2021.

Marshall’s run is fueled by Wilcox’s decade in office, failure to properly represent his constituents and actions against fellow Republican, State Representative Matt Shea, fourth district.

“I’ve been less than impressed for a couple of years with (Wilcox),” Marshall said in an interview with The Dispatch. “This guy doesn’t represent what I believe most of the conservatives in the area believe and he’s been here for a decade. The time’s just right.”

Wilcox was one of three conservatives to vote yea on making Washington a sanctuary state.

“(Wilcox) has a vote… for the sanctuary state, and some immigration rights,” Marshall said. “Which is not in step with the constituents.”

Wilcox’s ill treatment of Shea after being accused has inspired Marshall to run.

Private investigative firm, Rampart, recently concluded Shea guilty of domestic terrorism. Rampart investigated Shea’s involvement with the Bundy and National Wildlife Refuge conflicts and an incident involving a government attempt to confiscate a veteran’s weapons.

Marshall believes the investigation was a sham and illegal.

“(Wilcox) went along with the democrats who wanted to illegally launch the Rampart report,” Marshall said. “They paid over $100,000.00 for the report but the state legislature never actually passed a resolution for it to be spent."

Shea has suffered no legal charges yet.

“All (Shea’s) been doing is defending people and using his position as state representative to try and… prevent tyrannical acts against them,” Marshall said.

The lack of charges should afford acquittal according to Marshall.

“All this evidence is up there,” Marshall said. “The FBI has looked at everything and at no point did they consider charging him with anything because he didn’t do anything illegal. He was very open about it on social media [and] has not hidden any of his actions.”

Criticism befell Shea for refusing to discuss the case with Rampart. Wilcox’s statement on the Washington state Republican website stated, “Representative Shea was given an opportunity to communicate with investigators and chose not to.”

Marshall says Shea didn’t sit down with investigators because he believed the case was one-sided.

“He refused to talk to them because he didn’t feel like it was going to be a fair report,” Marshall said. “And it’s not. It’s clearly a hit piece.”

Shea’s been stripped of all legislative aides, titles, his office moved to the basement and he’s suspended from the Republican Caucus. 

“Last Saturday when I was at the central committee meeting for the Republican Party and our state committeeman was giving a report,” Marshall said.  “Basically, Jenkins, the state majority leader, had come to an agreement and (Wilcox) suspended Shea from the caucus and (the Democrats) wouldn’t push to take action to expel (Shea), allowing Republicans to save face!”

Outside his outrage at Wilcox’s policies and politics Marshall gave a few more reasons why Wilcox needs to leave.

“If nothing else, he’s completely removed from the pools of the actual population. Rural Pierce county… the military population,” Marshall said. “Being a person who hasn’t served and has inherited an incredibly wealthy business… It’s very hard for a person who’s been given all those things to truly have a full understanding of the population and what the voters really care about and what the grassroots really want to see happen.”

Marshall called Wilcox the epitome of the political class that we shouldn’t have at all. Marshall has already introduced an initiative to the state legislature limiting state terms.

“People run on term limits,” Marshall said. “I wanted to take it a step further so I introduced an initiative before I even get elected.

Marshall’s campaign is focused on homelessness, taxes, property rights, transportation and education. Marshall believes Washington state has funds to resolve these issues but transparency is necessary. Taxes from lottery and marijuana sales were supposed to be designated towards education, but both are being entered into the general fund.

Marshall wants more mental health aid from non-profits, but admits the state plays a role. He doesn’t want drug offenders imprisoned, but advocates other options than the street near children.

Additional roads are needed for rural areas and is something he’d advocate for.

And, the state needs to supply schools with the money promised.

Taxes aren’t a problem for Marshall, but proper representation, transparency and accountability are being demanded.

Marshall has always been driven to public service. His father was a pastor, a volunteer chaplain for the sheriff’s department and a part-time rancher.

“I saw him as a leader helping the community,” Marshall said. “I was inspired by watching him make changes for the better.”

At 18-years-old Marshall was accepted into a central Oregon residential fire-fighting program.

“So, becoming an EMT/firefighter at 18 years old, I really started my service then,” Marshall said.

After becoming nationally licensed to do EMT/Firefighting work Marshall decided he liked medicine more and began pre-med. He quickly determined joining the military would assist schooling and he’d be able to serve something bigger than himself.

Marshall participated in the Army Physician’s Assistant Program, later commissioned as a medical officer with the 82^nd airborne division. He left the military in 2016 after 12 years due to the political climate and uncertainty with the presidential election.

“We all thought Hillary was going to be elected,” Marshall said. “I had no confidence that she would improve the military.”

Marshall remains in medicine today.

Marshall was raised in Washington his entire life, living throughout, but his heart was set on Eatonville. He lives close now on 20 acres of unincorporated land.

Marshall is on the board of the Eatonville School District and is the Leader of the 3% of Washington Facebook group.

He plans to finish his term at Eatonville if he’s elected to the state house, but gave a nod to his wife, Jessica Marshall, to potentially running for the board next.

$6,000.00 has been raised by his campaign and Marshall plans to have a city hall in Eatonville on Feb. 28. The location will be updated on his website where you can learn more and contact him directly at https://www.marshall4wa.com/.