成人X站

Socialist State Rep. Shaun Scott is pre-emptively blocking journalists and constituents on X in order to avoid criticism or uncomfortable questions. It’s likely unconstitutional.

In , two public school board members blocked parents from their personal social media accounts after receiving frequent critical comments. The key issue was whether public officials violate the First Amendment when they block constituents from platforms used for official communication. The Supreme Court ruled that officials can be held liable if they were clearly acting in their official capacity when using those accounts.

Scott is blocking people on his @Scott43LD account, which he uses for official state legislative purposes. His account lists his legislative position, describes the communities he represents, and links directly to his state legislature website. The content is almost exclusively about his work as a state representative and includes official communications concerning his state legislative duties, including legislation he backs and legislative town halls.

It is distinct from his personal account, @eyesonthestorm, and his campaign account, @ElectScott2019, which may block whoever he wants, so long as he doesn’t start using those accounts for official legislative communication.

Socialist Rep. Shaun Scott created a legislative account and proactively blocked me lol.

鈥� Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz)

Shaun Scott blocking media and constituents is likely illegal

Neither Scott nor his staff denied blocking media, activists, and constituents from the legislative account. Scott did not respond to a request for comment, but his communications director explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that, “Rep. Scott鈥檚 only official legislative social media account that is owned by the House of Representatives is his FB page, and staff don鈥檛 block people.”

Washington State House of Representatives’ Chief Clerk, Bernard Dean, similarly explained that Scott is only authorized to use Facebook for his legislative communication. He did not seem aware of Scott’s X account being used legislatively. And just because the House of Representatives didn’t set up Scott’s X account does not mean it’s not an official account. Indeed, virtually the same content is posted to both the official Facebook account and Scott’s legislative X account.

“While we have no control over such accounts, the Legislative Ethics Board (LEB) has advised members to differentiate unofficial accounts from official accounts by including a disclaimer that clearly identifies unofficial sites (see LEB Advisory Opinion 20-1). The LEB has also sanctioned members for activities on their private social media accounts when such activities are found to violate the State Ethics Act (e.g., inappropriately using state resources on their private accounts),” he explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Shaun Scott鈥檚 X account is used in his capacity as a state legislator

According to a 2020 advisory opinion issued by the Washington State Legislative Ethics Board, legislators are cautioned that their use of social media for official purposes transforms the platform into an extension of their public office. It’s difficult to see how this wouldn’t apply to his X account, @Scott43LD, given it’s used near exclusively on legislative issues and he has separate personal and campaign accounts.

鈥淚f the purpose of the account is to facilitate communication between the legislator and the public on legislative issues, then it becomes part of the legislator鈥檚 official role,鈥� the Ethics Board stated in Advisory Opinion 2020-01.

The opinion further warns that blocking users from such accounts may violate ethical standards if done to suppress criticism or restrict access to information. 鈥淏locking or banning individuals… may be construed as a violation of the public鈥檚 right to access information or to communicate with their elected officials,鈥� the Board wrote.

While lawmakers are allowed to manage their personal social media presence, the line becomes blurred when those accounts are used for official communications. The Ethics Board emphasized that 鈥渢he more a social media account is used to engage in legislative work, the more likely it is to be considered official.鈥�

Who is Shaun Scott blocking?

Scott blocked @JasonRantz on X. Not only am I a member of the media, I’m unfortunately a constituent of Scott. “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH reviewed Scott’s account after he explained he would be doing what he could to help students suspended from the University of Washington after an illegal occupation of an engineering building on campus.

The students Scott vowed to help do not hide their support for Hamas, celebrating the October 7 terrorist attack against Israel in a manifesto posted to explain why they occupied the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building. UW administrators said the occupiers were responsible for over $1 million in damage.

“The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH was reviewing whether Scott used his legislative X account to further promote antisemitism when I noticed he had blocked @JasonRantz. It doesn’t appear that I’ve ever even tweeted to this X account before.

I鈥檝e gotten confirmation from S.U.P.E.R. UW that the arrested protestors have all been released. If they need additional support, I鈥檒l do my best to amplify how we may be able to help.

鈥� Shaun Scott 馃尮馃�� (@eyesonthestorm)

After noting he blocked me, others about their account being blocked, including other Washingtonians, including constituents and media members.

Shaun Scott doesn’t like being challenged

Scott is notoriously thin-skinned and hypersensitive. He even created a campaign ad complaining that he had a challenger in his race for state representative.

鈥淯nder normal circumstances, a candidate that is running in a very progressive district with the endorsement of an outgoing 30-year incumbent and with significant in-district name recognition, and the fundraising and volunteer energy to show it, that candidate would normally be running unopposed,鈥� he said in the video.

His odd campaign video even earned the ire of a then-Stranger reporter.

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