public-records investigations · pacific northwest · ongoing

Commons Investigations

Public-records investigations of donor networks, government capture, and civic structure in the Pacific Northwest. Each investigation here is built entirely from publicly accessible records — corporate filings, parcel data, contribution records, IRS 990s, council minutes, election results. The goal is to make visible what was technically public but practically hidden.

battle ground, wa · published may 14, 2026

Maddox / Spiller / Battle Ground

The closed regulatory loop made operational, in one Pacific Northwest town. One company. Thirty-five legal entities. Thirty-one parcels. Forty-one million dollars in real estate. The mayor and a school board member work for the company. The pastor of the CEO's church says publicly that his theological tradition gives him "resources to govern unbelievers." This is what small-American-town capture looks like in 2026 — every step of it legal, every step of it visible, none of it assembled before now. Extends Oregon Public Broadcasting's April 30, 2026 reporting in eight new dimensions.
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More investigations forthcoming.