An audio clip recorded inside Gov. Bob Ferguson’s closed-door fundraising luncheon at the Washington State Convention Center is circulating online after Carleen Johnson of The Center Square described being accidentally ushered into the event despite a stated ban on media.
Johnson recounted the moment in an interview on “The Ari Hoffman Show” on Talk Radio 570 KVI, saying she arrived intending to report from outside because The Center Square, a nonprofit newsroom, does not contribute financially to political campaigns.
"Here is this guy in the middle of a major fraud investigation, saying ‘we’re opening the doors to welcome more in.' It grew… to a standing ovation. The people in there ate it up.”
Journalist Carleen Johnson describes Tim Walz pledging to bring in more Somali immigrants pic.twitter.com/jsgqX6FDxO
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) December 10, 2025
“We’re a nonprofit at The Center Square, and so we do not make a financial contribution to a political organization,” Johnson said, describing internal discussions over whether to send a reporter at all. “The decision was made to just send me there and kind of be outside… where people pick up their tickets and find out who was showing up and maybe get some interviews.”
“No media was allowed”… and then she was inside
Johnson said she approached the ticket taker at the door, planning to ask for access anyway.
“Even though I knew this was not an open-to-the-media event, I was gonna go there and inquire, play dumb,” she said, adding with a laugh: “It’s my natural state.”
According to Johnson, the moment happened during a rush at the entrance. The ticket taker asked whether she belonged in the VIP area. When she said she didn’t think so, Johnson said he directed her through a different door and into the general ballroom.
“And I was in, I kid you not,” she said.
Johnson said she did not get into the separate VIP meet-and-greet area where attendees could mingle with Ferguson and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, but she was seated in the main ballroom with “about 11 or 12 other people,” where lunch was served, and the speeches followed.
She said there were cameras in the room, though not what she described as mainstream media cameras. “I think there were cameras for the governors, I’m sure for social media,” she said.
Walz doubles down: “Instead of demonizing our Somali community…”
The luncheon featured Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the special guest for Ferguson, drawing what Johnson described as a standing ovation from attendees. In remarks that Johnson captured on video, Walz defended Somali residents and argued for expanding welcome and support.
“So instead of demonizing our Somali community, we’re going to do more to welcome more in,” Walz said, according to the clip and the account provided in the earlier thread. He also vowed, to applause, “Instead of cutting programs, we’re going to enhance them.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, after failing to prevent a major welfare fraud scheme, came to Seattle on Tuesday as the guest at a fundraiser for Gov. Bob Ferguson.
He told attendees Somalis were being ‘demonized’ & pledged to bring more into the state.pic.twitter.com/GVHNMtemiW
— Ari Hoffman 🎗 (@thehoffather) December 10, 2025
Walz’s comments came as he faces scrutiny in Minnesota over a major welfare fraud scheme tied to state social services programs, including allegations from critics and whistleblowers that warnings were ignored for years. At the Seattle fundraiser, Walz acknowledged feeling anger at political attacks but framed his response as action.
“These guys bring out the worst in me,” Walz said. “I hate it when… that sense of anger comes up on you. But the antidote to that is positive actions to improve lives that go against what they are trying to do.”
In the KVI interview, Hoffman reacted sharply to Walz’s remarks, characterizing the message as inviting more people onto public assistance. Johnson called the statement “provocative,” especially given the ongoing controversy in Minnesota, and said the room responded enthusiastically.
“It grew, it grew to a standing ovation,” she said. “The people in there ate it up.”
What the room looked like: “blue hairs and headscarves.”
Asked by Hoffman to describe the crowd, Johnson offered a snapshot of the political and civic mix she observed, including elected officials, lobbyists, and activists.
“Katie Wilson… waiting to be our next mayor,” she said, referring to Seattle’s mayor-elect, along with “Girmay Zahilay… our new King County Executive,” former state Sen. Mark Mullet, “tons of lobbyists, agency staffers,” and then added: “Lots of blue hairs and lots of headscarves.”
In the earlier thread, the event was described as drawing more than a thousand supporters, including table sponsors paying up to roughly $2,500.
“Give us your money now”: donations, QR codes, and tiered perks
Johnson said fundraising was the central purpose of the gathering and described repeated appeals from the stage for immediate contributions. She said attendees were urged to use QR codes at their tables to donate right away because a fundraising pause was approaching with the legislative session.
“It was an urgent plea made by every person who took that stage, give us your money now,” she said, describing a timed push tied to a “blackout” period on contributions.
Johnson also said donation “perks” were openly discussed. “There were people saying… they’ll come around and give you an autograph if you give us $500,” she said. “If you give a thousand, it’s even better; if you give us 5,000, it’s even better.”
In the earlier thread, Ferguson’s program included a request from freshman Democratic Rep. Osman Salahuddin of Redmond, who urged attendees to scan a QR code to donate before the legislative fundraising halt.
Ferguson touts Trump lawsuits; Walz takes shots at Trump
In addition to Walz’s immigration remarks, Ferguson used the luncheon to highlight his track record suing the Trump administration—first as attorney general and now as governor—casting Washington as a leading state in legal resistance.
“We were the first state to take on Trump in 2017 and win, and the first state to take on Donald Trump in 2025 and win was Washington state,” Ferguson said, as summarized in the earlier thread.
Walz, for his part, pivoted quickly to attacking President Donald Trump in his own remarks, including a jab suggesting Trump is rubbed “the wrong way” by “people who are smart,” referencing Ferguson’s background as a state chess champion.
Why was Walz there?
Hoffman repeatedly pressed Johnson on the political logic of inviting Walz to headline a fundraiser amid Minnesota’s fraud controversy. Johnson said the governor’s office offered little information in advance and questioned why the event wasn’t cancelled.
“When we found out about this… and we’re trying to get anything out of the governor’s office, and it was nothing but crickets,” she said. “Why would you not cancel this? Really bad optics, really bad timing with everything that Walz is under?”
Still, she suggested the event may have been designed to use controversy as fuel rather than a liability. “At the same time, there’s no such thing as bad press,” she said, describing comments she heard from attendees who wanted to hear Walz speak despite the criticism surrounding him.
One couple she spoke with, she said, dismissed the scandal with a crude line: “They even said there’s other mafias besides the Somali mafia,” Johnson told Hoffman, calling it one of the most striking quotes she heard from donors who had spent heavily on a table.
A rare inside look at a closed fundraiser
Johnson’s account offers an unusual window into a high-dollar political event that, she said, barred the media—and it underscores the political tightrope Walz is walking as he defends refugee communities while facing backlash over alleged failures in oversight of state programs.
For Ferguson, the luncheon highlighted a familiar reelection pitch: emphasizing legal fights with the Trump administration, rallying donors early, and urging immediate contributions before the legislative fundraising freeze.
For Walz, the Seattle stop produced the moment now being replayed online: a pledge to “welcome more in” and “enhance” programs—met, Johnson said, not with discomfort, but with applause.
