Category: Campaign

Our firm recently settled a campaign finance enforcement action against the Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights PAC, a political committee registered with the State of Washington. The complaint alleged numerous violations of state law related to the committee’s failures to timely report contributions, expenditures, and lobbyist employer activity. Interestingly, the Executive Director who drew a salary from the PAC was the same person who has filed hundreds of campaign finance complaints against various other candidates, political committees, and other entities in Washington since late 2016, a Thurston County resident named Glen Morgan.

“I’m glad to announce that we have prevailed in this action through a settlement that will benefit the State and send a message to political committees and lobbyist employers to properly report their financial activity,” says Walter Smith of the firm. “These violations bothered me because Mr. Morgan knew enough about the laws to file complaints against others, but his committee failed to live up to those laws. Our firm feels vindicated by this settlement and we see it as an appropriate punishment for hypocritical behavior.”

The defendant has paid $15,000 to resolve this action. As part of the resolution of the case, the firm has tendered $1,000 of the defendant’s settlement payment to the State of Washington.

Smith & Dietrich Law Offices, PLLC is pleased to report we have successfully completed three cases we filed earlier in 2017 with judgments entered in Thurston County Superior Court. We brought these campaign finance enforcement case known as “citizen actions” under Washington’s state law, and obtained relief for the benefit of the State including civil penalties and injunctive relief. We were able to reach resolutions in these cases through agreements reached with the Defendants, the Pierce County Republican Central Committee, the Snohomish County Republican Central Committee, and the Spokane County Republican Central Committee.

Contact us here if you would like to discuss how we can help you with a civil legal dispute affecting you or your business. Please note that each case is unique and we never guarantee the outcome of any litigation matter; your case needs specific review and evaluation before we can determine whether we can represent you.

Walter Smith of Smith & Dietrich Law Offices PLLC filed campaign finance complaints (and citizen action notices under Chapter 42.17A RCW) on Friday, September 1 against nineteen sets of Respondents concerning a variety of apparent violations of Washington State’s campaign finance laws. The Respondents were identified using research from publicly accessible sources freely available to anyone with an internet connection. Read on for details about the allegations in the complaints, with links to the Enforcement page of the Public Disclosure Commission.

Candidates and authorized committees

• Bruce Chandler, State Representative (R-Zillah, 15th Leg. Dist., Yakima County) and the Bruce Chandler Campaign.
  • $60,000 contribution to House Republican Organizational Committee not reported as surplus funds expenditure; failure to report any contributions or expenditures for 2016 legislative race.
• Mary Dye, State Representative (R-Pomeroy, 9th Leg. Dist., Garfield County) and the Committee to Elect Mary Dye.
  • $24,000 contribution to House Republican Organizational Committee not reported as surplus funds expenditure; failure to organize or report for surplus funds account; failure to timely file/amend contribution and expenditure reporting.
• Norman Johnson, State Representative (R-Yakima, 14th Leg. Dist., Yakima County) and Norm Johnson for State Representative.
  • $3,000 contribution to House Republican Organizational Committee not reported as surplus funds expenditure and over $1,000 donation to private organization from campaign funds; failure to report orders, debts, and obligations incurred during 2016 election campaign; failure to timely report campaign expenditures.
• John Koster, State Representative (R-Everett, 39th Leg. Dist., Snohomish County) and Elect John Koster, a political committee.
  • $10,000 contribution to House Republican Organizational Committee from campaign funds; failure to report orders, debts, and obligations incurred during 2016 election campaign; failure to timely report campaign contributions and expenditures.
• Jami Lund, Centralia School Board Member (Nonpartisan position, Centralia, Lewis County) and Citizens for Jami Lund.
  • Failure to accurately and timely report campaign contributions and expenditures, and orders placed, debts, and obligations.
• Drew MacEwen, State Representative (R-Union, 35th Leg. Dist., Mason County) and Committee to Elect Drew MacEwen.
  • $5,000 contribution to House Republican Organizational Committee not reported as surplus funds expenditure and over $600 in donations and contributions from candidate authorized committee funds; failure to accurately and timely report campaign contributions.
• Mathew Manweller, State Representative (R-Ellensburg, 13th Leg. Dist., Kittitas County) and Committee to Elect Matt Manweller.
  • $72,500 contribution to House Republican Organizational Committee from campaign funds; failure to accurately and timely report campaign expenditures and file statement of organization.
• Gina McCabe, State Representative (R-Goldendale, 14th Leg. Dist., Klickitat County) Committee to Elect Gina McCabe.
  • $20,000 contribution to House Republican Organizational Committee not reported as surplus funds expenditure and $200 donation to private organization from campaign funds; failure to organize or report for surplus funds account; failure to accurately and timely report campaign contributions, expenditures, orders, debts, and obligations.
• Robert McCaslin, State Representative (R-Spokane Valley, 4th Leg. Dist., Spokane County) and Committee to Elect Bob McCaslin.
  • Failure to accurately and timely report campaign organization, contributions, and expenditures; $10,000 contribution to House Republican Organizational Committee from campaign funds.
• Kirk Pearson, State Senator (R-Index, 39th Leg. Dist., Snohomish County) and Kirk Pearson for State Senate 2016, a political committee.
  • Extraordinary volume of late reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures (a cumulative 11,870 days late).
• Pam Roach, Pierce County Councilmember (R-Sumner, Pierce County) and Friends of Pam Roach, a political committee.
  • Failure to accurately and timely report campaign contributions and expenditures; failure to identify sub-vendors for expenditures.
• Matthew Shea, State Representative (R-Spokane Valley, 4th Leg. Dist., Spokane County) and Committee to Elect Matt Shea.
  • Failure to accurately and timely report campaign contributions, expenditures, orders, debts, and obligations; failure to identify sub-vendors for expenditures.
• Norma Smith, State Representative (R-Clinton, 10th Leg. Dist., Island County) and Friends of Norma Smith, a political committee.
  • $30,000 contribution to House Republican Organizational Committee from campaign funds.
• Melanie Stambaugh, State Representative (R-Puyallup, 25th Leg. Dist., Pierce County) and Friends of Melanie Stambaugh, a political committee.
  • Failure to accurately and timely report campaign expenditures, orders, debts, and obligations.
• David Taylor, State Representative (R-Yakima, 15th Leg. Dist., Yakima County) and Committee to Elect David Taylor.
  • Failure to accurately and timely report campaign contributions; over $1,000 in donations to private organization from campaign funds.

County political party committees

• Clark County Republican Central Committee (Vancouver).
  • Failure to accurately and timely report campaign contributions, expenditures, orders, debts, and obligations; acceptance of prohibited contributions from candidate authorized committees.
• Franklin County Republican Central Committee (Pasco).
  • Failure to accurately and timely report campaign contributions, expenditures, orders, debts, and obligations.
• Snohomish County Republican Central Committee (Marysville).
  • Failure to accurately and timely report campaign contributions, expenditures, orders, debts, and obligations.
• Spokane County Republican Central Committee (Spokane).
  • Failure to accurately and timely report campaign contributions, expenditures, orders, debts, and obligations; concealment of identity/payment amount for speaker’s fee; acceptance of prohibited contributions from candidate authorized committees.

Yesterday, Walter Smith of Smith & Dietrich Law Offices PLLC notified state authorities at the Attorney General’s Office and in Thurston County of over one hundred apparent violations of Washington’s campaign finance laws committed by a political committee or “PAC,” Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights, between 2015 and the present. The information cited in our citizen action notice was freely available to anyone with an internet connection, chiefly through the Public Disclosure Commission’s own website. You can access our notification letter here, and the attached spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel format here.

The cited violations include failures to timely file contribution and expenditure reporting on forms C-3 and C-4 on 99 occasions, including almost all of the PAC’s reporting for the Presidential election year of 2016 (which was mostly filed in May 2017). Additional apparent violations cited in our notice include failures to disclose debts, orders, obligations, and in-kind loans, and to file lobbyist employer reports.

Public Disclosure Commission documents available online show that the Executive Director for the Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights, Mr. Glen Morgan, filed a large volume of campaign finance complaints against other entities in Washington throughout late 2016 and continuing to the present day. Evidently, during the same time, his own committee was seriously out of compliance with the same laws. Our notice cites these facts to show that the PAC’s violations were intentional. State authorities have 45 days to complete their initial review of the allegations in this notice; we will provide an update when one is available. In the event that all notice requirements are satisfied and the State does not file an enforcement action based on the allegations in our notice, by law, we are allowed to proceed with a campaign finance enforcement action against the Respondent in the name of the State.

If you would like to discuss campaign finance compliance duties and how our firm can help you remain in compliance or address allegations of wrongdoing, contact us today.