KUOW board considers appointing former Washington state senator accused of rape

Updated at 12:04 p.m.

KUOW’s board of directors is considering appointing former State Senator Joe Fain, CEO of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce — who was accused in 2018 of raping a woman 11 years earlier.

KUOW in 2018 published an in-depth investigation about the allegations, which Fain has denied. When The Stranger reported on the KUOW board’s consideration of Fain this week, Fain said the board had approached him about joining.

RELATED: ‘You raped me.’ Former Seattle official accuses Washington state Sen. Joe Fain of rape

"KUOW has built a reputation for rigorous, independent reporting — including coverage of me during my time in the Senate," Fain said in a written statement to KUOW's newsroom following the publication of this story. "The newsroom's editorial independence from the board is fundamental to that integrity, and it should remain that way."

He added, "In fact, having board members who have been subjects of KUOW's reporting demonstrates the strength of that editorial firewall — it shows the organization's confidence in its newsroom's autonomy."

Fain served two terms in the Washington State Senate from 2010 to 2018. He lost his second reelection bid in 2018, after the rape allegations surfaced, but Fain has remained influential. He helped draw the state’s political maps in 2021, a process so shrouded in secrecy that Fain and three other commissioners were fined for violating state transparency law.

KUOW’s board, whose 21 directors hire the station’s president and oversee its finances and long-term sustainability, are not involved in day-to-day management at KUOW. They recruit their own members and KUOW staff don’t vote on those members.

KUOW President and CEO Tina Pamintuan said that she and other staff learned of Fain’s consideration this week, and since it was reported by The Stranger, she’s heard from KUOW staff and listeners.

“There’s some big concern here, there are some passionate voices,” Pamintuan said in an interview. “I’m trying to take this moment — where the spotlight has been very much put on this process — to understand it better.”

Pamintuan said she’s talking to board leadership about any changes that might be necessary in the recruitment process. She is a non-voting member of the board, which hired her earlier this year. Pamintuan started at KUOW earlier this month.

KUOW Board Chair Andy McGovern said Fain was encouraged to apply by a current board member.

“The Governance Committee met this past Tuesday, August 26th to move a set of candidates forward, and Mr. Fain was on that list,” McGovern wrote in an email. “The final vote will take place on September 18th. We take all available information into account as we make our decisions about who to move forward in the process. No decisions have been made.”

Two other board members declined to comment when reached by KUOW: Jim Simon, a veteran journalist who’s been providing the board with updates from its recruitment taskforce, and Laura Ruderman, a former state representative who was involved in the recruitment process.

‘I’m done being silent’

In 2018, in the midst of the #MeToo movement and Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, a former City of Seattle employee tweeted that Fain had raped her in Washington, D.C., in 2007, on the night she graduated from a master’s program at Georgetown University.

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

Faber did not report the incident to police, but her mother said she noticed something was wrong at the time and Faber told her about the alleged rape in 2009.

“Any allegation of this serious nature deserves to be heard and investigated for all parties involved,” Joe Fain told The Seattle Times in 2018. “I invite and will cooperate with any inquiry. I ask everyone to show respect to Ms. Faber and to the process.”

An investigation was initiated by the state Senate, but Democrats dropped it in December 2018 after Fain lost reelection and Republicans said it was no longer the Senate's concern.

Former UW President Ana Marie Cauce and former Democratic Washington Governor Christine Gregoire have vouched for Fain in the past, when he was hired as president of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce in 2019.

Pamintuan emphasized that KUOW “stands by the journalism of its newsroom without reservation.”

“There were stories that were done at the time that were rigorously fact-checked, that were corroborated,” Pamintuan said. “I as a CEO am speaking for the organization, but I also know that the board supports the values of KUOW as an organization, and it’s important that the public knows and understands that.”

Read Fain's full statement to KUOW's newsroom below:

I believe deeply in the mission of public media, especially as independent journalism faces unprecedented attacks.

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.

The board’s role is to focus on governance and supporting the station's long-term sustainability, not influencing news coverage. In fact, having board members who have been subjects of KUOW's reporting demonstrates the strength of that editorial firewall — it shows the organization's confidence in its newsroom's autonomy.

I've spent my career in public service, from authoring the state's paid family leave law to protecting DACA students. Supporting public media in a volunteer capacity feels like a natural extension of that work.

KUOW's newsroom should and will continue to cover stories as they see fit, regardless of who serves on the board. That independence is exactly what makes the station worth supporting.