3 Questions with Wil Fuentes- Guest Senator Adrian Cortes

Brought to you by the 18th Legislative District with your host Wil Fuentes and our special guest WA State Senator Adrian Cortes from the 18th Legislative District who talks about his home town and the changes there indicating a rapid transition to white nationalism what the public needs to be aware of.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Three Questions, sponsored by the 18th Legislative District, Washington State Democrats. I'm your host, Will Fuentes. My guest today is Washington State Senator and former City of Battleground Mayor and City Council Member Adrian Cortez. He's here to talk about what's happening in Battleground. Let's run on a little bit more. Senator Adrian Cortez, welcome back to Three Questions. It's always a pleasure to have you.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Well, thank you for having me, and I want to congratulate you on your success with this program. I'm hearing great things in your growing influence statewide. And so, congratulations for that.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

That's good. Good to hear that we're hearing some uh some positive reviews uh about the show. Uh, and we we certainly want to uh make sure that we you know we spotlight the most important people that are making changes uh here in the community. Um so we're here to talk about Battleground uh and some of the things that are happening. Why don't we get to that very first question? Sure. Question number one. You've served on the Battleground City Council and later as a mayor, so you've had front row seed uh to the city's evolution. Uh looking at Battleground today, what has changed politically and civically over the past several years?

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Right? Yes, so I served for three terms uh on the Battleground City Council, including one term as mayor. But going back even past that, you know, I uh grew up in Battleground from age six, and so I've seen quite a bit uh happen and quite a bit uh transpire in the city. I remember at one point the only thing that you would uh find in Battleground is Rocky's Pizza, uh grocery store, and then the main entrance uh to come in and out of Battleground was Caples Road, uh not uh 503. And so I've definitely seen a lot change in terms of socially, politically, and the like. Um I think it's important to uh recognize that because even uh with that growth, we've been able to still have a small town feel. Um but I think uh it's important that you know people like myself that have grown up in the area have been able to be in leadership positions, and so like when I go to the grocery store or when I'm out and about, uh people recognize me. I still maintain some of the same friends I had when I went out graduated from high school uh at the Battleground School District. And and uh you know it's important to have that person that you grew up with, right? Uh that that you're familiar with, and somebody that can be as transparent and honest as possible when talks about when we're talking about you know uh the ever-demanding needs of our community. Now, moving forward in terms of what has changed, well, a lot has changed uh since uh I've been on council, and actually it has been a relatively short amount of time, you know, that that growth that I talked about has brought in a lot of outside forces into our city. Yeah uh most of them have been positive. Uh there have been some of them that have been negative. And I I think we're seeing some of that, those negative forces at play today in battleground politics. Uh recently we saw a whole host of negative stories on how we had some uh newcomers that have hadn't been in the city uh or have had had that deeper roots in the community like I have had, but have got on city council and got in positions of authority and now are pushing a very particular narrative uh that is very divisive, right? And one thing I've learned uh on city council is you know, uh and and as a leader in the community is people want the small town feel, but they want a quiet community, right? They they already hear the garbage and the noise that's going out there, you know, at the federal level and national level, but they want they just want to live their lives, right? They want to take their kids to their soccer games, they want to, you know, work hard, come home at the end of the day, relax with their families, so on and so forth. Uh they don't want to see what's happening at the national level start to make its way to their small community.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

But unfortunately, you're seeing some of that now, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Yeah, people want to go to Rockies. Is Rockies still there, by the way? Rockies get there. Rockies is there. The Rockies is there, thankfully. Yeah. You also have a safe way and a margarita factory.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

We have a margarita factory, uh, we have a Walmart, we have a Fred Market. Yeah, we have we're doing lots of uh it's really it's really exploded.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Yeah, yeah. Uh about 30,000 people in the city of Battleground. So it's not a small town anymore. It's definitely a city, you know, it's got character, stuff is going on. Um now you haven't been a mayor uh for about a year and a half now. You've been in uh your Washington State position for about a year and a half uh as a state senator uh representing the 18th legislative district. Um let's talk the Battleground has been in the media a lot, not just local, but also at the national level. So let's talk a little bit about that. Question number two. So here's my next question for you, um, Adrian. As I mentioned, Battleground has received uh significant attention over the past year, uh, mainly because of reporting on the growing influence of certain political, religious, and business interests. Now, some residents see uh positive community investment, right? It's great. Others have raised concerns about transparency, accountability, and the separation of church and state. Now, from your perspective, uh as a community leader, uh as a community resident, what should residents be paying attention to? Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

No, and you know, it's a very important question that needs to be tackled straightforward. Um, you know, like I said, I've grown up in the Battleground area from age six and seen a lot change, a lot, a lot of growth, a lot of people come from outside the area, inside the area. But one thing that has been consistent uh year in and year out uh from my time in Battleground, and I start I still currently call Battleground home, um, is uh it's a strong community network, it's it's uh you know, small community feel, it's uh the families that choose to call it home, and the faith-based communities that choose to call it home. And we have a lot of great faith-based communities uh that are in Battleground, whether it's uh your Slavic uh uh faith-based uh um community, whether it's your Baptist, whether it's uh your Catholic, uh whether it's your Latter-day Saints, uh, whether it's your uh Apostolic Lutheran. That's very diverse. Very, very diverse. Uh as a matter of fact, my my daughter uh married into a very well-known uh family that uh is uh very established in the Apostolic Lutheran community. And so I've had uh and I went to high school with many individuals that uh were associated with the Apostolic Lutheran community, and so I have a very, very deep understanding of that community, and they're great stewards of the community. I think what has changed though is we do have uh anywhere between two to three um uh faith-based community that have a very, very targeted political agenda. Right. And that political agenda is to seize control uh of government and to force or instill certain values in the community uh that uh are very contrary uh to most people in Battleground, uh as well as most people in Clark County and the state. Yeah. Uh one of those uh communities and that has been in the news uh lately has revolved around uh Maddox. Okay and Maddox Industries Industries. You know, Maddox Industries is a wonderful business uh that has recently moved from outside the area into Battleground. It's close to a billion-dollar company. Oh wow, it's large, which is by far the largest uh company we've ever had relocate to our community. So it's a large employer. It's a very large employer. Uh they employ really good family wage jobs, which is all good. Which is great, yeah. Uh unfortunately, whether this is by design or whether this is uh because uh their message or their image has been hijacked by other people, uh they have been uh associated with uh Christian nationalism movement. Okay. Uh and uh specifically they've been associated with um the uh pastor uh that is the pastor to Secretary of War Pete Heggseth, uh Doug Wilson. And we all know how very polarizing that individual is uh due to what he stands for in terms of he doesn't believe women should ever have a right to vote.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Right. Uh and he believes should stay at home and have many kids. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

He believes that you know we should have um a new type of uh society that's managed by you know Christian nationalism, so on and so forth. So very controversial, very polarizing. And uh Maddox, uh Camden and his brother Mac, uh as well as uh other individuals are involved. Again, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but uh, because I have worked with them in the past, being on city council, serving for three terms, as well as the mayor, uh I've had a great working relationship with them. Uh and my interaction with them has always been positive, right? And so uh I I hope that uh what they're doing has either not been hijacked by other individuals that have a different agenda than them and are using them, uh, but what I really hope is that they're not actually a part of the greater uh description that I already told you. About the movement.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Now, um they uh you know there there's there there's actions that they're taking that people are concerned about, right? Um specifically uh buying up a lot of businesses, which is nothing unusual uh, you know, for businesses to to sell or properties to sell uh in a jurisdiction, but you have a large company uh that has deep pockets that is buying up property. In addition to buying up property, they just recently bought the reflector, which is North County's local newspaper based out of uh Battleground. Uh what do those actions tell you? Do they concern you as much as they concern some of the other community members uh that have been reported in other media outlets?

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Yeah, I mean, on its own, it doesn't uh it doesn't concern me in a in a vacuum, but to give uh our viewers some perspective of, for example, the Reflector. So the Reflector is a regional newspaper uh that has been in existence for over a hundred years. Long time. Um I remember when uh Marvin Case was the former owner and he he actually lived in the community. You could go into his office and you could talk to him about something. He may write something up as the editor and the owner, uh, very, very uh open and transparent. Uh and then he owned it for many, many years and eventually sold it to the Chronicle, uh, which uh the Shay, I believe it's the Sheila's Chronicle, which is up north. And it's well known that the Chronicle has a political bent to it, it's very right-leaning. Right. Uh and so when that happened, you know, there were some concerned citizens out there thinking that oh, it's gonna be a propaganda machine. And to an extent it has leaned that way. Yeah. Uh but uh, and so you know, that is not new in itself. But what is new, uh, again, the uh Maddox brothers, again, bringing in good jobs, but bringing in a company with sales of over of close to a billion dollars, never happened in our community before. And and they are buying up real estate everywhere. They, for all intents and purposes, they practically own all of downtown old town battleground. Uh they they purchased uh recently the reflector. Um and and and uh I heard just the other day that they were either about to or had already uh purchased Rocky's Pizza, a very iconic wow, like I said, that was that was uh one of the the original things there. And so, you know, they're buying up all these things. They have a lot of their employees that are that sit on the city council, they have employees that sit on the school board, and so uh from somebody outside looking in, you can say, wow, they're really they're they're trying to own the city, right? Uh whether that's a fair judgment or not, uh, people can make up their own minds about it. Um, and I know where they're coming from, they're saying they're trying to reinvest and trying to you know keep the community vibrant, but you know, they they certainly can't be naive to think that you know how what the optics look like, right, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Which it seems very targeted, right? You know, coming to a small community uh, you know, slightly north of Vancouver uh and buying up a lot of real estate and the local newspaper. In addition to having uh uh the mayor at works at Maddox, right? He does, he does.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

And and I think one thing that's important to point out is that uh I I went to a a it was a soft grand opening to their newest facility that they're they're gonna be breaking ground on. Is it gonna be a 30,000 square foot conference center, a what as long uh in addition to a 16,000 square foot church? Um and it's being dubbed as a community you know area, right? Although it is for a specific uh church. Uh the main contractor on it is Tapani uh Underground, again, a very well-known established uh business in our community. Uh and actually I am technically related to the Tappanese uh now. Um but you know, one thing that's different from Maddox Industries than from Tappany is Tapani is a very large company. We're talking, you know, tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Uh probably the largest employer in our community right now at the time. Uh but uh you know they they subscribe to uh giving back to their community in a very uh behind the scenes, very humble way, uh living kind of a quiet life. Yeah. Uh very, very different uh juxtaposition from uh a Maddox that is very out in front and wants everybody to know that they're here. Uh and and and like I said, uh rightfully or wrongfully, uh they're being associated with certain groups that uh certainly have a very national agenda.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Yeah, and so I want to get into that in in the next question because you mentioned that there is that connection, that relationship that they've established within a community, uh some uh faith-based communities, um, and uh, you know, whether it's by design uh or by attention, we don't really know. And I think you mentioned giving them the benefit of the doubt. So let's talk a little bit about you know uh misinformation on both sides, right? Question number three. Adrian, uh let's talk a little bit about misinformation. Um many people today say they don't know what information to trust anymore, right? I think that if you spoke to the average person, they'll tell you that, right? Uh between social media, podcasts, and even traditional media, uh misinformation can spread very quickly. What responsibility do elected officials have in helping people separate fact from fiction?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Oh boy, do I know about misinformation and disinformation? Look, I've I've had uh close to 20 years of being in uh the local political arena at some level in our county, in Clark County, in our community, and I've had uh definitely uh plenty of uh I've been the target of plenty of misinformation and disinformation uh campaigns. But you know, uh I've had some time to develop a very, very thick skin uh when it comes to that. But one thing that I have discovered that I uh adhere to time and time again and will continue to as long as uh you know the community wants me to uh be a leader in the community is that it's important to be authentic, to be yourself, and to be very transparent. People put trust in uh individuals that are authentic and transparent. You know, uh it's no uh it's no uh accident that when I ran for state senate in the 18th legislative district, a seat that had been held by Republicans for the past 30 years, that uh I was able to flip the seat and uh be the first Democrat to hold that seat in 30 years. That's amazing. Uh which thank you, which is I I attribute it to many, many things, obviously, but one of those things is being authentic, yeah. Yeah, and and and telling people that, hey, you may see these ads that are being run against me that don't give you the full picture or they're outright lying. Uh you know who I really am. You know, I've been here since I was six years old, you know, you know what I stand for. And so I think trust. Yeah. Uh having trust and and having a network of trustful individuals that you could reach out to, including elected officials.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, you know, uh that the the trust, uh the transparency, uh being authentic, um these are things that not just elected officials should be held should be held accountable for, right? Uh social business leaders. You know, let's assume uh that Maddox Industries uh intentions are to create, you know, the the the type of community that we've talked a little bit about, right? Uh and connecting these folks with you know Christian nationalist movements. You know, what if it is by design? Well, how do you think the community will react?

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Well, I think that's a really that's a really uh interesting question. You know, again, I'll reiterate, I I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt that they are not. Right. Uh that they are being hijacked by other forces uh that have ulterior motives and are just using them. Uh, you know, forces again that are well established to, you know, uh Pete Hegseth's pastor, uh Doug Wilson, uh, and the like. Um, but that being aside, to kind of answer your question head-on, you know, if they are intentionally trying to create a white nationalist utopia and a in a certain vision uh for their uh religious uh viewpoints and have battleground, the base of that, I I I'd like to I'd like to think, and I and I truly do believe deep down inside me that the community as a whole uh does not support that and does not support uh some of those ideologies and does not support individuals outside coming in trying to force a certain narrative on them. All we have to do is look back on other extreme ideologies that have happened in our community, your David Mador's, your Ken Fisher's, right? These are individuals of enormous wealth. Uh Ken Fisher was one of and is probably one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet worth billions of dollars. And he moved into the community, he moved into Camas. He actually relocated all of his uh wealth management uh to CAMAS, uh, spent enormous amounts of money, and also spent enormous amounts of money to buy influence and to play in uh local and statewide politics, only to see that the community rose up against him, pushed back and now he moved out and he's gone. Uh David Mador did the same thing on the county council when he tried to use his enormous amounts of wealth to uh buy his influence, and it ended up in a disaster. Uh I'm still waiting for that third bridge, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Uh so I maybe he'll build it someday.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

So I would hope I would hope that if, and I again giving them the benefit of the doubt, if the Maddox brothers are doing this intentionally, please look back on other individuals that have tried to do so, and it has never ended well.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Yeah, I think there are um issues that people uh care more about, you know, than than than creating that uh Christian nationalist utopia uh that you mentioned. Uh and to your point, community members are smart enough to know uh when they are being lied to, uh, when community leaders or business leaders aren't being transparent. Uh, and so I I agree with you. I think that they will push back if if in fact that's that's their intention. Um, Senator Adrian Cortez, thank you so much for being on the show today. Uh, we really appreciate your insight. This is not a light topic, uh, and I suspect that we will continue to hear more about it, not just at the local level, but also at the national level. So, again, thank you for being here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

It's always a pleasure being on here.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Absolutely. Folks, that is our show for today. Don't forget to hit like, subscribe, leave a comment, and hit the notification bell. We will see you next time.