Wash PDC asks AG to consider complaint against GOP

The state Public Disclosure Commission says the state Republican Party may be in violation of campaign finance laws and has recommended that the attorney general look at the case.

In a 4-1 ruling Thursday, the commission said the party apparently committed multiple violations when it used a certain account to pay for three mailers that promoted Republican Dino Rossi over Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, in the state primary election.

Commissioner Jim Clements was the only one who opposed the action, saying he feared that requesting an investigation so close to the election was too political.

Janelle Guthrie, spokeswoman for Attorney General Rob McKenna, said his office had not yet seen the referral from the commission.

"We'll take as much time as we need to review the case and determine what the next steps will be," she said.

The case concerns three mailings, sent before the Aug. 19 primary, that attacked Gregoire on public safety, taxes and spending.

Each contained photos and quotes of Rossi and the statement, "Vote for Dino Rossi and our entire State Republican Team in the Aug. 19 Primary."

The state's political parties have two primary types of accounts - "exempt" and "nonexempt" - they use to pay for political activities related to nonfederal races.

Nonexempt accounts can be used for candidate campaigns, but contributions to those accounts are capped at $4,000 from interest groups and political action committees.

Exempt accounts are not subject to those caps but can only be used on things like fundraising activities and get-out-the-vote campaigns. Individual candidates can't be promoted.

PDC staff said the party used those exempt accounts to pay more than $150,000 for the mailings.

A complaint was filed Aug. 18 by Bellevue attorney Kyle Olive. The Republican Party says the mailings were "internal political communications" sent only to members of the party as it defines them.

But Linda Dalton, the senior assistant attorney general assigned to the commission, said the case is not about "controlling the message to members."

"It's how to pay for it," she told the commission. "This really isn't about restricting the communications from the Republican Party to its members, or examining who it went to or who it didn't. The statutes are clear about the pot of money that they're allowed to use in these types of communication."

John White, the attorney representing the state GOP, said that the new top two primary took the nominating process away from state parties, making it even more necessary for the party to be able to let members know which candidates the party supports.

Under the top two primary, created by Initiative 872, candidates may align themselves with whichever party label they want, even if they're not the "official" candidate of the state parties.

"With the nomination process becoming an entirely private matter, the Republican Party has even more basis and more protection both under Initiative 872 as well as the First Amendment to communicate with its members regarding who its nominees are and why those nominees are deserving of support from the political parties' members," he said.

Clements, a former Republican legislator from Selah, said that the timing of the complaint made him uncomfortable, in light of the contentious governor's race.

"These types of issues might be more political than substantive," he said. "I'm not sure you might not be in violation. But it's the type of thing I think can wait."

Republican Party spokesman Matthew Lundh said the ruling violates its constitutional right to communicate with its members, and that it would ask the PDC to reconsider its decision.

"It's disappointing that the PDC doesn't believe that we as a political party have the same right to communicate with our members that labor unions and insurance companies enjoy," he said.

Aaron Toso, campaign spokesman for Gov. Chris Gregoire, said the PDC made the right decision in moving the case to the attorney general.

"There are clear rules, and we agree with the PDC staff that there were egregious violations of the state law and we believe the state Republican Party should refund their own exempt account with nonexempt money," he said.

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On the Net:

Public Disclosure Commission: http://www.pdc.wa.gov