After claiming a “kid from Vancouver” was running an unofficial Twitter account bearing his name and engaging in personal ad hominem attacks in an email in 2023, 19th Legislative District state Rep. Joel McEntire, R-Cathlamet, appears to now be openly running his own personal Facebook page and engaging in some of the same behavior.
This mirrors divisive partisan behavior being normalized at the federal level as official U.S. government social media accounts across multiple platforms are engaging in similar behavior, including posts that are just memes and AI videos or images meant to “trigger” perceived opponents.
Not all of McEntire’s posts are ad hominem or inflammatory in nature, as some are still seriously oriented political statements or endorsements of fellow local Republicans.
And then there are posts like a Sept. 4 entry where McEntire commented, “This guy needs to burn” while reposting an edited video of U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California, originally posted on U.S. President Donald Trump’s page.
The Chronicle contacted McEntire to ask questions about some of the posts, including to confirm it was him posting, but did not receive a response.
Some posts do indicate that he is in direct control of the page, such as an Aug. 9 post featuring selfies he took after a hike with the caption, “I got to summit Mt Adams today. Good climb.”
McEntire also went live on the page with a 19-minute video on local Democratic activist Bentley Freville in an Oct. 16 post.
The page’s introduction states, “This is an unofficial page. If you don’t like it, too bad. (Still a Scottish Lord)” and lists McEntire’s job as “Chief of Mischief at Washington State Legislature.”
While the majority of his posts focus on people or issues within the 19th District in Southwest Washington, some posts are now taking aim at those in neighboring districts — like Toledo Cheese Depot owner Kyle Wheeler, a local community activist who has backed progressive causes and has often clashed with local conservative leaders.
McEntire took issue with a post made by Wheeler commenting on the assassination of Republican activist Charlie Kirk. Kirk is the most recent name on a long list of those killed in politically motivated acts of violence by fellow citizens in this country, which totals 618 people going back to 1975, according to the political think tank Cato Institute.
Wheeler commented, “As a former poster child for targeted political violence locally, I can agree with this statement,” while reposting an Ally Henny post defending those cheering Kirk’s assassination stating, “For a lot of people, this isn’t about someone dying because they had views they disagreed with — it’s deliverance from an oppressor.”
On Sept. 11, McEntire posted “Kyle Wheeler of Lewis County is another leftist who is cheering the death of Charlie Kirk. Feel free to boycott any causes he stands for. He runs the business ‘Toledo Cheese Depot.’ Make sure to get your cheese elsewhere.”
The Chronicle visited the Toledo Cheese Depot earlier this month to find out if the boycott had affected Wheeler’s business at all. A month after Kirk’s assassination and the Facebook posts, Wheeler stated business had basically remained the same.
“It’s tough for me to say because it was right around the time when we had the end-of-summer downturn anyway,” Wheeler said.
He stated he was confused as to how he ended up on McEntire’s radar despite the business not being within the 19th District. Prior to September’s post, Wheeler’s only interaction with McEntire was in 2024.
“He had posted gloating over Terry Carlson, and I was just like, ‘That’s not something that I find acceptable from a representative,’” Wheeler said. “Somehow that made it back to him, and he tagged me in a post calling me a pansy boy. He called me ‘Delicate flower boy.’ I was just like, ‘Buddy, you can call me pansy boy. I’m OK with it.’”
Carlson was McEntire’s Democratic opponent during his 2024 re-election campaign. He defeated Carlson by a margin of 20.3%.
Upon a short conversation between the two after the pansy name-calling, Wheeler stated McEntire told him that he respected Wheeler’s own local political community engagement and wished Wheeler would run against him.
“There was a level of respect given in the process as well, where he’s like, ‘I respect who you are and what you do in the community. I wish you were in the 19th to provide me with an actual challenge,’” Wheeler said. “That was a dig at Terry Carlson still, but yeah.”
While Wheeler stated there was the possibility of McEntire keeping an eye on his own Facebook page following their 2024 interaction, he believes someone within Lewis County tipped him off to the post commenting on Kirk’s assassination.
“Joel definitely interacts with a lot more people that have a lot more reason to sort of come after me than Joel did,” Wheeler said. “That’s where there’s that level of just, ‘Are you just listening to (Lewis County Commissioner) Sean (Swope) or Leah (Sisemore) right now?’ Because they might not be giving you the most accurate things.”
Sisemore, currently a candidate running for Centralia City Council, served a brief stint on the council from 2021 to 2023 before resigning. On McEntire’s post calling for a boycott of Wheeler’s business, Sisemore commented, “He is a cancer in this community.”
While Wheeler did file official complaints with the state House Legislative Ethics Board, alleging McEntire was defaming him through the post and breaking the Legislature’s Code of Conduct, he doesn’t expect much to come of it.
On July 10, 2024, the Legislative Ethics Board dismissed another complaint against McEntire revolving around the 2023 Twitter comments — which alleged McEntire violated the Ethics in Public Service Act by allowing someone else to run a personal social media account.
“The social media account about which complainant alleges respondent posted demeaning comments is a personal account as the House does not permit House legislators to have official Twitter or X accounts. As a result … the Board lacks subject matter jurisdiction to address the complaint allegations,” the Order of Dismissal stated.
Wheeler’s new complaint argued that McEntire’s Facebook page did not state whether or not it was official. Since then, McEntire added “This is an unofficial page.”
“The fact that he did finally clarify that this is a personal page and not a Legislative page, there is that level of acknowledgement that, ‘Yes, at the time that I said this, the lines were blurry enough that there was question, and I need to clarify,’” Wheeler said.
McEntire’s online behavior was the subject of a letter to the editor written by a self-proclaimed Republican earlier this month. The letter, written by Menlo resident Joseph Silva, was titled “Lawmaker’s childish insults and schoolyard antics are an embarrassment.”
“As a U.S. Marine veteran and retired elementary school teacher, I’ve dealt with my share of bullies,” Silva wrote. “I’ve seen them on the playground, in the classroom and, unfortunately, now in our state Legislature. State Rep. Joel McEntire has made a name for himself — not for his leadership, not for his service, but for his childish insults and schoolyard antics. I’m a lifelong Republican, and I take no joy in saying this: Joel McEntire is an embarrassment to our party and to the people he represents. When he calls his constituents “lunatics” and a plethora of other names, he’s not defending conservative values. He’s throwing a tantrum. It’s the kind of behavior I used to correct in a third grader, not expect from a grown man with a public salary. I spent decades teaching kids that calling names doesn’t make you right — it just shows you’ve run out of ideas. Apparently, McEntire skipped that lesson. His idea of political debate is to mock, belittle and bully anyone who dares to question him. For a man who supposedly believes in the First Amendment, he sure seems allergic to hearing other people use it.”
McEntire’s unofficial Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/joel.mcentire.7.
