Jay Robert Rodne (born March 21, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician of the Republican Party. He is a former member of the

Washington House of Representatives The Washington House of Representatives is the lower house of the Washington State Legislature, and along with the Washington State Senate makes up the legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is composed of 98 Representatives from 49 ...

, representing the 5th Legislative District. Rodne is of

Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians The Bad River LaPointe Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians or Bad River Tribe for short () are a federally recognized tribe of Ojibwe people. The tribe had 6,945 members as of 2010. The Bad River Reservation is located on the so ...

ancestry. He was appointed to the House in 2004 and did not seek reelection in 2018.

Career

Rodne was the primary sponsor for 13 bills in the 2015–2016 session. His most recent co-sponsored bill was HB 2453 that passed unanimously and is designed to improve oversight at state mental hospitals. His committee assignments included Transportation, Health Care and Wellness, and Judiciary, where he was the ranking minority member. Rodne is a Colonel in the

USMC The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

Reserve. He has been the commanding officer of 4th Landing Support Battalion, headquartered in Fort Lewis, Washington. He deployed overseas as part of

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

in 2003. During his active duty years, he deployed to

Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF), also known as Operation Restore Hope, was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational military force deployed to Somalia from 5 December 1992 to 4 May 1993. It was established to replace United ...

in Somalia and

Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

in the Persian Gulf War.

Comments about Islam

Following the

November 2015 Paris attacks A series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 21:16, three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-De ...

which

ISIS Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

claimed responsibility for, Rodne made a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

post claiming that President Obama "wants to import 1.5 million Muslims into the U.S." ''The Seattle Times'' found Rodne's claim to be false. After receiving criticism for his comments, Rodne said, "The majority of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims are peaceful and want nothing more than to live in peace. And if they are here in America, they want nothing more than to live and enjoy our freedoms."

Lobbying career

In April 2019, he registered as a

foreign agent A foreign agent is any person or entity actively carrying out the interests of a foreign principal while located in another host country, generally outside the Diplomatic immunity, protections offered to those working in their official capacity fo ...

to consult and lobby for the

Kingdom of Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline along the Gulf of Thail ...

. His consulting company co-owned with state senator

Doug Ericksen Douglas John Ericksen (January 28, 1969 – December 17, 2021) was an American politician and lobbyist who served as a member of the Washington State Senate, representing the 42nd district from 2011 to 2021. Ericksen was the ranking member of t ...

will be paid $500,000 a year to arrange official visits between the countries and business leaders.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodne, Jay 1966 births Living people Republican Party members of the Washington House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Washington State Legislature Native American state legislators in Washington (state) American critics of Islam People from Snoqualmie, Washington Washington (state) lawyers Bad River Band people