Hello Friends in Devilry!
An update to the East Wenatchee Boondoggle and developing stories about the East Wenatchee City Council (EWCC) members including Ettore Castellente who started the bigoted banner policy rolling down the hill. If you haven’t read our reporting on this yet, we suggest taking a moment to read that before continuing. There is a lot of information and context.
We are still waiting on some additional responsive records including personal emails and device communications from some specific Council members. According to our latest set of records released though, we’ve already confirmed an Open Public Meetings Act Violation between Ken Arnold, Christine Johnson, Taylor Stimmel, and of course Ettore Castellente.
It turns out, they have absolutely been colluding on banning Pride banners and even PRIDE EVENTS from the City of East Wenatchee! But before we get to our receipts let’s do a quick review of some salient points and quotes directly from City Council Members.
One year ago now, in September of 2025 Castellente and Stimmel both spoke at the Douglas County GOP meeting after being appointed to the EWCC. Castellente spoke specifically about the Banner policy as part of his stump speech as to why he should be elected officially while campaigning.
Castellente THE NEXT DAY then asked that the banner policy be added to the EWCC agenda, swearing it was not political or social to Source One News, and only about adding Mother’s day (May) and Father’s Day (June) to the Wenatchee World.
He even went so far as to say that he “wasn’t brought on council to take a political side” and that he’s “serving in a position that is non-partisan.” Then he whined and said, “ I don’t know why someone is turning this into this” and that he couldn’t possibly “help that this has been turned into a social cause” on his part. Extolling that he has “no hidden agenda” and that “no one has the right to put a label” on him.
Keep all of those quotes in mind as we walk forward through the events of the last year since he gave that statement.
So, already he announced his banner policy changes at a GOP meeting officially as a GOP member in Douglas County, added the banner policy to the agenda officially as a city council member, then lied to the public and voters saying that it was NOT political or social. Trying to actually appear as if he was being misrepresented when the public understandably had questions.
Castellente then went on to tell the Wenatchee World before the September workshop that he actually wanted to expand the short list of categories, not exclude one that currently appears on the category list. He specified that he is not looking to remove any subject matter from the banner policy.
At the workshop in September of 2025, EWCC member Christine Johnson said that the city gets lots of comments from “people that actually come to city council” that are “unhappy with the equity and diversity class”.
This was proven false. A blatant lie from Christine Johnson. We requested emails over the past two years to see if there were comments about the banners submitted. Turns out, the city council received zero emails complaining about rainbow banners in 2025 and as far back as October 2024. None. Zero. Not until Ettore Castellente added the banner policy to the workshop agenda and ignited a culture war resulting in the banning of rainbow banners on city light poles. We could only find evidence of one person, Nathan Scott, who attended a city council meeting in 2023 asking about the banners and who paid for them.
Johnson went on to say at the workshop, “Now, I don’t have a single issue with equity and diversity, none whatsoever. And most of those people, I don’t believe do either, but they do have a problem with the inclusion of the Pride flag on that. I’m just going to come out and say I disagree with it too, not because I have a problem with equity and diversity or with the Pride flag. I don’t think they go together, and I do not believe that public funds should be used to hang those.”
This also turned out to be a lie. Not only were the banners privately funded by the non-profits whose application was being denied, but another non-profit came forward (Out NCW) to donate $2,000 to ensure that “public funds” were in no way required. This is something the City Council knew and especially Johnson, since it was brought up by Nathan Scott in 2023. They had already had records requests finding out the cost of the banners then as well.
But let’s blame that one on a failing memory.
In October of 2025 they held another workshop on the banner policy and the Wenatchee World caught that Castellente had red lined “equity/diversity” in his personal revision of the policy. Even though he said he was not planning to remove any “subject matter”. He told the Wenatchee World reporter at the time: “After giving full attention to all of these collective views” that he confirmed he wanted to remove equity/diversity from the banner policy. In reality, he had received more support of rainbow banners via email than dissent. He just only chose to only respond to the dissenters.
Further proof that from the beginning this was the plan. We knew this, but now we have proof.
The council tabled the policy change at the end of October 2025 because a crowd showed up to protest the change and their own lawyer told them any removal of equity/diversity from the policy could result in law suits, and then 4 specific city council members received an email the next day from one Dan Wheat. The head of the Douglas County GOP Republican Committee.
In that email Wheat railed against Stimmel, Castellente, Johnson, and Arnold for not sticking to their guns and passing a new banner policy. He demands that they find the city a new lawyer if Bob Siderius won’t do what they want. He also demanded that they suspend all banner applications that had already been approved for 2026 in order to block rainbow banners from hitting downtown East Wenatchee streets this year. Wheat commanded that they get together and come up with a new banner policy as a group since all of their separate proposals were so similar and met the criteria he had pressured them on September 27th.
At the next city Council Meeting on November 4th, the City Council voted to suspend the current banner applications which had already been approved, including the NCW Equity Alliance’s rainbow diversity banners. Specifically bowing to the edicts of Dan Wheat, head of the GOP.
With this new batch of public records released to us we come to see very quickly that that is exactly what they did, via email. All four of them. And we know this because Christine Johnson messed up.
On January 12, 2026 just two months before the City Council finalized their new banner policy, she made a boomer mistake and sent a revision of Ettore Castellente’s banner policy draft to Ken Arnold’s government email from her personal work email at the DSHS and asked him to forward “her notes” to Castellente. He then forwarded that email to Castellente’s personal email.
That’s 3. Castellente, Arnold, and Johnson conspiring and working off regulated channels with their private emails.
And Stimmel? He is the only one to have turned in a single personal email, which happens to be Ettore Castellente’s draft banner policy receipt from his personal email to Stimmel’s personal email. That’s 4. Four out of 7 East Wenatchee City Council Members violating the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA). Officially a quorum.
This act requires all elected municipal officials to keep records, minutes, and allow access to a meeting of a “quorum” aka a majority of a council. We spoke to East Wenatchee Mayor Crawford and asked if the City Council members had received their required training on the OPMA. She responded that all EWCC members had a requirement to complete the training within 90 days of election OR appointment. So that means that means by the date of that email: January 12th, 2026. All 4 City Council members should have completed their training and knew EXACTLY what they were doing.
According to a really handy OPMA training slide deck that the prosecutor’s office from Snohomish County created, it’s a $500 fine for the first time and $1000 for each violation after that. They also specify that the OPMA INCLUDES digital meetings of which EMAIL is considered. Not just zoom. But EMAIL and ANY DIGITAL COMMUNICATION. That’s text too.
BUT WAIT! There’s more. You want to know what Christine Johnson’s notes were on Ettore Castellente’s draft of the new banner policy proposal?
Johnson specifically says she wants to remove the words “endorse programs” because Mayor Crawford and OTHER STAFF might endorse PRIDE FLAGS.
AND she goes on and says she wants to make sure that the City of East Wenatchee never has a PRIDE EVENT so she suggested removing “sponsored” from the policy as well. And wants to list specific events to make sure that PRIDE is not on the list.
Johnson, Arnold, and Castellente have yet to send their personal emails. Johnson specifically sends multiple emails to two different DSHS emails for her personal work, likely thinking that the DSHS won’t allow a governmental public records request release. Except that’s not how public records releases work.
If you do government work, like editing, colluding, and violating the open public meetings act on your personal work email then you have to provide those emails.
We’ve requested copies of the signed declarations that the city council members signed and notarized and are waiting for those documents. We are curious to see which emails they said they searched and whether they match the ones that they were actually doing work on.
According to the request they were given, they had a deadline to provide all emails, both personal and work, text messages and relevant private devices by May 22, 2026. And yet here we are 3 months later still waiting on the bare minimum.
So the real question is, if this is the small amount that they’ve let drip through: how much more are they hiding?
So far official violations:
- OPMA RCW 42.30.450
- Criminal Conspiracy RCW 9A.28.040
- Specifically to commit the crime of discrimination RCW 49.60.030
- Conspiracy Against Rights 18 U.S.C. § 241
It’s clear from the beginning that the intent was to remove rainbow pride representation in spoken word, written word, and by the direct action of intentionally removing Pride as an accepted event for the city.
Stimmel, Johnson, Arnold, and Castellente should be fined and charged with misdemeanors for their conspiracy to discriminate against and oppress a protected marginalized community.
We are looking forward to the next drop of public records. What do you think we’ll find next?
If you have insight, something to add, or addition context send an email to info@progressivedevilry.com.