Representative Melanie Stambaugh (R-Puyallup) has been prosecuted by the Legislative Ethics Board in Olympia for embedding videos on her personal Facebook page. The state created these videos, and them made them public by uploading them to Youtube. The Board says Rep. Stambaugh should have linked these videos on her Facebook page instead of having embedded them, and for this she faces an ethics penalty of $220,000. The Board’s decision on Rep. Stambaugh’s matter is expected within days.

Really? A embed is unethical and a link is ethical? This is not a workable standard. Social media is constantly evolving and changing. Embeds and links may be obsolete next month.  Basing a standard for behavior on an ephemeral distinction is not only impractical, it has no connection to right or wrong.      

The unworkable nature of this embed/link distinction became painfully obvious during the prosecution’s hearing in Olympia on December 13^th. Mr. Standifer, the lawyer prosecuting Rep. Stambaugh, was unable to keep the difference straight in his mind. Mr. Standifer told Rep. Stambaugh she should have embedded her videos:

“In fact, you could still have that Facebook page if you did one of two things: 1) Embed the videos instead of linking them…” At time mark 3:44:31.

Observers quickly realized Mr. Standifer had just suggested Rep. Stambaugh commit an act the Board considers unethical. Only after noticing Mr. Buchholz, Counsel to the Board, gesticulating at him did Mr. Standifer realize his mistake, saying:

“….I am sorry (laughing), if you were to link to the videos, thank you...if you were to link to the videos, no wonder Mr. Buchholz motioned to me, I misspoke there, if you were to link to the videos, instead of embedding them..... ”At time mark 3:44:31---3:45:14.

At this point, the case against Rep. Stambaugh collapsed. Everyone in the room understood at that moment that if Mr. Standifer couldn’t keep straight whether it was embedding or linking that is not allowed, then the proceeding against Rep. Stambaugh could have no merit. Even Administrative Law Judge Debra Pierce struggled to maintain her composure, shaking her head and barely suppressing a laugh.    

Last session Rep. Stambaugh was the Ranking Minority Chair of the House Education Committee. On March 9, 2016, Rep. Stambaugh, one of the two leaders of the floor debate on the bill to save charter schools, SB 6194, was successful in convincing members to pass this law. Her political opponents hoped to use this unworkable embed/link distinction to defeat her in the last election. This failed to work, and Rep. Stambaugh was re-elected to represent the 25^th District.    

I don’t see why the state pays to create videos for members of the Legislature in the first place. If all members were required to create their own videos, there would be no issue here.   

Nevertheless, Rep. Melanie Stambaugh, age 26, has given the Legislative Ethics Board a new opportunity to re-examine its rules regarding the sharing of public videos on social media. Otherwise, Washington, a state known as the home of two of the world's largest technology companies, may find itself in the embarrassing position of having declared unethical the sharing of public information on Facebook.