February 07, 2025
Commission denies request for reconsideration for Washington State Republican Party
At its Dec. 12 regular meeting, the Commission denied a request for reconsideration from the Washington State Republican Party regarding violations found and fines imposed by the Commission at its October regular meeting.
The Commission had fined the party $5,000, finding that it made an illegal contribution to a political committee, accepted over-limit anonymous contributions, failed to include sponsor ID on a text message in the 2023 election, and delayed reporting the expenditure until after the election was over.
At the December meeting, attorney Joel Ard, representing WSRP, argued that the PDC exhibited political bias in their handling of the case. He also took issue with the PDC’s characterization of the WSRP as a “sophisticated” organization, saying the group’s paid staff is inexperienced.
Assistant Attorney General Susie Giles-Klein, representing the PDC, said complaints against other organizations used by the WSRP to demonstrate alleged bias were seemingly picked at random, and had little resemblance to WSRP’s own case. She also noted that none of WSRP’s arguments met the criteria for reconsideration outlined in the Washington Administrative Code.
In a reconsideration hearing, staff and the requesting party brief the Commission, which then must first vote on whether to consider the request. If the Commission votes to consider the request, then it can discuss the matter and decide whether to grant the reconsideration.
Commission fines two officials for repeatedly failing to file personal financial affairs statements
The Commission fined two officials a total of $3,000 for failing to file their personal financial affairs statements. In both cases, the officials were repeat violators of the law.
The F-1 report shows a candidate’s or official’s potential conflicts of interest by disclosing sources of income, real estate, investments and business ownership of the filer and their immediate family. The requirement dates to the 1972 citizen initiative that created the PDC.
Robert Pruneda, a Parks and Recreation Commission member in Adams County, was found in violation and fined $2,000 with $1,000 suspended on the condition that all fines are paid and missing reports are filed, for failing to file his F-1 by April 15, 2024. Pruneda has two prior violations for not filing F-1 reports.
Dariel L. Norris, a King County Hospital District 4 commissioner, was also found in violation and fined $1,000 with $900 suspended for failing to file their F-1 by April 15, 2024. Norris has one previous violation for not filing the F-1.
PDC adopts new rules on exemptions for sponsor identification on political advertising
The Commission formally adopted rules for sponsor identification on yard signs as a follow-up to its work on a bill passed in the 2024 legislative session.
The bill removed an exemption in state law for sponsor ID on yard signs 4 feet by 8 feet or smaller. This spring, the Commission passed emergency rules on the new sponsor ID requirements in order to get new rules on the books in time for the general election cycle.
Sponsors of political advertisements are, with some exceptions, required to include sponsor identification on those advertisements.
The permanent rules include a couple of other changes. A sponsor ID exemption for campaign paraphernalia measuring 4 inches by 15 inches was amended to include items 60 square inches or less.
The Commission also clarified that in instances when sponsor ID is not required, the exemption does not authorize the use of misleading or fake sponsor ID on advertising.
Commission thanks Nancy Isserlis for her service
Public Disclosure Commission Chair Allen Hayward thanked Commission member and former Chair Nancy Isserlis for her service on the Commission as her term reaches its end.
“She’s been a very, very valuable member of this commission,” he said.
Isserlis’ term technically extends through the end of 2024, but state law allows Commissioners to remain in office until the Governor appoints a replacement. Isserlis said she plans to continue to serve on the Commission until that time.
Isserlis, of Spokane, was also recently awarded the Charles A. Goldmark Distinguished Service Award from the Legal Foundation of Washington for her work on civil legal aid and justice in Eastern Washington.
Among the efforts she’ll continue in the coming months is a work group made up of commissioners and leadership at the PDC that is looking at options for dealing with the agency’s backlog of complaints.
“The goal here is to have an eye toward making recommendations to the commission as a whole on how to move us through this big backlog of cases, many of which fall under the category of being four and five years old,” Isserlis said.
“If we need to dispense a little rough justice to help us move through this backlog we intend to do so,” Isserlis said.
Enforcement update
Between October 17 and December 4, the PDC received 131 new complaints and had 341 active cases. Staff held 17 initial hearings, also called case status reviews. Of the 341 active cases, 147 are still under initial review, and 192 have had initial hearings and are under formal investigation. Two are scheduled to go to brief enforcement hearings.
Staff also plan to hold a brief enforcement hearing in December to deal with cases involving failure to timely file the lobbyist monthly report, also known as the L-2 form, for 2023.
The PDC closed 89 cases during the period. Six were closed with no evidence of a violation, 10 with a reminder letter, 14 were dismissed by PDC Executive Director Peter Frey Lavallee, six were resolved as remediable violations, four using the complaint publication process, six with technical corrections, 30 were given written warnings, eight signed statements of understanding admitting to their violation and five were found in violation by the Commission.
Resolved cases involved 10 statewide, six judicial and 20 local candidates, five commercial advertisers, eight public agencies or public employees and 30 political committees.