STORY UPDATE: 6:10PM NOVEMBER 2, 2022: Naval records confirm Clyde Shavers lied about military experience
WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash., November 1, 2022—Politicians have a reputation of being dishonest but Clyde Shavers (D), who is running for Representative of the 10th Legislative District, may have exceeded voters’ tolerance with false claims and embellishments made about his life and qualifications for candidacy.
Below is the letter from Brett Shavers, Cycle Shavers’ father, in its entirety.
In a letter obtained by the Lynnwood Times authored by Brett Shavers, Shavers’ father, Brett alleged Clyde was never a U.S. Navy Submarine Officer, exaggerated his mother’s immigration status, has not experienced homelessness, did not grow up in a farming family, and does not reside in the 10th Legislative District all of which his son and 10th LD candidate Clyde Shavers, claims.
The Lynnwood Times has confirmed that Clyde Shavers is also not a practicing Attorney in Washington State, as his Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) Financial Affairs report states.
When the Lynnwood Times reached out to Brett Shavers, a U.S. Navy veteran and retired Police Officer to ask his motive for writing the letter, he shared that he loves his son but grew tired of being roped into his son’s “untruthfulness,” “blatant lie” and “dishonesty.”
“The things he’s saying are not accurate, if not misleading. He’s saying he’s the son of a marine, son of a police officer, son of an immigrant, so it’s if he’s using our credibility to validate his statements,” Brett Shavers told the Lynnwood Times. “We’ve asked him not to embellish or lie constantly but he just continues. The letter is just a last resort [for Clyde] to please make better decisions.”
Shavers registered with the PDC as an Attorney for Perkins Coie LLP, however the Seattle law firm does not have record of Shavers in their employment database. He did work as a summer associate at the firm’s Seattle office while attending Yale, however.
In campaign literature, sent out by the Shavers campaign, it also states Shavers was an attorney reading, “after defending us in the United States Navy Clyde came home to take on a different fight: protecting our environment as an attorney.”
The Washington State Bar Association does not list anyone by his name passing the Washington State Bar this year. Shavers did receive his J.D. degree from Yale Law School in June of 2022, as verified by Alden Ferro, Associate Director of Public Affairs for Yale Law School. According to RCW 2.48.180 it is a gross misdemeanor in the state of Washington to unlawfully practice law.
On Shavers’ campaign website, and several campaign literature pieces, he also claimed to be a Submarine Officer with the United States Navy, but his father wrote he failed to fully complete the Submarine Officer pipeline training. The Lynnwood Times reached out to the U.S. Navy to verify this information and is awaiting response.
Shavers’ campaign website has recently changed to read “He commissioned into the nuclear submarine community and later transitioned as a public affairs officer in 2015” after his father’s letter surfaced but just days earlier its read “for more than 8 years he served as a nuclear Submarine Officer”. However, on his UNICEF USA Profile it still reads “Prior to law school, he served on active duty in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear submarine officer” as does the claim remain on several campaign literature mailed to several households. Him being a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine officer was also echoed in a post announcing Shavers as a guest speaker by the Rotary Club of North Whidbey Island Sunrise on July 13, 2022, and in a January 25 article by the Whidbey News-Times.
According to Shavers’ father, his son Clyde Shavers who is a veteran and the 10th LD candidate for the Democrat Party, has only expressed disdain for the military and “never wanted to go into the military nor the US Naval Academy, in the first place and bluntly stated animosity against the military and the people in it.”
Shavers’ father wrote in the letter that the claim by Clyde that he was the son of a refugee is also untrue. Shavers stated that his mother immigrated to the United States from Japan to seek a better life. However, according to his father she was actually a Japanese foreign exchange student who gained her citizenship over time.
Clyde Shavers has stated that he remembers his parents telling him “tough times don’t last but tough people do” which his parents deny saying, mainly because him and his family “never had hard times”, his father said. In relation to his upbringing, Shavers’ father stated that his claims of growing up in a farming family were also untrue “unless a garden in the backyard is considered farming” nor is he aware of any time his son has experienced homelessness.
Shavers’ relationship to the legislative district he is running to represent is also slim. According to public records, Shavers owns a condo in Kirkland (the first legislative district), although sources have informed the Lynnwood Times and voter records indicate that Shavers may be renting a room at 1746 Penn Cove Rd in Oak Harbor which has a unit on the property listed as a Penn Cove Overlook Bed and Breakfast. According to voter records, at least four others are registered to vote at the Oak Harbor address. The owner of the Bed and Breakfast was unable to confirm or deny this with the Lynnwood Times per client confidentiality.
“The only relation Clyde has to LD10 is that we have driven him through LD10 on occasion when he was growing up,” Brett Shavers said. “Prior to announcing his candidacy for LD10, Clyde had determined that LD10 was a district that he could win, and he would run there…According to Clyde the Democrat Party in Washington and residents of Whidbey Island wanted him there to flip it blue.”
The Lynnwood Times reached out to the Clyde Shavers for comment who dismissed the letter as being “inaccurate, and personally, very painful to [him] as his son.” Shavers continued that he has not spoken to his father in years and the letter was all about politics.
“This is the kind of politics that is tearing apart families and communities. My campaign is about healing communities and moving forward,” Clyde Shavers told the Lynnwood Times.
Clyde Shavers is endorsed by the Everett Herald (although the news outlet recently rescinded their endorsement) and several elected officials including Mukilteo Councilman Louis Harris and Snohomish County Councilwoman Meghan Dunn.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
27 Responses
Sounds like he can kiss his presidential ambitions goodbye! Go back to King County Clyde “liar liar pants on fire” Shavers.
I wonder how many other Naval Academy “Officers on nuclear powered Submarines” and Yale University grads fail the WA State Bar exam?
Well, Clyde did. Check the lawyers directory at the Washington State Bar Association, at http://www.wsba.org. Search for his name. You won’t find it.
I REALLY hope you vetted Brett Shaver’s claims before you destroyed his career. I REALLY hope you didn’t simply accept as fact the claims of a Trumper who participated in the insurrection. I REALLY hope you didn’t just publish an article claiming Brett, a Navy veteran, made disdainful comments about people who serve without actually verifying with anyone else that he actually made those comments as his Trumper father, who is so brainwashed by Trump he attended the insurrection, claims. Although Brett has yet to pass the bar, he does have a law degree from Yale. He has his military coursework transcripts posted on his FB page. I really hope you obtained his military transcripts BEFORE you published this article and sided with Brett’s douchebag father in sabotaging his campaign.
I think you meant Clyde, not Brett (who is his father).
how loyal to blindness will you be?
Jessica stop blaming Trump for everything and work on your reading comprehension. Brett was the father trying to save his family’s reputation. Jessica to ignore all of the lies the son made and point to the few things the son did not lie about is laughable.
It seems you are the brainwashed one, so what if the father liked a good economy provided by the Trump administration? that doesn’t make him a liar. If his father was a Biden supporter his rebuttal would be more believable? You’re basing your response on your ignorance.
If you read the article it says, pretty clearly, the Reporter verified the allegations with the Navy, Bar Association, and the law firm he claimed to be an Attorney at.
Jeez, the Dad was correct! surely you D can find a way to spin it! Most D are quite prolific liars your leader Joe Biden, whose son died in Iraq etc is a Truly gifted liar! So sorry to hurt your feelings! Love, and please try to do better. A Trumper!
How do you know that Brett is a “Trumper”, participated in an “insurrection”, or was brainwashed?
The reporter stated what he had done to research the story. The Navy records establish that Clyde lied.
I am a Naval Academy graduate, completed Navy Nuclear Propulsion Training and served on USS PLUNGER SSN595
Always with the Trump stuff. Trump must live rent free in your head. If you want to vote for a liar then go vote for a liar. The Lynwood times did a great job with their reporting. But of course many, because of stupid political ideology will make excuses for the lies Clyde Shavers said. Sad state our country is in.
He REALLY did do all those things. As did the Daily Mail, usually a disgusting tabloid, in this exhaustive article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11386251/Father-WA-state-Democrat-running-House-says-son-LYING-military-history.html
It’s never a good idea to keep backing a bad apple.
Clyde Shavers claim that he was “commissioned into the nuclear submarine community” is also false.
I graduated from the Naval Academy, completed Navy Nuclear Propulsion Training and served on USS PLUNGER SSN595, a nuclear fast attack submarine. I was not in the “nuclear submarine community” until I was given orders to report to PLUNGER. Some might say that I wasn’t in the “nuclear submarine community” until I actually reported on board PLUNGER.
Graduates of the Academy are commissioned as officers and are commissioned into the Navy. No graduates are “commissioned into the nuclear submarine community.” If they are planning to enter submarine service, that decision is made after completion of Nuclear Propulsion Training, based on the needs of the service. At that point a list of ships with available billets is provided. The graduates then choose, starting with the number one graduate of the program and continuing according to class rank. If a graduate picked a submarine, then he was assigned to Submarine School. I have seen some recent discussion about eliminating the 5-week Sub School, but I don’t know if that has been done. Graduates may also pick a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Clyde Shavers’ Navy assignments are strange because he wasn’t assigned to any ship, ever.
There is no evidence in his service record that he ever even set foot on a submarine
Donald,
You are wrong. Submarine Officers in training, an 1170, are considered submarine officers. Earning dolphins gains one the 1120 designation, also a Submarine Officer. Getting orders to a submarine does not make one a submarine officer.
When is the 1170 designation assigned?
When is the designation changed when a submarine officer in training drops or flunks out of training?
Why was he a student in a 6-month training program for 18 months?
Of course, he never said that he was a “submarine officer in training” or that he was never on a submarine or ship, hadn’t completed prototype training or even gone to sub school
Is this website description wrong? It describes officers already assigned to and serving on a submarine while they are qualifying for their Dolphins
http://www.mosdb.com/navy/1170/mos/190/
Clyde is a very personable young man. I had bought into his lies and felt sorry he lived in a car in high school as he told me and my wife when I had him over to dinner. Initially I endorsed him also. I pulled that endorsement when I started looking at his timeline on LinkedIn. Having ACTUALLY served on a couple of submarines the timeline did not make sense. After more investigation, I knew I had been fed many lies and told him to pull my recommendation.
I did not go to the Naval Academy, but I know there are two things that are very important. Honor and Honesty. Clyde has made it clear he has neither. Even not going through the Academy, but being on submarines, honor and honesty are key to survival of life there.
Unfortunately today’s politics seems to be what ever it takes to win. Just because Clyde says he supports abortions etc. is that really true? Remember his whole life story has been a lie.
I am very impressed with Lynnwood times validating all the claims while Whidbey Times is still promoting Clyde. Whidbey Times may be a bad source to news so I plan to subscribe to thier paper and get the facts.
Truly a teachable moment to witness someone grovel in the mud to defend this multi-front pathalogical liar of a candidate after this well-researched article.