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UPDATE 1/8: On Thursday, Attorney General Bob Ferguson took additional legal action to prevent the sale of the facility housing the Seattle branch of the National Archives.

This latest step seeks a court order from Judge John Coughenour in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to put a stop to the efforts of (PBRB), an obscure federal agency that led the secretive process in 2019 to target the Seattle facility for closure, and that took steps late last year to expedite the sale.

Documents filed by Ferguson鈥檚 office Thursday , and 聽from historians, tribes and heritage organizations describing the role of the Seattle facility and its value to the region. A spokesperson for the Attorney General鈥檚 office said the motion will likely come before the court sometime in late January, and the AG will likely present oral arguments as part of the process.

On Tuesday, January 19, the Attorney General will convene a public meeting (via Zoom)聽to gather stakeholder input 鈥� which the PBRB neglected to do prior to choosing to dispose of the Seattle property.

UPDATE, 1/6: On Tuesday, Jan. 5, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik found in favor of Attorney General Bob Ferguson鈥檚 鈥淔reedom of Information Act鈥� (or 鈥淔OIA鈥�) lawsuit seeking documents from the obscure federal agency known as the Public Buildings Reform Board (PBRB) that originally targeted the Seattle branch of the National Archives for closure and sale. The PBRB must now produce all documents related to their process (and the decision to close and sell the Seattle facility) in the next few weeks.

In a statement to 成人X站 Radio late Tuesday, Ferguson wrote, 鈥淭he federal government violated the law by withholding these records. A federal judge ruled that the government doesn鈥檛 get to hide the ball from the public on how it made its decision to sell our Archives building.鈥�

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ORIGINAL STORY, PUBLISHED 1/4:聽

An obscure part of the Trump Administration 鈥� the 鈥� has been planning for more than a year to sell a warehouse and 10-acre parcel of land near Magnuson Park in Seattle and move its contents to California and Missouri.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson 鈥� and 40 tribes and other heritage groups in the Pacific Northwest 鈥� don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 a very good idea.

On Monday, against the federal government to stop the sale of the property, which has been home to the Seattle branch of the National Archives and Record Administration 鈥� and priceless documents, photos, and maps related to Northwest history 鈥� for nearly 60 years.

鈥淭hese federal agencies just don鈥檛 care,鈥� Ferguson said, not mincing any words in criticizing the process that led to the archives facility being targeted for sale with no public or stakeholder input, and the steps taken by the PBRB since their plans were publicized by 成人X站 Radio nearly a year ago.

Ferguson says that after years working in government, he knows when a government agency is truly interested in solving a problem.

鈥淚 also know when someone just frankly doesn’t [care], and they鈥檙e just going to do it their way and they don’t care who they鈥檝e got to run over or what laws they need to break or what they need to do to get what they want,鈥� Ferguson said. 鈥淎nd this is most certainly the latter with this federal agency.鈥�

鈥淭hey had plenty of opportunities to work with us and the 40 different plaintiffs who are part of this lawsuit to reach an outcome that works for everybody, but they鈥檙e plainly just not interested,鈥� Ferguson said.

The Attorney General鈥檚 Office recruited a long list of plaintiffs to join the legal action, including the State of Oregon, and more than three-dozen tribes and heritage organizations.

At a press conference Monday morning announcing the lawsuit, Attorney General Ferguson was joined by Chairman Jeromy Sullivan of ; President Fawn Sharp of the ; Chairman Robert de los Angeles of the ; and President Connie So of the , Greater Seattle Chapter.

The groups represented in the suit comprise what Ferguson described as the 鈥渂roadest coalition鈥� his office has ever assembled for a legal action against the federal government.

Port Gamble S鈥橩lallam Tribe Chairman Jeromy Sullivan expressed disappointment that the tribes only learned about the proposed sale 鈥� as well as a subsequent meeting for tribal representatives held in February 2020 in Seattle 鈥� from the media, because the federal government is required by law to consult with tribes on matters that affect them.

鈥淕etting notified that something like this is happening without having a conversation about it at all, getting notified of a meeting from a news outlet rather than the federal government was pretty frustrating,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淎nd the lack of tribal leadership there [at the meeting] because there was no notification of these meetings, … all of these things were pretty frustrating for our team and for our tribe.鈥�

Chairman Sullivan described how the federal records housed in Seattle play a critical role in understanding his tribe鈥檚 history, and also in managing the tribe鈥檚 contemporary relationship with the federal government.

Citing a recent project to understand the role of Indian Island and Port Townsend in the tribe鈥檚 history, Sullivan said that spending time at the Seattle branch of the National Archives 鈥渨as really important research, and it verified all the things that we had talked about in oral history over the years.鈥�

鈥淲e learned how we were pushed off of for the Navy … [and how] we were also pushed out of Port Townsend because a mill was going in there,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淲hile we knew that [these incidents] had happened, they were verified by the archives.鈥�

OCA Asian Pacific Advocates Greater Seattle Chapter President Connie So said the documents preserved in Seattle related to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act are 鈥渃ritical鈥� to understanding Chinese and Chinese American people who left little other records in the United States before 1950.

鈥淭hese documents include precious information about families, marriages, lifestyles, occupations, businesses, land ownership, religion, food, medicine, travels to and from China, networking organizations, and other information that would be otherwise lost,鈥� So said.

The National Archives facility is fundamental to our Asian Pacific American communities,鈥� So said. 鈥淐utting access to these important historical records would be devastating.鈥�

Also taking part in the press conference were members of Ferguson鈥檚 staff, including Lauryn Fraas, one of the attorneys leading the National Archives effort. Both Ferguson and Fraas spoke of delays in receiving what should have been routine documents from PBRB, the Office of Management and Budget, General Services Administration, and the National Archives and Records Administration.

Fraas said many of the documents so far received are heavily redacted, including an email from OMB staff dated Oct. 16, 2019 鈥� nearly three months before the decision was made to sell the Seattle facility 鈥� that mentions 鈥淩ed Flag Objections鈥� to the potential sale. An attachment mentioned in the email was not provided to the Attorney General鈥檚 Office. Ferguson said that attorneys for the federal government had sought to delay providing additional documents until after the Seattle facility would be on the market and potentially already sold.

Ferguson鈥檚 suit announced Monday will seek 鈥渋njunctive relief鈥� to shut down the proposed sale of the facility, and, as such, he expects the matter to be before a judge sometime in the next several days. Ferguson told聽成人X站 Radio in early December that the lawsuit was prompted by steps taken by the PBRB in October 鈥� which the PBRB did not publicize 鈥� to expedite the sale of the Seattle facility and nearly a dozen other federal properties. No objections have been raised to the sale of those other properties, which include a General Services Administration warehouse in Auburn.

鈥淲e’ve had to file [earlier] lawsuits, for crying out loud, just to get public records that we should be entitled to,鈥� Ferguson said. 鈥淚t’s exactly the kind of thing that drives people crazy about government. Government doesn’t listen, doesn’t seem to care, doesn’t want to find a solution.鈥�

鈥淎nd so it’s unfortunate we have to come to a lawsuit and put the resources into that,鈥� Ferguson said. 鈥淏ut that’s where we’re at.鈥�

成人X站 Radio reached out to Secretary of State Kim Wyman鈥檚 office for her reaction to Ferguson鈥檚 suit, but has not yet heard back. Secretary Wyman has been that would keep the federal archives 鈥� the materials, if not necessarily the facility 鈥� in the Evergreen State.

For members of the general public who want to weigh in on the proposed closure and sale of the Seattle facility of the National Archives, Ferguson鈥檚 office has scheduled a public meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle鈥檚 Morning News and read more from him鈥�here. If you have a story idea, please email Feliks鈥�here.