When a State Representative Becomes the Bully: Joel McEntire's Obsession With One Local Woman

 One of the first things you learn when you run for public office is that people are going to criticize you. It comes with the job. If your skin is so thin that you can't handle criticism from a constituent, you have no business serving in elected office.

Apparently, nobody explained that to Representative Joel McEntire.

For months now, Joel has made one private citizen his personal obsession. This isn't about policy disagreements anymore. This isn't about healthy political debate. This is about a sitting Washington State Representative using his public platform to stalk, harass, mock, and publicly humiliate someone who doesn't hold public office.

That's not leadership.

It's embarrassing.

The screenshots speak for themselves. Joel has repeatedly commented on Britney Brown's posts, shared photos of her, talked about her marriage, claimed she uses drugs, called her mentally ill, publicly identified where she works, and inserted himself into conversations that had absolutely nothing to do with him. He seems to spend an astonishing amount of time talking about one woman instead of doing the job taxpayers elected him to do.

Then there's what happened after Britney's car was keyed.

According to a police report, Britney reported that someone intentionally vandalized her vehicle. Most decent people would say that's wrong. I don't care whether you like someone or can't stand them. Vandalizing someone's property isn't okay.

Joel's response?

"I think the more art work on Britney's car, the better."

When people called him out and said it sounded like he was threatening a woman, he had every opportunity to walk it back. He could have simply said, "No, vandalism is wrong."

Instead, he doubled down.

"Looks like Art to me!!! Make art, get art back I guess. Here's hoping you get much more art sent your way."

Think about how outrageous that is.

A sitting state representative responded to a reported act of vandalism by saying he hoped there would be more.

Whether he meant it as a joke doesn't matter. He's not some anonymous troll hiding behind a fake profile. He's an elected official. His words carry weight. When a legislator publicly jokes about someone's property being vandalized and says he hopes it happens again, that's not funny. It's reckless, immature, and completely beneath the office he holds.

Then Joel publicly told people where Britney works.

He didn't have to. Nobody forced him to answer. But he did anyway. Predictably, people immediately started questioning why she was employed there and suggesting patients should be afraid of her.

Come on, Joel. You know exactly what happens when you tell thousands of people where someone's employer is. You don't get to pretend you didn't know what you were doing.

He also declared that Britney has "several mental illnesses" and then actually wrote, "Yes, I can diagnose them."

Really?

Last I checked, the Washington Legislature doesn't hand out psychiatry licenses.

Mental illness isn't a punchline, and it isn't something you accuse people of because they criticize you on Facebook.

The excuses from his supporters are always the same.

"Well, she talks about him too."

So what?

She's a private citizen.

He's a state representative.

Those aren't equal positions, and they shouldn't be held to the same standard. Joel asked for public office. He asked the people of the 19th District to trust him with that responsibility. With that comes an expectation that he'll act like an adult, even when someone gets under his skin.

Instead, he behaves like someone who can't let a Facebook argument go.

Here's what I keep coming back to.

Why is Joel McEntire so obsessed with one woman?

Seriously.

How much time has he spent talking about Britney Brown? How many posts? How many comments? How many screenshots? How many conversations has he inserted himself into just so he could take another shot at her?

Imagine if he spent that much energy working on issues that actually matter to the people of southwest Washington.

This isn't the behavior of someone focused on serving his district.

This is the behavior of someone carrying around a personal grudge and using the prestige of his office to settle it.

The people of the 19th Legislative District deserve better than this.

They deserve someone who spends more time representing their interests than chasing one woman around Facebook.

They deserve someone who understands that criticism comes with the job.

Most of all, they deserve someone who remembers that being elected to public office isn't a license to bully the very people you're supposed to represent.

Southwest Washington, does this person represent your values? What if this was your wife or daughter? It's food for thought.