‘Something stinks really bad in Port Townsend,’ columnist claims after mayor’s sexual tweets

What started as a swimming pool locker room clash between an 80-year-old Port Townsend woman and a self-identified transgender YMCA worker in July has now expanded into revelations involving the Olympic Peninsula town’s mayor.

Nearly four weeks after octogenarian Julie Jaman was banned from swimming at the town’s Mountain View Pool over the early July incident, Port Townsend Mayor David J. Faber is now under attack by some members of his small town of 10,000 residents – and at least one columnist/podcaster.

His opponents are upset about Faber’s Twitter posts and responses that appear to denigrate women and girls – and for his role in a town park protest where he allegedly praised male activists who called females TERFs – an acronym for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists, considered by some to be a misogynistic slur.

Faber’s Twitter posts have come under scrutiny after he issued a proclamation of support in favor of the 18-year-old transgender worker.

What an incredible night. The Port Townsend community showed up in huge and beautiful fashion to say that hate has no place here. Trans and cis-allies alike spoke love & support, and the only TERF speaker was from out of town. Tonight reminded me why Port Townsend is home. ❤️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

— David J. Faber has cold feet 🧦 (@DavidJFaber) August 16, 2022

A feminist activist who helped establish a domestic violence shelter for women, Jaman was showering naked in the YMCA-operated locker room when she saw a person with a deep male voice and male genitalia looking at little girls undressing. When she yelled at the staffer, pool officials banned her from the pool for discrimination.

Dori: Port Townsend Woman, 80, banned from pool after dispute with biological male in women’s shower

Podcaster and columnist Mandy Stadtmiller, who has written for the New York Post, the New York Magazine, and the Washington Post, called Faber’s social media history “an emerging scandal” when she was on Wednesday’s Dori Monson Show.

A native of his 10,000-resident community, Faber has tweeted openly, “as the mayor, I am legally required to call myself a pervert and a deviant,” Stadtmiller told Dori.

In her Substack podcast titled, Rabbitholed,  the writer cites nearly a half dozen other posts by Faber, including tweets “in support of incel pickup lines which include things like ‘have sex with me or I’ll kill myself.’”

An incel is part of an online community of young men who consider themselves unable to attract women and often are connected with views that are hostile to women.

Equally troubling, said Stadtmiller, was his tweet that “Pee-wee Herman did nothing wrong” – in reference to the 1991 arrest for public masturbation by comedian Paul Reubens, who played the fictional comic character on children’s TV shows and movies for older audiences.

“I’m a comedian, and I’m not for policing comedy or free speech, but when the agenda you’re pushing is one that really hurts women and centers male sexual fetishes, there’s a problem,” Stadtmiller continued.

In yet another case, Stadtmiller cited to Dori’s listeners, Mayor Faber responded to a Twitter question with: “I basically have Vaush politics.”

Vaush is an American YouTuber and Twitch streamer known for debating and discussing politics online, including his advocacy for legalizing child pornography.

In some of the mayor’s other posts – including Faber’s response to a tweet about human-to-dog sex – Stadtmiller compares his behavior to “a little high school troll and it’s really disturbing.”

Besides the posts, the Dori Monson Show received emails from Olympic Peninsula-area listeners upset by Faber’s appearance at the Port Townsend park protest. Some of the signs carried by men at the park where Faber appeared last week read “Die Nazi TERFs,” according to one email the Dori Monson Show and other media outlets received. The crowd, the email continued, was described by Mr. Faber as the Port Townsend “community show[ing] up in huge and beautiful fashion.”

“How in the (expletive) did this guy ever get in charge of a city – let alone setting the path for safeguarding child and women’s rights?” Stadtmiller questioned. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he was recalled. He’s a menace.”

Faber was elected to the Port Townsend City Council in 2015 and re-elected in 2019. In late 2021, his fellow city council members voted him mayor.

That, says Stadtmiller, shows that “something stinks really, really bad in Port Townsend.”

Listen to Dori Monson weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.