Unchecked Power vs. The Press: The March Reckoning

March has proven to be a relentless, defining month for accountability in Washington state.

Over the last thirty days, we published articles that uncovered systemic local failures, exposed deep betrayals of public trust, and, predictably, triggered desperate legal maneuvers designed to silence the press.

But independent journalism does not back down when the powerful get uncomfortable.

Operating entirely without corporate backing means we don’t have to look the other way to appease advertisers or local political allies. We follow the paper trails, ask the hard questions, and answer only to you, the citizens. It is because of our paid subscribers and grassroots supporters that we can continue to shine a light on these systemic abuses without fear of retaliation.

As we close the book on March, here is a look back at the critical stories that shaped this month of reckoning.

The Clallam County Court Crisis

The dysfunction within the Clallam County Superior Court took center stage this month, culminating in unprecedented state-level intervention.

The Investigation into Judge Basden

The month began with the bombshell revelation that the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct officially opened an investigation into Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden.

The probe centers on a formal complaint alleging that Judge Basden has repeatedly endangered children and domestic violence victims by allowing his ecclesiastical role as a Stake President in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to dictate his rulings.

Further investigation exposed the ideological foundation behind Basden’s rulings.

We uncovered courtroom video of Judge Basden praising the “fascinating” testimony of an expert witness whose work is rooted in the debunked “Parental Alienation Syndrome,” which was originally created by disgraced Dr. Richard Gardner, and is specifically designed to discredit abuse survivors.

The Brian Parker Severance

The fallout from Judge Basden’s administrative decisions also cost taxpayers dearly. After fast-tracking the appointment of Brian Parker, the court was forced to terminate Parker amid mounting public outrage.

However, Parker did not walk away empty-handed. Our reporting revealed that he received a massive taxpayer-funded severance package of nearly $70,000.

With Parker gone, the county has officially opened the search for his replacement, an unelected position that commands a $213,714 annual salary and wields immense power over the county’s most vulnerable residents.

The public is now demanding to know if court administrators will finally conduct thorough background checks, or if red flags will once again be ignored.

While the Family Court was dealing with the fallout of Commissioner Parker, the county’s criminal justice system was rocked by an even more dangerous scandal.

The Johnny Watts Arrest

The integrity of the county’s recovery programs was shattered when Johnny Watts, the former Clallam County Drug Court Coordinator, was arrested following a highly volatile armed standoff with law enforcement.

The man formerly tasked with overseeing the rehabilitation of the county’s most vulnerable addicts was himself heavily armed and operating dangerously outside the law.

Perhaps most alarming was the revelation of how Watts secured his position in the first place. Our investigation uncovered that Watts had a documented history of domestic violence.

Yet, the Clallam County court administration either completely failed to conduct a basic background check, or they discovered the violent history and hired him anyway.

Dismantling a Fentanyl Ring

The arrest of Watts was the thread that unraveled a massive criminal enterprise. Information stemming from the Watts standoff led directly to a major law enforcement operation targeting a heavily armed fentanyl distribution network.

Operating out of the 7 Cedars Casino, the ring was allegedly orchestrated by Dylan Marsh-Backs.

The subsequent raid and takedown of Marsh-Backs’s network removed a significant amount of lethal narcotics and high-powered weaponry from the streets of the Olympic Peninsula.

The fact that a key figure in the county’s drug recovery apparatus was operating in the same orbit represents a catastrophic failure of institutional oversight.

Administrative Stonewalling

Instead of embracing transparency following the arrest of their Drug Court Coordinator, Clallam County court administrators slammed the doors shut.

When we filed public records requests to understand the depth of the relationship between Watts and the judges who oversaw him, the court aggressively deployed General Rule 31.1 to hide the truth.

Administrators weaponized this judicial exemption rule to explicitly withhold and redact internal communications between Johnny Watts and Judge Brent Basden.

The refusal to release these emails begs a critical question: what is the court hiding about the relationship between a compromised, armed court employee and the judge who supervised him?

While we were breaking these stories, the local legacy media—namely the Peninsula Daily News and the Sequim Gazette—remained noticeably silent.

A Corporate Monopoly’s Silence

The failure of the local corporate press to cover the implosion of the Clallam County Superior Court or the armed standoff of a county official is a feature of a monopolized media landscape.

The local papers are owned by Carpenter Media Group, a massive out-of-state corporate conglomerate.

As our reporting revealed this month, Carpenter Media is currently battling its own federal litigation, including a recently exposed Family and Medical Leave Act lawsuit in Georgia.

When local news is controlled by a corporate behemoth more concerned with managing its own liability and maintaining cozy relationships with local power brokers than exposing the truth, the public is often left in the dark.

An Inverted Justice System

This month, our coverage highlighted the terrifying reality of a justice system with inverted priorities—one that aggressively weaponizes its authority against whistleblowers and journalists while extending baffling leniency to violent offenders.

Look no further than the brutal attack in Port Angeles just this past weekend, where State Senator Mike Chapman had to literally throw his body over a 71-year-old neighbor to shield the elderly man from a massive, 6-foot-8 attacker who was kicking him in the head.

Despite the severity of the unprovoked assault, the clear danger to the public, and the suspect’s violent resistance against arresting police officers, Judge Brent Basden—the same judge currently under state investigation for his family court rulings—stepped in to protect the attacker.

Recognizing the extreme threat, prosecutors begged the court to set bail at $50,000.

Judge Basden rejected the State’s recommendation and drastically slashed the bail to a mere $15,000, paving the way for a violent offender to swiftly return to the streets.

When the court protects the abusers and punishes those who speak out, the entire community is put at risk.

While the implosion of the Clallam County courthouse demanded intense local focus, our reporting in March also cast a wide net across Washington state, exposing deep-rooted institutional cover-ups and a sweeping pattern of professional misconduct.

The LDS Church Abuse Lawsuits

The ideological bias we exposed in Judge Basden’s courtroom is part of a much larger, systemic issue regarding how powerful institutions handle allegations of abuse.

This month, our coverage expanded to detail explosive new lawsuits filed against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We reported on the harrowing, coordinated legal actions emerging from Seattle and Ridgefield, Washington, where victims allege the LDS Church actively concealed decades of rampant sexual abuse by local church leaders.

The lawsuits paint a horrifying picture of an institution that utilizes a secretive, internal “help line” overseen by high-priced corporate lawyers to ensure abuse reports are buried rather than forwarded to law enforcement.

By covering these statewide lawsuits, we are drawing a direct, undeniable line between the institutional protectionism practiced by LDS leadership in Salt Lake City and the dangerous family court rulings happening right here in Clallam County.

A Sweep of Professional Misconduct

Beyond the courthouse and the church, March was also a month of reckoning for licensed professionals who abused their authority.

Our reporting brought a harsh light to a statewide sweep of professional misconduct. We detailed the disgraceful disbarments and disciplinary actions taken against corrupt Washington attorneys, specifically focusing on the severe ethical breaches of lawyers like Monro and Alipuria, who betrayed their clients’ trust for personal gain.

Equally critical was our exposure of dangerous medical professionals.

We published the alarming details behind the state-mandated suspensions of practitioners like Jech, Sprauer, and Nguyen.

By publicizing these medical license revocations, we ensure that patients across the state are informed about the individuals operating within their healthcare systems, preventing these suspended providers from simply moving to a new town and quietly reopening their doors.

The events of March 2026 have made one thing abundantly clear: the systems designed to protect the public in Washington state are failing, and the institutions tasked with oversight are often complicit in the cover-up.

From the judge’s chambers in Clallam County to the highest levels of the LDS Church, and from compromised county drug programs to the corporate boardrooms of out-of-state media monopolies, the rot runs deep.

But this month also proved that these systems are not invincible.

When a rogue Family Court Commissioner abused his power, public pressure and relentless reporting forced his removal. When a Drug Court Coordinator operated a dangerous double life, the truth came out. And when a Superior Court Judge allowed his ideology to endanger children, the state was forced to launch a formal investigation.

Accountability is possible, but it requires vigilance.

As we move into April, our mission remains unchanged. We will not be intimidated by legal threats, administrative stonewalling, or the silence of the corporate press. We will continue to follow the paper trails, sit in the courtrooms, and amplify the voices of the victims this system tries to crush.

However, doing this work—and fighting the inevitable legal retaliation that comes with exposing powerful people—takes resources. We do not answer to advertisers, and we do not answer to the political establishment. We answer to you.