Rep. Matt Manweller plans to resign, eventually

Washington State Representative Matt Manweller will resign if re-elected, after yet another allegation emerged and Republican leadership asked him to step down. The lawmaker says he will complete his current current term, but urges voters to elect him in November in order to secure a Republican in the position.

RELATED: CWU report details inappropriate behavior with students

Manweller represents the state’s 13th district, which includes Lincoln, Grant, and Kittitas Counties, and the community of Ellensburg. He has been running for re-election, but recently his campaign website has been more dedicated to fending off allegations of inappropriate behavior than addressing any issues. It features video rebuttals and witness testimony in his favor.

In a statement on his Facebook page Monday evening:

Last week, media stories broke about an alleged relationship I had 22 years ago. As the Kavanaugh hearings have shown, there is no limit on how far back in time one can go to dig up such allegations. Since then, many constituents have reached out to me to offer their advice and support.

At this point we are only three weeks away from ballots going to the voters. My name will appear on those ballots regardless of what I decide to do with respect to my campaign and service to the district. I also believe it is important that the 68% of voters who identify as Republicans have someone to vote for.

That being said, today I am announcing that I will serve out the remainder of my term but it is not my intent to serve another term. If I am reelected, I plan to resign before the session begins or whatever the law requires. For the Republican Party, however, it is important that I am re-elected because the law would require that my seat be filled with another Republican.

The last year has been incredibly difficult for my family. Politics can be a very nasty endeavor which we have come to learn that first hand. Moving forward, I am primarily focused on creating a safe and healthy environment for my family, in particular, my wife and two children.

It has been an honor to serve the 13th District for the past six years.

In response to a story published last week by NW News Network, House Republican Leader J.T. Wilcox asked Manweller to step down from his position. Republican officials previously removed him from leadership roles while he was under investigation over the past year.

“I am deeply saddened and disappointed by the story shared in the well-documented piece from the NW News Network,” Wilcox told the Yakima Herald. “What Matt did was wrong.”

The latest allegation details a relationship between Manweller and one of his former students in the 1990s. She met Manweller when she was a freshman at an Idaho high school where he taught. When she was 17 and graduated, the two reportedly began a sexual relationship. They hid it from her friends and family. Manweller was 10 years older than the teen at the time, which would have constituted statutory rape under Idaho law.

Matt Manweller allegations

Until recently, Manweller was a professor at Central Washington University. He was placed on paid leave in December 2017 as the college conducted an investigation into alleged inappropriate behavior with students. It was the third such investigation into the professor. Previous investigations yielded little results.

The 2018 investigation led to an 85-page report released in August. It alleges a pattern of inappropriate behavior with female students, many who describe “creepy” interactions with the teacher. Manweller denies the allegations and has said that the “things that are true are not inappropriate, and things are inappropriate are not true.” The report features 15 different women — mostly students — reporting a range of incidents from unwelcome comments and physical touch, to implied sexual quid pro quo.

Manweller was fired from the university shortly after the report was finished. He has argued that the school used a liberal Seattle lawyer to target him for political reasons and he is now suing the university. He has called the allegations “manufactured” and said they are part of a “Weintstein witch-hunt era.”

“I am going to stand up to these people and I am going to fight until my last, dying day,” Manweller told The Dori Monson Show in August.

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