City of Spokane approves another $100,000 in legal fees to fight Shea lawsuit

The city of Spokane has committed another $100,000 to fighting a federal lawsuit brought by pastor and former state lawmaker Matt Shea, bringing total costs with a Seattle-based law firm to $150,000.

The Spokane City Council voted 5-1 to approve the added funding during their Monday meeting. Councilman Jonathan Bingle, who was the sole “no” vote, noted he had been censured by the council in 2021 for refusing to wear a mask and argued that colleagues named in the lawsuit should not be indemnified by the city.

Shea filed a $24 million tort claim against the city in October, claiming the City Council violated his civil rights when the legislative body formally condemned former Mayor Nadine Woodward for appearing alongside him at a 2023 event.

As wildfires fires smoldered in Medical Lake and Elk in August 2023, Woodward joined Shea on stage at the Podium during a stop on the Kingdom to the Capitol tour, a religious and political series organized by self-described Christian nationalist Sean Feucht’s organization Let Us Worship. Shortly before introducing Woodward to the stage, Shea compared same-sex marriage and transgender rights to the fires that had devastated the nearby communities.

Woodward publicly denounced Shea soon after, calling him a threat to democracy and distancing herself from his political views. She maintained that she had not known that Shea would be present at the event and believed its purpose was to pray for the victims of the Oregon Road and Gray fires.

Shea has disputed this version of events.

Soon after, the City Council voted to denounce Woodward‘s appearance alongside “alleged domestic terrorist” Matt Shea, noting his penning of a controversial manifesto titled “Biblical Basis for War,” and his involvement in an armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge in 2016 which Shea’s own caucus in the Legislature condemned as “an act of domestic terrorism against the United States.” He was stripped of leadership roles in the House and leaders in both parties called on him to resign; in 2020, he announced he would not run for re-election.

Shea has argued the resolution denouncing Woodward, as well as individual comments by council members, paint Shea as a domestic terrorist despite there never being a criminal trial on those charges.

“Pastor Shea has never been charged with, much less convicted of, any crime associated with domestic terrorism, political violence, or taking up arms against the United States,” the claim stated.

Shea, an attorney, has claimed he was exonerated last October when the Washington State Bar Association dismissed a grievance filed against him, citing “constitutional scrutiny” and the lack of a criminal conviction.

“Our country cannot long endure civic debate being replaced with political opponents falsely implying those they disagree with are criminals, terrorists or worse,” Shea wrote.

In January, after the city refused to settle Shea’s claim for damages, he filed a federal lawsuit. The city’s legal counsel is attempting to have the case dismissed, which Shea’s attorneys are fighting.