Yakima mayor says she was 'unaware of all the nuances of the law' when she called police to report petitioners
Audio: Washington mayor calls 911 on ‘far right’ activists at Walmart
A mayor in Washington is under fire after she called 911 to report a group of "far right-wing" signature gatherers at a Walmart.
A Washington mayor said she's being harassed after audio from her 911 call to report a group of "far right-wing" petition signature gatherers at Walmart surfaced online.
"There’s some far right-wing petitioners at Walmart and they don’t—they’re not leaving," Yakima Mayor Janice Deccio can be heard saying in a 911 call from Sept. 3. "Walmart has asked them repeatedly to do so, and the police have not taken them off the premises."
Yakima Mayor Janice Deccio says she misunderstood the law surrounding signature gathering on private property when she called 911 to report petitioners at a local Walmart. (Courtesy City of Yakima)
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Activists were gathering signatures on six Washington ballot initiatives relating to taxes, parental rights and police pursuits over the Labor Day weekend. The initiatives are funded by a group called Let’s Go Washington, which did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
A recording of Deccio's 911 call was first shared on YouTube by conservative commentator Glen Morgan last week.
In the call, the dispatcher and a supervisor can be heard telling Deccio that the petitioners have a right to gather signatures on private property under state law and that Walmart would need to obtain a court order to stop them.
LISTEN: MAYOR CALLS 911 TO REPORT ‘FAR RIGHT’ SIGNATURE GATHERERS:
"Gathering signatures for ballot measure petitions is a constitutionally guaranteed practice in the State of Washington," according to the Washington Secretary of State's office, which acknowledges the law does not clearly spell out to what extent businesses or other private property owners can exclude petitioners.
Deccio is expected to address the issue at Tuesday night's Yakima City Council meeting and provided Fox News with a copy of her statement. In it, she says a constituent told her "an extreme right-wing group was petitioning at Walmart and creating problems for shoppers."
"I don’t care, nor even know what they were petitioning about, just that he told me they were harassing shoppers and that the manager had called the police numerous times during the week after she had asked the petitioners to move from the entrance of the store," Deccio wrote.
Walmart declined to answer questions about the incident or its policies on signature gathering efforts. Yakima police confirmed the 911 call but did not answer further questions about it in time for publication.
"I admit I was unaware of all the nuances of the law at that time, though, and, in hindsight, I could have waited to hear from the chief," Deccio wrote in her statement. "No one told the group they couldn’t petition, and it was certainly not my intention to stop them."
Since the initial incident, Deccio said "numerous credible local people" have told her the petitioner’s behavior was aggressive, even threatening.
Activists were gathering signatures for initiative petitions over Labor Day weekend at a Walmart in Yakima, Washington. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
Deccio said she has received hundreds of harassing texts, emails and voicemails since the 911 call was released without redacting her phone number.
"I was just wondering how a beautiful face could be such a liberal c--- to like, stop democracy," a man can be heard saying in one voicemail Deccio shared with Fox News.
Deccio said people are also harassing her husband, "who is a disabled veteran with PTSD," and flooding her fellow counselors with emails, the bulk of which are coming from outside of Yakima, a city of fewer than 100,000 residents.
Yakima County lies in central Washington and has not voted for a Democratic president in at least four decades.
Yakima is a city of fewer than 100,000 residents located in central Washington. While Washington state has long been a Democratic stronghold, Yakima County and other rural areas still tend to vote Republican. (iStock)
The initiatives sponsored by Let's Go Washington include:
- I-2113, which would roll back some restrictions on when police officers can engage in vehicular pursuits;
- I-2117, to prohibit state agencies from imposing any type of carbon tax credit trading;
- I-2124, which would allow employees to opt out of the state's long-term care insurance program;
- I-2109, to repeal the state's capital gains tax;
- I-2111, which would prohibit the state and local jurisdictions from imposing income taxes; and
- I-2081, which would allow parents of public school students to review instructional materials and student records upon request.
Deccio became a city council member last year and was nominated to serve as mayor by her fellow councilors, according to the Yakima Herald-Republic. The mayor and council positions are nonpartisan.
Ramiro Vargas contributed to the accompanying video.
Hannah Ray Lambert is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals.
