(The Center Square) – Some Thurston County Democratic candidates are cutting ties with a company hired to do campaign work, after learning that the owner of Seeley Media is a convicted child rapist.
Joshua Headley, a former pastor at Northwest Family Church in Auburn, was convicted in 2022 of grooming and raping a 15-year-old girl over the period of about a year between 2017 and 2018.
He was sentenced to more than a year behind bars but served just six months, and as reported last week by KIRO News Radio’s Charlie Harger, Headley quickly rebranded himself by taking on the alias of J. Seeley and starting a media company that was hired by more than a dozen candidates or political campaigns for video work and consulting services, as well as television campaign ads.
Among the groups that hired Headley was Citizens In Support of Yelm Community Schools. The political committee has been working in support of an enrichment levy, which appears on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Headley is a Level 2 registered sex offender. There is a social media post showing Headley during a video shoot for Citizens In Support of Yelm Community Schools and a school bus on what appears to be school property.
“Awesome time with awesome people for a 7hr content shoot to promote a 2025 school levy,” wrote Headley on the Seeley Media post.
State Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, told The Center Square that Thurston County Democrats have been aware of Headley’s past for months, with some candidates still not severing ties despite learning of his history.
“It would be one thing if a brand-new local candidate had hired somebody and maybe didn’t know their background or was tricked because of an alias change,” he said. “But on August 25th, the Thurston County Democrat central committee held a meeting in which Joshua Headley was exposed and talked about with many of these candidates in the room.”
Couture, who posted on his Facebook page, listed individual candidates in Thurston County who hired Seeley Media for campaign work.
“When you’re talking about school board races, where you have individuals running for [the] Tumwater School District, who have employed Joshua Headley through his company, that’s not a good look,” Couture said.
Public Disclosure Commission reports show that Seeley Media has been hired by at least 20 candidates and campaign committees between 2023 and 2025.
In response to media coverage and subsequent concerns from parents in the district, Yelm Community Schools posted a note on its website Monday: “First and foremost: Yelm Community Schools did not grant access to any outside campaign organizers or media producers to film on our campuses. The group referenced in recent coverage, Yes 4 Yelm Schools (organized separately as ‘Citizens in Support of Yelm Schools’), is an independent campaign. The district had no role in hiring or recommending any media firm or consultants they may have used, and we did not know who they engaged for promotional materials. Any questions regarding the hiring of media and consultants can be directed to Ashley Brooks, Chair of Citizens in Support of Yelm Schools.”
The Yelm Community Schools post added a phone number to contact Brooks. The Center Square reached out Tuesday for comment.
Brooks said she was not aware the school district would post her contact information.
“I know emotions are high, and I feel them more than most can understand. These past few days have been personally difficult; holding onto friendships, comforting worried families, and reading things I wish I could unsee,” she said. “We had zero idea what atrocities this person had committed until very recently. What he did to his victim is beyond words, and I want it to be known that I really, truly f—–g care about the safety of every single one of our children.”
Brooks shared that she is a survivor of sexual assault and said what has transpired has brought up feelings she thought were long gone, but were only buried.
“With all my power, I will make sure that something like this never happens again,” she said.
Brooks and the official statement from her campaign committee insist Headley was never on school property and say that law enforcement has been notified.
The Center Square reached out to the Yelm Police Department but did not receive a response.
The Center Square also reached out to several candidates in Thurston County who hired Headley through Seeley Media to find out if they had severed ties since learning of his conviction.
According to the PDC, Ryan Siu, candidate for Lacey City Council, shows expenditures of $300 to Seeley Media. He did not respond to email questions.
Tumwater School Board candidate Julie Watts has paid Seeley Media $975 this year. She also did not respond.
Robert Vanderpool, candidate for Olympia City Council, paid Headley’s company $2,280. He did not respond to emails requesting comment.
Maren Turner, running for Lacey City Council, has spent just under $1,000 with Seeley Media, and has now severed ties.
“Seeley Media was dismissed by my campaign manager, Rob Richards,” Turner emailed The Center Square. “He is copied on this email and would be the best person to reply with details to your question.”
The Center Square did reach out to Richards, but did not get a response.
Richards also owns a campaign consulting and media company called Reveille Strategies, which is listed on PDC records as having received tens of thousands of dollars from Democratic candidates in Washington.
According to Couture, Richards is the one who brought Headley into the mix for campaign work.
Meanwhile, Thurston County Democrats are distancing themselves from Headley and pushing back on claims they “scrubbed” meeting notes from Aug. 25 when it was publicly shared that Headley was a convicted child rapist.
“To be clear, we became aware of this contractor’s criminal history prior to the primary election and took immediate action to investigate and address it,” Thurston County Democrats Chair Kait Toompas emailed The Center Square. “The Thurston County Democrats have never hired this contractor, and the candidates who had previously worked with him had severed ties by the end of August. Please note that our meeting minutes are not verbatim and generally reflect only the actions taken during the meeting, which is why it was not included; no action was required by the body.”
Couture said each of the campaigns and political groups affiliated with Headley should have very publicly announced they were cutting ties as soon as they learned of his past.
“The last thing the people of Thurston County want to find out after an election is that they hired someone to work on a school board or city council that hired a rapist and then covered it up,” said Couture.
