OAK HARBOR: Former council member takes to social media after investigation finds he harassed mayor

Luisa Loi reports from Oak Harbor for the Whidbey News-Times. Read the whole story.

What started off as an unusually intense rivalry between two mayoral candidates degenerated into a battle of allegations and Facebook posts fought from opposite sides of the country.

A third-party investigation into a complaint Oak Harbor Mayor Ronnie Wright made against Shane Hoffmire found the former council member violated the City’s Code of Conduct by engaging in harassing behavior and creating an environment in which social media users felt encouraged to attack the mayor based on his perceived sexual orientation.

As noted by the attorney who conducted the investigation, Wright is gay and, therefore, part of a protected class.

Friday, Hoffmire sent a pre-litigation letter to the city, demanding an apology and for the council’s resolution on the investigation and a press release to be repealed within 30 days.

They Said It

In a nutshell, lawyer Jennifer Bucher concluded that Hoffmire is not responsible for comments made by others in settings that did not directly involve him. However, she found him responsible for the comments he made as well as the comments made by others… despite their offensive tone or purported falseness. By not responding, correcting or deleting offensive or untrue comments made by others on his Facebook profile, Hoffmire allegedly didn’t “model appropriate conduct” or help maintain a workplace free from discrimination and harassment, with detrimental effects to the mayor as well as city staff, hence violating the code.

While engaging in inappropriate community gossip about the mayor’s sexuality and the reason he no longer works at the IRS, or “masking the truth” about some of the staffing decisions made by the mayor, Hoffmire’s comments made in person and online did not explicitly violate the code as they do not meet the definition of “harassing conduct” or target the mayor “because of any protected status he has,” Bucher wrote.

Still, she did not believe Hoffmire when he denied the allegations — some of which were confirmed by witnesses — and found him to generally have a “callous disregard for the truth.” On the other hand, while acknowledging that some of the conduct Wright complained about does constitute harassment, she noted the mayor should be less sensitive to comments that are critical of his performance as mayor and not based on his sexual orientation.

Bucher concluded Hoffmire’s conduct was not motivated by bias against Wright’s sexual orientation but by resentment for losing the mayoral race.

“There have been so many things that have been said about my sexuality or about me as a human being, and those aren’t anyone’s business but mine,” [Wright] told the News-Times.

Hoffmire argues the claims against him are misleading or false and are part of the mayor’s plan to publicly embarrass him. While speaking with the investigator, Wright alleged that Hoffmire inquired about his sexuality while talking with Councilmember Eric Marshall. According to Hoffmire’s version of the facts, he asked about Wright’s sexuality when he learned from Marshall that a constituent was removed from City Hall for calling the mayor a homophobic slur. Knowing Wright was married to a woman, Hoffmire asked if he actually was gay, and if he was, he said he’d be supportive.

Marshall, on the other hand, told the News-Times that Hoffmire said various elected officials at the local and state level asked if the mayor was gay. When Hoffmire asked him, Marshall said he did not know as it wasn’t his business.

Marshall, who has been open about his concerns on Hoffmire’s use of social media, also said another claim against Hoffmire was true, alleging that the former council member told him that he could say whatever he wanted about the mayor.

“We were talking about accusations, and he said, ‘Yeah, I could go around saying that he’s killing babies and there’s nothing that can be done about it, because he’s an elected official,’” Marshall said.

Wright allegedly promised he would publicly “embarrass” and “ruin” the council member, allegations that Wright denied.

Wright claimed the conversation lasted less than five minutes and was about Hoffmire’s behavior in public and behind closed doors, like telling the mayor he believed he had his reasons to terminate Fire Chief Ray Merrill while questioning the decision in public — an issue he brought up during the investigation.

“I firmly believe that [Fire Chief] Ray Merrill and [City Administrator] Blaine Oborne were fired because Ronnie Wright perceived that they had a relationship with me,” Hoffmire said.

Hoffmire, Wright said, even told him he was sure he made the right decision when firing Merrill, who was let go following an extensive — and still not made public — HR report in a process that was at the discretion of the mayor, the city administrator and the director of human resources, as with any staff position.

Hoffmire said his words were twisted. With Merrill being 70, there were some generational differences with the youngest firefighters, he said, so he expected there would be a transition in the next few years.

“But actually firing a community hero like that is the worst decision a mayor could have made,” he said. “If there was a need for change, I will always believe that there were other off-ramps.”

The mayor also alleged Hoffmire spread a false rumor in which Wright embezzled money and lost his job at the IRS for sleeping with a woman, which Hoffmire denied.

Richard MacQuarrie, who was a supporter of Hoffmire’s mayoral campaign, told the News-Times he did not know if the rumors were spread by Hoffmire, but he personally took accountability for spreading false IRS rumors he had heard.

“We did not do our due diligence to verify the info, because upon investigating, it just didn’t check out. And I felt really bad,” he said.

Hoffmire has not been holding back from sharing his side of the story on Facebook with anecdotes and seemingly compromising screenshots in which the mayor seems to express in texts to Hoffmire a disliking for Councilmember Bryan Stucky. In another screenshot, in which Wright alleges being approached aggressively by former Councilmember Dan Evans, the mayor wrote “if only he knew that I have only just begun.” Hoffmire alleged the mayor also used the same phrase when talking about him, Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson and Councilmembers Jim Woessner and Stucky.

In an interview, Wright said he hasn’t texted Hoffmire since he became mayor and could not recall the conversation, but assured he does not have an issue with Johnson, Woessner or Stucky. Stucky also noted the comments were made before Wright took office, and that they don’t change his commitment to collaborate with city leadership and focus disagreements on policy and business.

“There are people that I like more than other people, but I have to work with all of them in my capacity as the mayor of Oak Harbor, and I do that every day,” Wright said.

Wright, who is ready to move on and continue focusing on addressing the city’s priorities, said he has not been looking at posts and comments made by Hoffmire and other constituents. Both he and [Mayor Pro Tempore Tara] Hizon worry that, on top of taking a lot of staff time and putting the city at risk of costly litigation, the online drama and following news coverage would cause legislators to lose trust in Oak Harbor and be less inclined to award grants.

Hoffmire said the mayor’s alleged retaliatory campaign was a catalyst in his decision to resign in November 2024 and move to Illinois with his family. For now, he said, the family’s plan is to stay in Illinois until his stepson is out of high school, with a chance of returning to Oak Harbor eventually. As far as running for local office again, that would happen after Lejend turns 18.

While many have commented in support of his cause, some Facebook friends of Hoffmire have told him to move on. This sentiment is also shared by Hizon, Marshall and Councilmember Barbara Armes, who believe the city is being distracted from actual priorities.

Hizon described staff members brought to tears from all the backlash the city has been receiving, while Armes is fed up with community members writing negative comments under the city’s posts.

Stucky said he understands that Hoffmire might feel hurt and frustrated, but also believes that continually posting about the situation on social media is not the best approach, and that regardless of who is right or wrong, the city needs to move forward.

McQuarrie, too, wishes for a turn of page. Looking at Wright and Hoffmire, he sees two good men who are still struggling with a “bitter, ugly” campaign.