Did some Thurston candidates’ campaigns employ a sex offender? Here’s what we know

Days before Tuesday’s general election, the knives have come out. Republican state Rep. Travis Couture of the 35th Legislative District, which includes southern and western Thurston County, seized and amplified a story reported by KIRO News Radio last week.

The story is about the connection between the Auburn mayor and a former pastor convicted of third-degree child rape who is now registered as a Level 2 sex offender, according to King County Sheriff’s Office information.

His name is Joshua Obadiah Headley, but after he served time for his crime, he used an alias of “J. Seeley,” and started a business called Seeley Media.

His business went on to do media-related work for political candidates throughout the area, including in Thurston County. The KIRO story includes a link to a state Public Disclosure Commission list of expenditures made by candidates to that business.

Couture, on social media, blasted those relationships.

“Shockingly, Yelm Public Schools has also hired him (Headley) for their campaign,” he wrote. “It’s hard to imagine anything more disqualifying, reckless, or deranged than hiring a child rapist to work on campaigns for people who claim they want to serve children.”

Couture also took aim at Olympia City Council incumbent Robert Vanderpool and Lacey City Council candidate Ryan Siu for those business relationships, but his comments also included personal attacks.

“Can you believe this? Robert Vanderpool of the Olympia City Council — a so-called ‘Democratic Socialist’ who lives at his step-mom’s house, works part-time while lecturing everyone about ‘workers’ rights,’ and now pushing Prop 1 to DESTROY small business in Olympia — is actually employing a CONVICTED CHILD RAPIST on his campaign! Totally sick and deranged.”

Siu received the same treatment: “Ryan Siu, Lacey City Council Candidate has also hired a CONVICTED CHILD RAPIST for his campaign. And posts these very NSFW/lewd public photos. Who could be surprised?”

The Olympian reached out to Couture to ask whether he has real concerns about the sex offender’s connections to candidates or if his comments were an act of partisanship before the election.

He said he had genuine concerns about the issue, adding that as a Washington state lawmaker he has been pretty vocal about sex crimes and protecting children. He said he has opposed sex offender housing in Tenino and Rochester.

Perhaps most troubling for him is how quiet the candidates have been on the topic. For example, if he was the Thurston County Republican Party chairman, he would have been out in front of the issue very fast.

“Silence is consent,” he said.

The Olympian pointed out that some candidates have publicly addressed the situation and Couture acknowledged that Yelm Community Schools had issued a statement.

“They did the right thing,” he said.

Yelm schools, campaign manager, candidates respond

Yelm Community Schools posted a statement to its website in reference to “recent media reports.”

“Yelm Community Schools did not grant access to any outside campaign organizers or media producers to film on our campuses,” the statement reads. “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.”

Rob Richards, who is active in local politics and is the campaign manager for Lacey candidates Siu, Maren Turner and Carolyn Cox, said he had previously met a man who he knew as J. Seeley after they had worked together on a campaign outside of Thurston County.

Richards acknowledged that Seeley was skilled at social media work and was affordable. He checked out the man’s credentials on his website and later hired him and recommended him to other campaigns.

But that all changed in July when Richards said he received a text about the man’s true identity and background.

“I terminated our relationship, no questions asked,” Richards said. “I didn’t want to talk about the circumstances and I didn’t want to hear from him.”

He then called his clients and others who had hired him and made the same recommendation.

“I called every single person I could think of,” Richards said.

That change is reflected in the PDC data, which shows that many candidates worked with Seeley Media before the August primary, but not after it.

Vanderpool said he stopped working with Seeley Media after Richards reached out to him.

Vanderpool added that he does not live with his step-mother (she lives in South Carolina) and he works full-time for the state Department of Labor and Industries — in addition to his duties as a council member and being a new father.

“I wish I worked part-time,” he said. “Do you know how nice that would be?”

He does live with his mother-in-law, though, because the cost of buying a first home was so high that she helped pay for it, he said.

The Olympian reached out to Siu as well, and he directed the newspaper to an official response to Couture that he posted on his campaign Facebook page.

“There was a recent post about my campaign’s use of Seeley Media, which is owned by a registered sex offender,” he wrote. “We terminated his services immediately after learning of his true identity and criminal history.

“As a first-time candidate, I made the mistake of not doing my own due diligence for campaign vendors. I take full responsibility.

“In regard to the pictures circulating from nearly 20 years ago, one is from my time portraying Rocky in the “Rocky Horror Picture Show;” the other is of me goofing around with friends at a bar. The photos are from 2008. Someone had to go through nearly 20 years of social media postings to find them and publish them out of context.

“I have done a lot of maturing since then, and I have a greater understanding of the implications of publishing pictures on the internet. I am extremely comfortable with who I am, and I am not ashamed of my past.”

Lacey City Council incumbent Carolyn Cox, who is seeking another term on the council, is a veteran of what is sometimes referred to as the “silly season,” when partisanship can spike in the final moments before an election.

She, too, ended her relationship with Seeley Media.

“It’s unfortunate a state representative is spending his time on making life difficult for candidates who don’t even live in his district,” she said.

This story was originally published October 30, 2025 at 1:47 PM.