Former state senator accused of rape rejected in bid to join KUOW board

KUOW’s board of directors Thursday rejected the nomination of former state Sen. Joe Fain to the radio station’s governing body.

His nomination generated controversy with listeners and staff because Fain was accused of rape by a Seattle city employee in 2018 and was the subject of a KUOW investigation into the allegation.

A rising star in the state Republican party at the time, Fain denied the allegations. He lost his second reelection bid that November.

An executive committee of KUOW’s governing body voted on finalists for the board seats, excluding Fain’s name from the approved slate of applicants. The full board will meet again on Sept. 18 for a final vote on a slate of new appointments. Fain’s name will not be included.

Members of the board did not respond to questions about Fain’s application for board membership and did not comment on their decision to remove him from the applicant pool.

RELATED: KUOW board considers appointing former Washington state senator accused of rape

Board Chair Andy McGovern did not respond to questions emailed to him after Thursday’s meeting, though he said last week that a member of the governing body encouraged Fain to apply for the nomination.

Fain, the president and CEO of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, did not respond to a request for this story.

In an email to KUOW last week, he said: “KUOW has built a reputation for rigorous, independent reporting — including coverage of me during my time in the Senate. The newsroom's editorial independence from the board is fundamental to that integrity, and it should remain that way.”

KUOW’s full 21-member board oversees the station’s finances and recruits its own members. They also hire the station’s president, a non-voting member of the board. They do not manage the newsroom.

Members of KUOW’s staff spoke at the committee meeting Thursday, criticizing the board for considering Fain.

Zaki Hamid, director of community engagement, said he’d heard more complaints than usual from the public regarding Fain after KUOW covered his nomination last week. Some threatened to withhold funding if the board approved Fain. Board members did not address concerns about future donations to KUOW.

Katie Campbell, a staffer at KUOW and a steward for the SAG-AFTRA union that represents the station’s reporters and producers, expressed concerns over the board’s unwillingness to answer questions from staff at the meeting.

“I expect better from our board, and so does our union,” Campbell said.

In 2018, Candace Faber, a tech industry liaison for the City of Seattle, accused Fain of raping her 11 years earlier in Washington, D.C., on the night of her graduation from a master’s degree program at Georgetown University.

Faber went public with the accusation on Twitter after watching Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.

“I’ve been terrified of running into you since moving home and seeing your name everywhere. I’m done being silent,” Faber wrote.

She did not report the incident to the police, according to KUOW’s reporting at the time. She told KUOW Thursday that she has not taken legal action against Fain.

Fain did not respond to KUOW for that 2018 story. He denied the allegations to The Seattle Times, saying, “Any allegation of this serious nature deserves to be heard and investigated for all parties involved.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: Because this article directly involves KUOW, the station hired an independent editor, Jonathan Martin, to oversee coverage and editing of this story.

KUOW's Scott Greenstone contributed reporting to this article.