When Nobody Is Listening:
The Text Messages Raising Questions About Wenatchee Valley College Governance

"Fucking white women," "MAGAts," and a $275,834 Contract Renewal

What Paula Arno Martinez's Text Messages Suggest About Her Views on Race, Religion, Politics, and Power at Wenatchee Valley College, when she thinks nobody is listening!

By David Lanfor

As a student of Wenatchee Valley College, I have spent the past year fighting for transparency from an institution that repeatedly tells the public it values accountability, inclusion, professionalism, and student-centered leadership.

During that time, I have submitted public records requests, reviewed thousands of pages of records, attended court hearings, and watched college officials publicly promote values that are supposed to guide the institution. Because of that experience, I have come to believe that transparency is often the only way the public can evaluate whether those stated values are actually being followed.

Through Public Records Act requests, I obtained text messages involving Trustee Paula Arno Martinez, Trustee Wilma Cartagena, and WVC Chief of Staff Maria Iñiguez.

I obtained more than fifty pages of text messages spanning approximately six months from the phone of Chief of Staff Maria Iñiguez. As I worked my way through the conversations, I found myself increasingly surprised, disappointed, and at times shocked by both the content and the tone of the exchanges.

Perhaps that reaction came from my own expectations. When I think of a Board of Trustees, I picture experienced professionals entrusted with overseeing a public college on behalf of students, employees, taxpayers, and the public. I expect disagreements. I expect differing opinions. I expect difficult conversations. What I did not expect to find were remarks such as "Fucking white women," references to "MAGAts," discussions about trustees who would or would not "back up" the college president, and statements suggesting influence over board appointments.

After reading these messages, I believe the public deserves an opportunity to see how some of the individuals responsible for governing our college speak about one another, about college leadership, and about public business when they think nobody is listening.

The individuals involved in these conversations are not private citizens with no public responsibilities. Trustee Paula Arno Martinez is a practicing immigration attorney and a Governor-appointed trustee of Wenatchee Valley College. Maria Iñiguez serves as Chief of Staff to College President Faimous Harrison and is also an elected member of the Wenatchee School District Board of Directors, where she currently serves as Vice President. Trustee Wilma Cartagena serves as an Investigation and Enforcement Manager with the Washington State Human Rights Commission, overseeing civil rights investigations and enforcement matters.

That context makes the content of these messages more significant, not less.

The role of a trustee is not ceremonial. Trustees are appointed by the Governor of Washington to oversee the college on behalf of the public. They hire and evaluate the college president, approve major policies and contracts, establish institutional direction, and serve as the primary mechanism of accountability between college administration and the public. Their responsibility is not to support the president. Their responsibility is to oversee the president.

These are individuals who occupy positions of public trust and whose professional responsibilities involve leadership, education, governance, civil rights, and public accountability. I encourage everyone to read the messages for themselves rather than rely on anyone else's interpretation.

What struck me most was not a single comment, but the overall tone displayed by individuals entrusted with governing a public college.

In one exchange, Trustee Paula Arno Martinez referred to another trustee as "Fucking white women." In the same discussion she wrote, "I have little patience for MAGAts," and later added, "But Jesus Christ, I cannot deal with white fragility."

The conversation appears to have occurred during a discussion concerning fellow trustee Tamra Jackson, currently the principal of Bridgeport High School. While the messages do not explicitly identify Jackson as the target of every remark, the surrounding discussion repeatedly references concerns she had raised, her interactions with President Harrison, and her future role on the Board. The context makes it difficult to avoid the conclusion that at least some of the comments were directed toward her.

These were not anonymous social media posts, political campaign messages, or comments made by students. They were communications involving a sitting trustee of Wenatchee Valley College discussing another member of the governing board.

The tone reflected in the messages was not limited to discussions about trustees and college leadership. In another exchange, Trustee Wilma Cartagena shared a Facebook reel promoting the acronym "F.O.C.U.S.", which stood for "Fuck Off Cause You Are Stupid." When Maria Iñiguez asked, "Oops! Who made you mad?", Cartagena replied, "No body today But It's always good to remember to tell them to focus," to which Cartagena later responded, "Agree!"

Standing alone, a sarcastic social media joke would hardly be newsworthy. However, when viewed alongside the broader pattern of comments reflected throughout the messages, the exchange contributes to an overall tone that many members of the public may find inconsistent with the professionalism typically expected from individuals serving in positions of public trust.

Reasonable people may disagree politically. They may disagree about race, public policy, elections, or the direction of higher education. But the question raised by these messages is not whether one agrees with the sentiments expressed. The question is whether members of the public should expect a higher standard of professionalism, respect, and impartiality from individuals appointed to govern a taxpayer-funded institution of higher education.

Had the political or demographic targets of these remarks been different, it is difficult to imagine the comments being dismissed so casually. That is precisely why these messages deserve public scrutiny.

The messages also reveal discussions that raise questions about the relationship between the Board of Trustees and college administration.

In one exchange concerning Trustee Tamra Jackson, Chief of Staff Maria Iñiguez wrote:

"Faimous is somewhat catering to her though cause he wants to keep her on the board. He says the only way he would stay on is if the same board continues. He's afraid of someone new coming in and not backing him up."

Trustee Paula Arno Martinez responded:

"I can think of a million better ppl to be on the board than her."

She then added:

"BUT I want him to feel supported so I will not go off on her."

Those messages caught my attention because they appear to frame trustee appointments not in terms of independent governance, but in terms of whether future trustees would support the college president.

A board's role is not to back up the president. A board's role is to independently oversee the president on behalf of students, employees, taxpayers, and the public. Trustees are expected to exercise independent judgment. Their purpose is accountability, not loyalty.

If the messages accurately reflect President Harrison's views, they raise questions about whether board composition was being discussed in terms of support for the president rather than independent oversight of college leadership.

Those comments become even more significant when viewed alongside the Board's public actions.

In November 2025, the Board of Trustees unanimously renewed President Harrison's contract through the end of 2029 and increased his salary to $275,834 per year.

The vote came despite public opposition from faculty members, staff, and community members, a Change.org petition urging trustees not to renew his contract, employee concerns reflected in campus surveys, accreditation-related scrutiny by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, and continuing questions regarding transparency and institutional leadership.

In addition, the college recently agreed to a settlement reportedly exceeding one million dollars in a gender discrimination matter, and it remains a defendant in a pending federal civil rights lawsuit alleging constitutional violations by senior college officials. While those allegations have not yet been adjudicated, they contribute to a broader pattern of public scrutiny surrounding the institution and its leadership.

At that same meeting, faculty members publicly urged trustees to consider concerns raised by employees who feared retaliation and therefore felt compelled to communicate anonymously. Others questioned whether college leadership had adequately addressed persistent concerns regarding workplace culture, accountability, and organizational performance.

Yet the Board unanimously renewed Harrison's contract and later issued a statement declaring that trustees were "proud to support President Harrison's leadership" and confident in his commitment to accountability and transparency.

The Governor appoints members of the Wenatchee Valley College Board of Trustees. Those appointments are a matter of public trust. Based upon the communications now available to the public, I believe it is time for the Governor's Office to take a serious look at whether the current board continues to reflect the professionalism, independence, and judgment that the people of Washington should expect from those entrusted with governing a public institution of higher education.

The purpose of transparency is not to expose what public officials say when everyone is watching. Transparency exists so the public can evaluate what those officials say and do when nobody is listening.

The public now has that opportunity.

The question is no longer what these trustees said. The question is whether the people of North Central Washington believe these communications reflect the professionalism, judgment, independence, and maturity they expect from those entrusted with governing a public institution of higher education.