YAKIMA, Wash.- Janice Deccio, the mayor of Yakima, has now faced threats, harassment and a motion to be censured as the result of a 911 call she made over the Labor Day weekend.
Deccio says she got calls from her constituents while she was at home, complaining of petitioners outside the Nob Hill Walmart. The calls described the harasses as hostile, “far-right wing petitioners.” The mayor was informed the store manager had already asked them to leave, only to be denied.
It was then that the Yakima native dialed for 911, hoping to help the customers who were being harassed.
“I did not call the police on anyone,” said Mayor Deccio. ‘I called 911 to gather information I wasn’t calling the police to send out there to take care of them, to make them leave, I didn’t ask them to go out there.”
On the call, Deccio found out removing unwanted petitioners would not be possible on the same day.
“It says under Washington law, right to access on private property for political purpose, it extends to the circulation of petitions,” read the SunCom dispatch operator. “For this reason, the City of Yakima will not remove petition signature gatherers, absent a court order issued by Yakima Superior Court, prohibiting the group from collecting signatures.”
A YouTube channel, We The Governed, leaked Deccio’s call with dispatch, without omitting her personal phone number, which she provided requesting a call from a sergeant in the Yakima Police Department.
At the September 19 City Council meeting, Deccio shared a voice mail from her phone that followed the YouTube video’s release. The message used derogatory words and accused the mayor of trying to stop democracy.
Deccio says most of the messages that have filled hers and the City Council’s mailboxes have come from outside of the city and the state. She also says she’s had positive interactions with Yakima citizens who have thanked for the action she tried to take.
City Council members Patricia Byers and Holly Cousens the introduced and seconded a motion that the mayor was expecting to come up.
“I move to censure Mayor Deccio for inappropriate and unwarranted behavior as an elected official of the City of Yakima,” motioned Council Woman Byers.
The vote would fail 4-3 as the other members did not see Deccio’s actions as using the police to stop the petitioners, which would violate the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.
The mayor says as part of the job, she gets similar calls from voters who turn to her for help. After hearing the store manager also wanted the signature gatherers removed, Deccio wanted to help as she would with other calls she’s received.
“Somebody calls me, says ‘these people are harassing someone,’ I’m gonna find out who can help them,” says Deccio. “That’s the simple thing. I didn’t care what they were petitioning about. I didn’t even know. I now know but I didn’t know then.”
Mayor Deccio says after the censure motion failed, the matter is resolved within City Council. She will still have to take precautions over the messages and threats.
She says that she stands by her actions being motivated by trying to help her constituents with no political motivation.
“I can call 911 if I need to find out some information,” says Deccio. I didn’t infringe on anyone’s rights. I was helping a constituent, which is what we’re supposed to do.”
