Washington state Rep. Tarra Simmons, the convicted felon-turned-Democratic lawmaker, has been found to have abused the privileges of the public office she once touted as proof of her rehabilitation.
According to the Washington State Standard, the Legislative Ethics Board hit the Bremerton Democrat with $15,000 in maximum fines after unanimously finding three ethics violations involving conflicts of interest, improper influence and an attempt to retaliate against the woman who blew the whistle on her. Simmons must also pay the state’s attorney costs.
Simmons served a 30-month prison sentence for drug and theft convictions before winning election to the Legislature in 2020. She celebrated that victory by tweeting: “From the Big House to the State House…We Do Recover!”
Simmons subsequently made criminal-justice reform a centerpiece of her legislative career, backing measures involving voting rights for felons, sentence modifications and reduced criminal penalties. Among her more controversial proposals was legislation eliminating drive-by shooting as a basis for elevating first-degree murder to aggravated murder, a change the bill described as “promoting racial equity.”
Now Simmons is the one facing consequences for breaking rules. Two of the violations stem from a $1 million state grant Simmons helped secure in 2024 for a criminal-justice data project.
Half the money was required to be subcontracted to a qualifying nonprofit. That organization was the Equity in Education Coalition, where Simmons worked as a part-time director of strategy and later as an independent contractor.
The ethics board concluded Simmons “personally benefited” because the money supported the coalition’s continued operations and its ability to pay her $120,000 annual salary.
The board also found Simmons improperly intervened when a dispute threatened the coalition’s funding.
Although Christopher Stanley, an Administrative Office of the Courts official, testified he did not feel pressured by Simmons, the board concluded he was improperly influenced by their conversation. Simmons denied influencing him.
The board found her “not credible.”
The third violation involved Kim Gordon, who filed the ethics complaint against Simmons.
Roughly two weeks later, Simmons engaged American Equity and Justice Group leader Anthony Powers in a lengthy late-night text exchange in which she expressed frustration, threatened to withhold support for his organization and sought his help reining Gordon in.
The board concluded Simmons “attempted to influence the outcome of the Board’s investigation through her attempted retaliation against the complainant in this matter.”
As KVI previously reported, the investigation also examined whether Simmons used her position and campaign-related donations while attempting to help her boyfriend, Antoine Coleman, obtain a nonprofit job.
BREAKING: Rep Tarra Simmons admits she donated the money that would have paid for her boyfriends salary: pic.twitter.com/uR5HwbOLOr
— M. Adams (@AdamsUnchained) June 9, 2026
Gordon testified that Simmons put Coleman forward for the position. The organization ultimately declined to cash a $40,000 check and returned another $10,000 payment connected to Simmons.
The board dismissed the allegations involving Coleman’s prospective employment and campaign funds connected to the position.
But on all three charges it did substantiate, the board imposed the maximum penalty.
The ethics ruling is not Simmons’ only recent run-in with state oversight.
KVI reported in January that Kitsap County Democratic Party Chair Val Torrens filed a separate complaint questioning $30,000 Simmons sent from her surplus campaign account to Nevada nonprofit Better Minds Better Communities.
The complaint highlighted two $15,000 payments and Simmons’ trip to Las Vegas shortly before the first contribution. Simmons responded at the time that she was concerned the complaints were “motivated by a narrow political interest” and insisted her expenditures complied with applicable rules.
But state records now show the controversy didn’t end there.
In a Public Disclosure Commission Statement of Understanding, Simmons acknowledged that she “violated RCW 42.17A.4301 by improperly disposing of campaign surplus funds.” The document specifically identifies the two $15,000 payments to Better Minds Better Communities.
And the person whose complaint helped trigger that scrutiny wasn’t a Republican. It was the chair of Simmons’ own county Democratic Party.
Simmons denies wrongdoing in the Legislative Ethics Board case and plans to appeal in Thurston County Superior Court. “People shouldn’t be excessively punished when they actually prevail,” she said, pointing to the three allegations the board dismissed.
The ruling arrived days after Simmons defeated fellow Democrat Daria Ilgen 57.3 percent to 39 percent in the primary. The two face each other again in November.
Simmons is seeking a fourth term and currently serves as deputy speaker pro tem.