‘We pay his salary’: Jake and Spike clash over leaked audio of Ferguson ripping Microsoft

A leaked recording of Washington Governor Bob Ferguson’s remarks at an invitation-only business conference has raised questions about whether his speech should be considered private.

In the recording, Ferguson ripped into Microsoft for helping fund a political action committee whose TV ad said “Olympia is broken,” according to GeekWire. The audio came from the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s Regional Leadership Conference at Suncadia Resort.

KIRO host Jake Skorheim argued that voters have a right to know what the governor says. KIRO host Spike O’Neill countered that remarks at an invitation-only event came with an expectation of privacy.

“Because he works for us, we pay his salary, I think we’re entitled to know the kinds of things that he says in public,” Jake said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “This is not in private. This is at a public thing with lots of people.”

“Again, I disagree with your characterization as a public event,” Spike said.

Ferguson takes aim at Microsoft

The ad comes from Washington Needs to Compete, a PAC that has raised about $13.8 million, including more than $5 million from Microsoft, according to GeekWire. It aired during Seahawks games.

In the recording, Ferguson zeroed in on a line near the start of the ad: In Washington, “it used to be all you needed was an idea, a dream and the guts to chase it.”

“What’s up with that?” Ferguson asked the crowd of business and government leaders, according to GeekWire. “First, does anyone else in this room believe that? I sure as hell don’t.”

Ferguson also told the room that he plans “on being governor for a long time” and that he works with all of them, “Microsoft included,” according to GeekWire.

Remarks at the conference are supposed to be off the record, according to GeekWire. The Washington Observer, an independent newsletter on state politics, published the audio after getting it from an unnamed source.

Conference setting raises questions about privacy

Spike described the conference as a gathering to discuss the state and its business climate.

“You’re having a conference that is not open to the public. It’s not open to the media,” Spike said.

Jake acknowledged the point.

“Well, it’s an invite-only,” Jake said.

But he didn’t think that made the event private. In his view, certain members of the public were invited, and a governor at a microphone is on the record.

“It’s not off the record when you’re standing behind a microphone, and you’re giving a speech to lots and lots of people at a conference,” Jake said. “I think that’s on the record, don’t you?”

Spike believes that an attendee who recorded the speech and shared it against the conference’s guidelines leaked it. Jake pointed out that neither host had read the conference’s rules.

“I mean, your assessment that you’re not allowed to record or not spread anything in here, I think, is a kind of a jump, to be honest,” Jake said.

Can a governor expect privacy at a conference?

Jake estimated that more than 100 people were in the room. With cellphones everywhere, he argued, no one giving a speech to a crowd that size could expect it to stay private.

“Would you assume that what you’re saying is safe and not going to matriculate out to the rest of the wider community in Washington?” Jake said.

“I think it’s a fair ask of the attendees,” Spike said. “I think it’s naive to think it in this day and age, something wouldn’t be shared.”

Public office and access remain the dividing line

Jake’s argument centered on Ferguson’s responsibilities as an elected official rather than the conference organizers’ expectations.

“Don’t you feel entitled as a voter in Washington to know what the governor is saying that directs the state of Washington?” Jake said.

Spike questioned whether that principle should apply to every government conversation.

“Then every meeting should be public to everybody in the state,” Spike said.

Jake was fine with that. Spike wasn’t.

“Well, it depends on what it is. It really does,” Spike said.

Jake didn’t budge.

“If he wants a private job, he should go get a private job,” Jake said.

By the end of the segment, the hosts realized they had never gotten to what Ferguson actually said.

“We never even got to what he was talking about. This was more fun,” Spike said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3