Amid allegations of 'stolen valor,' Semi Bird defends his military service

Republican candidate for Washington governor Semi Bird said that he scares Democrats and Republicans in the state, as a Black American conservative who is “bringing people together.” That is why, he said, his campaign has been plagued with controversies.

“Regardless of if you are a white American, a Black American, or an Asian American, or a Hispanic American. We are united under one flag together,” Bird, a decorated military veteran, told KUOW’s Soundside. “Everyone has worth. That is our message and that scares people in power, because we are going to take that power and give it back to the people. So they are going to destroy me, but they can’t destroy my message, and that is the truth of it. So we stand strong.”

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Who is trying to “destroy” Bird?

The state Republican Party-endorsed candidate has been defending himself against newly surfaced evidence of misconduct from his days in the Army. Last week, conservative talk radio host Jason Rantz with KTTH published a 2009 letter of reprimand from a brigadier general who chastised Bird for wearing “awards and badges [he] did not earn” and submitting false performance evaluation documents to try and earn a promotion.

Bird penned a response letter to the brigadier general in which he took responsibility for the misconduct, writing, “My actions constitute nothing less than a fraud against the United States Army plain and simple.”

On Monday, Bird said he no longer stands by that statement.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “That letter was written for a reason. The general was trying to make a point. And if you're being technical, for me to sign a letter, whether my colonel told me to do this or not. I signed it. And that was the point that the general was trying to make to me; ‘Semi you're a senior noncommissioned officer. I don't care if you’re a colonel or lieutenant colonel, we want you to fill a warrant officer spot that just became available to the unit. You're the guy to do it.’”

Warrant officers are specialists who make up a small percentage of non-commissioned officers. Promotion to that rank is highly competitive.

In the letter of reprimand, Brigadier General Hector Pagan said that in the course of applying for warrant officer, Bird signed three performance evaluation reports with false or misleading information. His application included “false and inaccurate information with the intent to deceive.”

Bird told Libby Denkmann on KUOW’s Soundside that the letter doesn’t tell the whole story. And he alleged the document was obtained illegally.

Bird has opinions on how to fix the issues facing Washington state. As governor, he says he would be focused on solutions to crime, such as implementing modern technology and drones in law enforcement. He says the state’s energy code has driven up housing costs and has contributed to unaffordability. He worries about seniors being able to afford to live in the state. And he says no leader has focused on root causes of homelessness — mental health and addiction. He argues that treatment should come first, not housing.

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But at this point in the campaign, those issues have taken a backseat to controversies from Bird’s past. In April, when the state GOP held its convention in Spokane, the Seattle Times broke the news that he had pleaded guilty in 1993 to misdemeanor bank larceny and lying on a credit application. Bird still earned the party’s endorsement for governor, over former Congressman Dave Reichert.

When addressing the 2009 letters on Soundside, Bird vowed to release more information regarding the backstory of his application to become a warrant officer, as well as documentation to back up his badges.

Semi Bird was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart for his service during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006. He shared documents related to those awards on X.

After Rantz contacted Bird about the letter of reprimand from Brigadier General Pagan, the gubernatorial candidate said he looked into how the talk show host accessed the documents, which he claimed were supposed to be sealed in his Army personnel file. Bird said he called the Washington Judge Advocate General’s Office, which told him there were no recent Freedom of Information Act requests related to his name.

“I called them and they gave me this: We never received a FOIA request,” said Bird. “The only way they can get it is if they had access, and they took it, and that is illegal.”

The Judge Advocate General’s office confirmed to KUOW that Bird’s name had not been the subject of any Freedom of Information Act requests, though the office said this doesn’t necessarily mean the letters were accessed illegally.

Bird said his meritorious service is being overshadowed by politically motivated attacks.

According to Bird's "service verification" obtained by KUOW, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1978 to 1985 and in the National Guard from 2000 to 2016. He was deployed to Africa, Afghanistan, and Iraq between 2001 to 2009, and received several awards and decorations in addition to the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, including a Special Forces tab.

Bird alleged the reason these controversies have been stirred up is that Republican “elites”, who favor his GOP opponent, Dave Reichert, are targeting him for not playing by their rules.

“When you talk about bringing change within a system, a system that is typically owned, bought, and paid for by key, wealthy donors, an oligarchy of political elites who say, ‘You will do it our way.’ Because it’s not about you, struggling individuals who don’t have all that money to control politicians, but to be on the receiving end of what those politicians tell you and what they decide your life should be about,” he said.

“And then you have someone like me who says, ‘I will go there, imperfect as I am, humble as I am, but I will represent you truthfully and sincerely. I come from you, the inner city, that’s who I am. I am you’.”

Bird alleged that some unnamed Republicans in the state told him to “save your reputation” and run for lieutenant governor this year, instead of challenging Reichert. When he didn’t do what they wanted, he became a target, he claimed.

Tap link to hear the full conversation with Semi Bird and a follow-up with KUOW’s Scott Greenstone.