State official claims Department of Health does not endorse Yakima-based We Are ELLA’s messages, despite supporting the group’s “storytelling” with nearly $500,000 state grant
(OLYMPIA, Wash.) A Yakima-based anti-farming activist group, We Are ELLA, violated state rules by creating the false appearance of Washington State Department of Health endorsement and sponsorship of its politically-charged messages through unauthorized use of the department’s official logo, according to a top department official.
Meanwhile, Washington state’s farming community is still asking questions after the DOH official confirmed that We Are ELLA was awarded nearly $500,000 in Climate Commitment Act fuel surcharge funds to be used in part for “community storytelling.” The acknowledgment comes on the heels of official complaints Save Family Farming filed with the department and the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.
We Are ELLA, a political activist organization that routinely criticizes and disparages Yakima-area farms, displayed the Washington State Department of Health logo on multiple videos, misleading viewers to believe that the department had endorsed and sponsored the agenda-based content.
“The Department of Health has made it clear: they did not approve the use of their logo, did not oversee the content, and do not endorse the false information and claims against agriculture that We Are ELLA continues to make,” said Ben Tindall, Save Family Farming Executive Director. “It is deeply concerning to see state-funded work associated with deceptive messaging that the Department of Health itself does not stand behind.”
Erika Baker, Deputy Director of DOH’s Office of Environmental Public Health Services, told Save Family Farming via email that the department “…immediately contacted ELLA to have the logo removed,” and “…confirmed the logo was removed from the impacted videos.” But, We Are ELLA’s social media pages still currently display multiple videos that include the official Department of Health logo, including on content that directly makes false claims against local farms, raising questions about the effectiveness of the department’s response and follow-through.
“This situation underscores a broader pattern of misleading narratives, half-truths, and blatant manipulation that we see coming out of We Are ELLA that deserves a closer look,” said Tindall. “Save Family Farming will continue to investigate and hold organizations and governments accountable when their public messaging does not align with reality, and when taxpayer dollars are being used to deliberately deceive the public for politically biased anti-farming purposes.”
Press Contact: Dillon Honcoop, dhoncoop@savefamilyfarming.org