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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Gay Marriage / 2012 / Politics "Traditional Marriage," Matt Manweller Style

Posted by Goldy on Thu, Nov 1, 2012 at 9:01 AM

Over at HA, we used to refer to Dino Rossi economics advisor Matt Manweller as "the Nutty Professor" for his crazy conservative commentary and his fierce advocacy for slashing the state's minimum wage. The video of him verbally abusing a Democratic activist, in which Manweller describes 300,000 minimum wage workers as "dumber than a doorpost," probably helped cost Rossi the election.

Four years later, Manweller is the Republican nominee for the state house from Central Washington's 13th Legislative District. And he's turning out to be just as fierce a defender of traditional marriage:

Manweller has gone on record against gay marriage, affirming traditional marriage: between one man and one woman.

Or, in the case of Manweller's first marriage, between one man and one girl.

Manweller appears to have met his first wife, Oralynn Reeve, in 1997 at Hurricane High School in Hurricane, Utah, where she was a sophomore and he was a math teacher. According to the school's 1997-1998 yearbook (login required), the then-29-year-old Manweller coached the boys varsity soccer team; Reeve was the team's manager. The couple married in Idaho on June 23, 2000, just weeks after Reeve graduated high school. She was 18, he was 31.

Curiously, that was Manweller's only year teaching at Hurricane High. Double-curiously, it's also the only relevant job experience he excludes from his resume. Huh.

Manweller and Reeve eventually went through a messy divorce (Yakima County court records include birth dates, wedding date, and allegations that Manweller physically threatened and stalked Reeve) that was finalized in April, 2009. Almost immediately thereafter, Manweller traditionally married his second wife, Shelley. They now have two children, including a three-year-old boy.

Yay for traditional marriage!

And Reeve isn't the only young female student with whom Manweller is alleged to have displayed a prurient interest. A former student of his at Central Washington University alleges that he made inappropriate sexual advances to her in 2006. An internal CWU investigation concluded that "evidence exists to suggest" that Manweller violated the university's sexual harassment policies, but that the allegations could not be proven. He was not disciplined.

Manweller's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

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Yakima Herald link is brokeded.

Posted by TVDinner

on November 1, 2012 at 9:23 AM

Maybe he should run for office himself. He could promise sexual access to teenage girls for creepy old men everywhere. I can think of a few regular Slog commenters who would vote for that.

Posted by Ken Mehlman on November 1, 2012 at 9:29 AM

I would love to know how you worded that request for comment, Goldy.

Posted by Knat on November 1, 2012 at 9:36 AM

@1 Looks like Yakima Herald just redid their website and broke all their old links. Fixed it.

@2 Read the piece. He is running for office.

Posted by Goldy on November 1, 2012 at 9:36 AM

His business card:
Matt Manweller
Underage woman nailer!

Posted by zombie eyes on November 1, 2012 at 9:40 AM

@2 Reading comprehension must not be your forte.

Posted by pfffter on November 1, 2012 at 9:49 AM

Goldy -- I was wondering when any MEDIA of any sort would pick up on this story. There is a LOT more to be uncovered here, although I think you have tapped into most of the obvious sources of information here. Sad that Manweller will easily win election next Tuesday, since the district is so heavily Republican (at least outside the city of Ellensburg proper) and his opponent is a Democrat. Hopefully, he will be a one-termer, and get knocked out by a credible GOP party challenger in 2014.

Interesting that Manweller married his first wife in Boise, Idaho -- which is hundreds of miles away from the small town in SW Utah where she was from. Manweller was a PhD graduate student in Eugene, Oregon at the time. Legally, she was 18 and he was 30, so they could have done it anywhere. All the other surrounding states have about a three day waiting period, whereas Idaho will marry you immediately after getting the license.

I guess you didn't find any evidence that Manweller is a Mormon, otherwise we would be hearing about that too. I think Hurricane, UT -- like most of the state outside Salt Lake City and the resort areas -- is pretty heavily LDS. Somehow I seriously doubt that Reeve's parents and relatives were thrilled at all about the romance and marriage, nor would Manweller exactly continued to be welcome in this pretty close-knit community ...

Posted by Richard Pope on November 1, 2012 at 9:51 AM

So between Koster and Manweller, when does child molestation and incest - heterosexual of course - get added to the GOP national platform?

Posted by I_hate_these_guys on November 1, 2012 at 9:53 AM

I drive through Ellensburg every week and every single time I see his campaign sign I can't help but think that Savage might want to solicit his flying monkey's to name a sex act after "Manweller". I'm sorry... so many images come to mind... uhhg!

Posted by Bean on November 1, 2012 at 9:58 AM

@7 Well, Richard, you know I admire your op-research skills. If you manage to dig up any further info, let me know.

Posted by Goldy on November 1, 2012 at 9:58 AM

It's rather unclear what part of Manweller's behavior is outside "tradition" in his part of the world, although I would assume that playing semantical games isn't in his interest.

Posted by anon1256 on November 1, 2012 at 10:28 AM

I've never met him personally, but one of my coworkers is his neighbour, and she says he's a real lowlife, with nothing pleasant to say to anyone. Although she does say his wife is extremely nice.

Posted by gwprod on November 1, 2012 at 11:02 AM

If anyone is in the Ellensburg area this afternoon, we'll be delivering a copy of CWU's report to Rob McKenna when he stops by GOP HQ (on Main Street between 4th and 5th) at 5:00.

Also, see whathappensinthecourthouse.blogspot.com for more on the Manweller affair.

Now the focus needs to be on showing state Republican leadership that he needs to drop out of the election, or be a continuing embarrassment to his party.

Posted by SteveVerhey on November 1, 2012 at 11:31 AM

Posted by SteveVerhey on November 1, 2012 at 11:33 AM

I didn't see Oralynn Reeve in that yearbook. Nothing in text search -- other than the team manager thing, with her not in the team picture. And not listed under the sophomore class at all -- several other Reeve's, but no Oralynn, in the sophomore photos. Pictures are optional of course, but I would say it would be unusual for a student to opt-out of being in the yearbook in a closely knit small town Utah community ...

Posted by Richard Pope on November 1, 2012 at 11:40 AM

@15 To be clear, a photo caption on page 135:

Varsity Soccer Team: Front Row, Left to Right:Stan Dutton, Dalyon Ruesch, Bryce Jones, Aaron Olsen, Anthony Horrocks, Nate Shaw, Glen Ballard. Back Row, Left to Right: Coach Matt Manweller, Brigham Roberts, Richard Kiser, Trevor Jensen, Cory Ballard, Matt Scott, Pat McCarthy, Luke Wilson, Ben Burdette, Craig LeFevre. Not Pictured: Jake Weaver, Tim Buckner and Oralynn Reeve (manager).

She's more prominent in the subsequent two yearbooks, and clearly graduated in 2000.

Also, for the record, it's an unusual name, but just to be sure I compared Reeve's graduation picture to a more recent photo online in which her bio states her name as Oralynn Reeve-Manweller. Same person.

Posted by Goldy on November 1, 2012 at 11:50 AM

So, the Stranger considers 18 year old women to be "girls" now.

Noted.

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on November 1, 2012 at 12:27 PM

Oralynn didn't happen to have a sister named Analynn by any chance, did she?

Posted by this guy I know in Spokane on November 1, 2012 at 12:38 PM

@17 I consider 15-year-old girls to be girls. But, you know, if you think it appropriate for a high school teacher to start a relationship with a student, whatever her age, please make your point.

Posted by Goldy on November 1, 2012 at 12:43 PM

@7: Hurricane isn't just heavily LDS, it's heavily fundamentalist, breakaway, polygamist LDS territory. The surrounding countryside is filled with polygamist compounds.

The Virgin River flows right through town. The jokes are legion.

Posted by gnossos on November 1, 2012 at 12:46 PM

Gnossos @ 20

I think you have Hurricane, UT confused with Hildale, UT and Colorado City, AZ, which are about 40 miles away. The latter towns are the stronghold of the polygamist FLDS church, which has about 6,000 members, mostly in those two towns. From everything I see, Hurricane is typical of small-town Utah. Not very much in the way of open polygamists there.

Posted by Richard Pope on November 1, 2012 at 1:08 PM

Richard, you're right that Hildale and Colorado City are strongholds for FLDS, but that stretch of 59 that runs between them was lousy with smaller breakaway groups. It's been many years since I spent much time in Hurricane and its population has shifted fairly dramatically due to the proximity to Zion and the tourist trade, but back in the late 80s and early 90s the non-Mormon folks I knew in Hurricane told lots of stories about their wacky neighbors. Again, not in town so much, but on the outskirts.

Posted by gnossos on November 1, 2012 at 2:05 PM

People who tend to think they are the smartest people in the room are often the ones who write their own rules. Basically they don't think their shit stinks. If the allegations made against him at CWU are true he has not only violated the rights of young women to not have to deal with some creepy professor requesting sexual favors in exchange for an education but he would have violated the tax payers right to not have to provide him with a venue to be an absolute creep. If he does go to Olympia...advice to any young woman who has contact with him...have a recording device on at ALL times.

Posted by curtisp on November 1, 2012 at 3:43 PM

@19
"Or, in the case of Manweller's first marriage, between one man and one girl"

She was 18 when they married, you denigrate him for MARRYING, not DATEING, a girl.

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on November 2, 2012 at 1:09 AM

Holy crap - he met her when she was a sophomore and married her immediately after she graduated. Wife # 1 finally divorced him. Gee, wonder why? There is a pattern to his behavior. Regardless, you are missing the whole point.

Posted by curtisp on November 2, 2012 at 3:56 PM