Avista has become the latest donor to Rep. Matt Shea’s (R-Spokane Valley) campaign to ask for its money back. This is in response to a document named “Biblical Basis for War,” released by Shea.
Avista issued a statement from President Dennis Vermillion that said the company expects recipients of its contributions to honor values that align with its values.
“Representative Matt Shea’s personal actions and beliefs are ones which we cannot — and do not — condone and we cannot be associated with them. We join others in asking Representative Shea to return the contributions we’ve made to him this election cycle.”
That contribution totaled $2,000.
Avista joins the Washington Association of Realtors, the Northwest Credit Union Association and AT&T in asking Shea to return contributions. Other donors, including the Washington Health Care Association and BNSF have released statements, saying they are monitoring the situation, but not asking for money to be refunded.
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich says he has turned the document over to the FBI. He says it describes methods for how Shea and others intend to seize control by force in case of governmental collapse or civil war. Shea’s Democratic challenger in next week’s election, Ted Cummings, has been very vocal in his criticism of Shea.
The Republican lawmaker says the document constitutes only notes taken from a religious sermon about wars in the Bible’s Old Testament and that its importance has been blown out of proportion by reporters and others.