Any Legal Recourse To Stop Your Government From Bullying?

[Ryland Taniguchi]

When I was in high school, I was one of the kids that was bullied everyday. One time I was pushed down the stairs. Kids would tie my shoes while I fell asleep in the bus. Would have spit wads hit my head. When being bullied, I would feel this overwhelming feeling of shame.

I have not felt this feeling in twenty years until 2016. Labor and Industries (LNI) here in Seattle uses bullying tactics. According to my attorney, they have been targeting real estate investors here in Seattle. I get the feeling that the government here believes that real estate investor are like a tumor that needs to be removed.

Ironically, the government department that is supposed protect employees from being bullied is the same department that bullied on a systematic basis. Couple of examples.

An LNI inspector went to a homeowners house (someone that I work with), knocked on the door and pushed his way into the house without asking for permission. Since when can the government barge into your home without any permission or warrant?

While speaking to an LNI inspector, I was shocked he made a comment that it was "suspicious" that we hired mostly African-American employees and subcontractors. Are you kidding me?

I had an LNI inspector say to me, "Either you are the most naive person or a big fat liar." While talking to this inspector, I felt like the bullied kid who was pushed down the stairs and had their shoe laces tied. I feel the spitwads hitting my neck.

In Washington state, it has been a one party state since 1980. I don't agree not consider myself a Democrat, Republican or Libertarian. However, power tends to corrupt. And the Democrats holding power for nearly 40 years has corrupted the system. These abuses of power should never happen. 

I have followed cases with the same complaints (many in the Public Records Act cases where LNI refused stubbornly to give up records) but the problem is that LNI is defended by the Attorney Generals office. So the bullying and other abuses of power continue.

If you are a real estate investor in Seattle, there is a huge risk to your business lurking around the corner. And that is being bullied and harassed by LNI. As a matter of fact, it is the main reason why I think it is difficult to scale a construction operation in this state. Here in this state... The more you increase the size of your construction operations, the more it costs per square foot. It is reverse economies of scale and the main reason is being bullied and harassed by LNI. 

As a result, this is why I don't try to do more than 10 development deals and 10 BRRRR at a time here in Seattle. I also quit flips because the numbers don't pencil out with a competitive market for deals and skyrocketing construction costs. Instead, I scaled my business into non-recourse lending in the Midwest to investor's self-directed IRAs and self-directed solo 401(k).