You may remember that Jay Inslee made some last-minute appointments just days before leaving office. Those appointments were ultimately pulled back by Bob Ferguson—after widespread pushback from tribal leadership, as well as the fishing and hunting communities—and a multi-month appointment process began.
These records show sitting Washington Fish & Wildlife Commissioner, Lorna Smith, emailing directly with the Governor’s office after the period of pushback began and during that active appointment process—and she’s not just offering input, she appears to be lobbying.
She makes it clear she knows Tim Ragen and Lynn O’Connor, vouches for them, and actively pushes for them to be reappointed after Ferguson pulled back Inslee’s appointments. That’s not neutral. That’s advocating for specific individuals she has a direct relationship with while still serving on the Commission.
It’s also worth noting that Ragen had been heavily advocated for by anti-hunting interests—adding another layer to why these appointments drew such strong public response across multiple communities.
Then she goes after the “dysfunctional” label. She suggests that the people calling the Commission dysfunctional just didn’t like the decisions being made—that this is really about disagreement, not dysfunction.
And then there’s this line:
“..two Commissioners who caused the majority of any disruption and disrespect are no longer serving, so problem solved!”
But who is she talking about?
Because from where many of us are standing, the individuals most associated with those concerns are still on the Commission today and under investigation —and that includes Lorna Smith herself.
So that statement doesn’t read like “problem solved.” It reads like deflection.
This doesn’t come across as someone trying to help fix a broken system. To us it looks like someone trying to protect it—lobbying for colleagues, dismissing concerns, and attempting to reshape the narrative while a process is still underway.
