Matt Shea and his allies dream of rebuilding An...
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/ News » Local News September 26, 2019 An apocalyptic book series shows the type of society Rep. Matt Shea and his allies dream of rebuilding By Daniel Walters W hen Jay Pounder leaked "Biblical Basis for War," a document authored by state Rep. Matt Shea, it focused a national spotlight on the controversial Spokane Valley politician. Last month, as the state House of Representatives opened an investigation into whether Shea promoted political violence, Pounder, a former Shea ally, followed it up with a sequel, leaking a document called "Restoration." Young Kwak photo Spokane Valley Rep. Matt Shea, pictured in 2014. He's currently under investigation to determine if he's ever promoted political violence.
Transcript of Matt Shea and his allies dream of rebuilding An...
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News » Local News September 26, 2019
An apocalyptic book series shows the type of society Rep.Matt Shea and his allies dream of rebuildingBy Daniel Walters
When Jay Pounder leaked "Biblical Basis for War," a document authored by state Rep. Matt Shea, it focused
a national spotlight on the controversial Spokane Valley politician.
Last month, as the state House of Representatives opened an investigation into whether Shea promoted
political violence, Pounder, a former Shea ally, followed it up with a sequel, leaking a document called
"Restoration."
Young Kwak photoSpokane Valley Rep. Matt Shea, pictured in 2014. He's currently under investigation to determine if he's ever promotedpolitical violence.
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That document imitates the outline style of "Biblical Basis of War" exactly, but instead of focusing on warfare
tactics, it appears to be a blueprint for establishing a new society after a catastrophic event.
In the society outlined in "Restoration," abortions, unions, civil forfeiture, monopolies, centralized welfare,
property taxes and "teachers under 30" would be banned. The Constitution would be changed to glorify Jesus
Christ, and Christianity would get "elevated protection." Immigration would be tied to the existing ethnic
percentage.
One bullet point reads: "Reinstitute Capital Punishment for Murder, Rape, Molestation, Bestiality, Kidnapping,
Adultery (discuss), Treason, and Sodomy."
Unlike "Biblical Basis of War," Shea hasn't admitted to writing the "Restoration" document, yet he's ignored
repeated opportunities to deny it.
Yet former Spokane Valley City Councilman Mike Munch, who listed Shea as a reference when he applied for
the council, tells the Inlander that he does recognize "Restoration." But he argues that it's not fair to simply
refer to it as Shea's document.
"Many people were involved in forming it," Munch writes in an email. He explains that there was a meeting
where a group started out with a basic outline of the "patriot"-led new society imagined in the post-
apocalyptic book series, 299 Days, and then modi�ed it by adding or subtracting sections.
"This was all done as a �ctional study on what to do in the event of a catastrophic failure of the United States,"
Munch says. "As I recall we spent a day discussing and adding details to it and then never revisited it."
Munch did not respond to follow-up questions asking for more details. Among the local sphere of self-
described preppers (survivalists who stock up on food and ammunition), the 299 Days �ction series is well-
known.
Described as a "best seller" by its pseudonymous author, Glen Tate, the book series sparked both a spinoff
authored by Tate's new wife — she uses the pen name Shelby Gallagher — and its own line of AR-15-style
ri�es.
Both former Spokane Valley Councilman Caleb Collier and former Spokane County Treasurer Rob Chase say
they've read several books in the series. Shea has repeatedly called it crucial reading for patriots to prepare for
the days ahead.
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"Read Glen Tate's and Shelby Gallagher's books," Shea says on Tate's July 3 Prepping 2.0 podcast. "They're
awesome primers."
299 Days follows the character Grant Matson, a Washington state lawyer-turned-prepper based on the author,
across 10 books and 3,600 pages. It starts with �ghts with his then-wife about stocking up on food and ammo,
and then leads to the partial �nancial collapse of the United States, gun�ghts to liberate Olympia, and �nally
to the "restoration" of "New Washington," a new, more libertarian society.
Tate did not respond to requests for interviews. But in his recorded speeches and podcasts, Tate's argued a
governmental collapse is both an inevitability and an opportunity. He presents his book series as a roadmap
for rebuilding the kind of world he wants to live in.
"America as it presently exists is completely unsustainable and will not be sustained and will go down kicking
and screaming as described in the books," Tate tells his supporters on a 2015 YouTube video. "You're going to
be these leaders who are called upon to form the next government, and the next government is going to be
better."
SHIT-HITS-THE-FAN FICTION
Non�ction author J.M. Berger, who studies online extremism, says that post-apocalyptic survivalist �ction is
actually a fairly large genre.
"Dystopian and apocalyptic novels are extremely useful tools for shaping all manner of radical and extreme
politics," Berger says. "They offer a crisis narrative that can be more convincing than a non�ction tract on the
same subject, thanks to their immersive nature."
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Most infamously, there's The Turner Diaries, a racist, anti-government novel that inspired Oklahoma City
bomber Timothy McVeigh. The work was also in�uential among militia, patriot and anti-government types.
To be clear, 299 Days is not a white supremacist series. Instead, the new society in 299 Days purports to
essentially end racism, and not through segregation. Unlike the "Restoration" outline Pounder leaked, in the
New Washington created at the end of Tate's books there's nothing about basing immigration on ethnic
percentages. In 299 Days, the death penalty is prescribed for corrupt contractors, but not for "sodomy."
Separation of church and state is maintained.
For the most part, Tate envisions New Washington as a libertarian paradise, de�ned by �at taxes, minimal
regulation and self-reliance.
But some passages may raise eyebrows. In New Washington, rape sends you to jail for life, but requires two
witnesses for a conviction.
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"Gone were the days of an ex-wife in a divorce case sending a man to jail and ruining his life with no
evidence," Tate writes.
And no more restraining orders.
"In New Washington the way to prevent people from harassing you was now to exercise your right to keep and
bear arms," Tate writes.
The new Constitution not only includes a ban against gun registration, but also hands the citizens the
enumerated "right to overthrow any government attempting to infringe their rights."
On his Prepping 2.0 podcast, Tate explicitly says that the goals of what he'd like to see in a new post-collapse
Constitution "are all contained in 10 books — 299 Days."
"Almost every single person in this book is real," Tate says, donning a fake beard and glasses, in a YouTube
interview. "It's the story of people I know and how I think things will turn out for them."
BASED ON A TRUE STORY
From early on, Tate has bragged to readers that he was bringing them an inside scoop. He had a front-row seat
in government in Olympia and had a front-row seat on governmental corruption.
"'Glen' keeps his real identity a secret so he won't lose his job because, in his line of work, being a prepper and
questioning the motives of the government is not appreciated," Tate writes at the beginning of each book.
Tate obscures his face with props like a fake beard, a "Patiently Awaiting the Collapse" sticker, and an "I Miss
America" bandana. In the photo announcing his 2018 marriage to Gallagher, he covered their picture with a
heart.
But according to records, "Glen Tate" is actually Greg Overstreet, who served as Washington state's open
government ombudsman in the Attorney General's Of�ce from 2005-07.
Overstreet, who also goes by Stephen H.G. Overstreet, has also served as an attorney for two powerful
Republican lobbying groups — the Building Industry Association of Washington and the Freedom Foundation
— and has been a lobbyist for payday loan operator Moneytree.
It's not just that the biography of the main character of the series is almost identical to Overstreet. Overstreet's
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2017 divorce papers explicitly award him all "business or intellectual property interests" for "299 Days."
As for Gallagher, Tate's wife and fellow prepper author? According to the Jefferson County auditor's of�ce, last
year Overstreet married Anne Marie Gurney, the Freedom Foundation's former Oregon state director and a
Portland-area state representative candidate in 2012.
Today, Overstreet is an attorney for Security Services Northwest and Fort Discovery, two organizations run by a
Joe D'Amico — a man who's been tangled up with various legal and regulatory battles in Jefferson County for
nearly 15 years. The latest con�ict stems from D'Amico's planned Cedar Hills Recreational Facility, a proposed
40-acre gun range and recreational facility on the Olympic Peninsula.
And at �rst, a group of property owners opposing the project formed the Tarboo Ridge Coalition, simply
worried about the disruption from guns and helicopters.
But then, Tarboo President Scott Freeman says, his nephew stumbled across the 299 Days series. And they
�gured out that Tate had clearly based the character "Joe Tantori" on Joe D'Amico.
"Very, very quickly we realized the issue was much deeper," Freeman says.
Freeman and another Tarboo board member pored through the series. By the end of it, Freeman came away
worried that D'Amico's new facility "was going to be a paramilitary training center for anti-government groups."
After all, according to court documents, D'Amico "conducted military and paramilitary weapons training" at his
previous facility, Fort Discovery in Sequim, Washington.
D'Amico even sold a custom AR-15-style ri�e with "Rally Point" GPS coordinates on it. The coordinates would
lead purchasers to D'Amico's facility, and the gun would grant them access during a serious disaster.
"As in, if you have one of his ri�es, you have an invitation to come to his facility when the collapse comes and
be with like-minded people," Tate writes on his blog in 2014. "We're at a thrilling time in our history."
(After Fort Discovery left its former facility, a judge forced D'Amico to post a notice clarifying that the "Rally
Point" doesn't exist.)
When reached by phone and asked about 299 Days, D'Amico said he didn't know what the Inlander was talking
about, called it a "weird phone call" and hung up. D'Amico did not respond to a follow-up email and phone
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call. However, D'Amico acknowledged being the inspiration of the Joe Tantori character in a 2014 podcast
interview.
Overstreet and the Tarboo Ridge Coalition, meanwhile, continue to be locked in litigation. After Freeman heard
from the Inlander that Tate and Overstreet were the same person, he said, the fact that D'Amico and Overstreet
were working together deepened his concern. "I consider it a threat to our democracy," Freeman says. "This is
an apocalyptic vision."
THE WARM JOY OF GOVERNMENTAL COLLAPSE
This week Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich planned to give an updated version of his "Threats We Face
Presentation" on the local dangers of extremism. Asked about the prepping movement, Knezovich says that he
applauds those who want to be prepared for potential disaster. On the other hand, he accuses Shea and his
allies of actually trying to bring about disaster and collapse.
Shea's supporters say that couldn't be further from the truth.
"Nobody on the conservative spectrum that I am aware of is promoting any type of violence," says Collier, the
former councilman and Shea supporter. "None of the people that I associate with want a government collapse."
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Instead, he says, preppers just want to be prepared for the worst. In a blog post, Tate claims a law-
enforcement friend told him that his 299 Days book series was cited in a Homeland Security training as a
group "fantasizing about the collapse of society." He scoffs, arguing that nobody wants the suffering that
comes with the collapse.
On the other hand, in 299 Days, Tate writes that the central character, Grant Matson, experiences the collapse
with a rush of "warm joy."
"Grant didn't want all the bad things to happen to the mostly innocent people out there, but he knew that it
was the only way things would change," Tate writes.
In another blog post, Tate stresses that it's good to get mad at the evil people who screwed up this country,
but that violence should only be used in self-defense.
"Do not initiate violence," Tate writes. "I want to stress that point: Do not initiate violence. If you think 299
Days is persuading you to go out and hurt people, then you do not understand the book."
Yet at times his series revels in violence, including against prisoners. After the good guys capture a teenager
who killed a member of their squad, a team member knifes the traitor to death.
"The kid tried to scream but he couldn't because of the damage to his throat," Tate writes. "They hoisted the
mutilated and blood-soaked teenager up and put a noose around his neck."
The good guys wear the teenager's blood stains as a badge of honor.
In another passage, Tate describes how Grant, with just a touch of guilt, soaks in the "warm adrenaline and joy
pulsing through him" after his team smashes another teenage traitor's hands.
In real life, Tate describes a similar sort of warmth.
At the Northwest Preparedness Expo, held in Prosser in 2017, Tate talks about how good he felt seeing "the
good guys going to get in a �ght with the bad guys" in Seattle on May Day.
"That sounds violent?" Tate says. "I don't care, it was heartwarming." So was watching antifa folks "get beat up
Screenshot of "Glen Tate," author of 299 Days, wearing a fake beard to obscure his identity.
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pretty badly" elsewhere, he says.
"You watch that stuff and say, 'Dang, it's about time,' don't you?" he says.
These days, Tate's Prepping 2.0 podcast and related sites sport a recurring feature called "Live or Die," where,
say, he'll post a photo of an awkward guy sleeping in a Gov. Jay Inslee T-shirt and then invite commenters to
predict whether the person will survive the collapse.
"Live as a concubine with a ball gag, or die on a roasting spit," one commenter theorizes. "Wow, this kid has
shoot me now written all over him," another quips.
Since his series' publication, meanwhile, both he and Gallagher have become fervent supporters of Shea's
proposal to turn Eastern Washington into a new state called Liberty.
"Oh really, you want to enforce this court order?" Tate says at the 2017 Northwest Preparedness Expo,
envisioning a potential rejoinder to the feds from a place like Liberty state. "Why don't you come through this
mountain pass right here. Things may get noisy."
And the support is mutual. Shea appeared on the video for Tate's failed 2017 Kickstarter campaign to raise
money for 299 Days: The Movie. "This movie is a wake-up call," Shea says. "The patriot community has to come
together to make this happen."
On the video, Shea says he makes an appearance in the seventh book of the series and wants to play a
character in the movie.
On Aug. 27, the same day Pounder leaked the "Restoration" document, Tate appeared on Shea's podcast.
Violence is only going to get worse, he says. If Donald Trump gets re-elected, the left is going to go crazy, Tate
says.
And if a Democrat wins, he says, then the Democrats are going to "push and prod and poke traditional
Americans," in revenge and retaliation.
"And our side is going to say, 'Heck no, no more,'" Tate tells Shea. "And then stuff is going to get super violent."
♦
Th i i l i i f hi i l h dli d "299 P bl "
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ABOUT THE AUTHORDaniel Walters
A lifelong Spokane native, staff writer Daniel Walters is the Inlander's City Hallreporter. But he also reports on a wide swath of other topics, including business,education, real estate development, land use, and other stories throughout NorthIdaho and Spokane County.He's reported on deep �aws in the Washington...
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