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SAN JUAN COUNTY PROSECUTOR |
County spends $28K to settle lawsuit against Seattle Radio stationposted 06/24/2009
The cities had filed it to compel the political campaign opposing the gas tax to disclose the names of contributors and amounts of money or in-kind contributions. The issue revolved around whether the radio deejays had to list their air time as in-kind contributions. The county and cities prevailed in Superior court, lost in the appeals court and had the case reinstated in the Washington Supreme Court. The settlement was a "business decision" made by the risk managers for the cities and county at the end of a formal mediation, said Gaylord. "This decision was made to bring doubtful and disputed claims to an end. The county and cities argued strenuously the lawsuit was properly filed to bring sunlight to the elections process and we had a motion pending before Judge McPhee that explained why we would prevail." Court upholds disclosure orderposted 10/27/05
"This is a victory for openness and transparency in campaigns. The public's right to know who is funding an initiative campaign has been vindicated," said Randy Gaylord, San Juan County's Prosecuting Attorney. "There are no special rules for talk radio hosts. Anyone who runs an initiative campaign, no matter how powerful or prominent, must comply with state public disclosure laws," he said. The lawsuit began in June when the No New Gas Tax Committee reported $70,000 in "anonymous" cash contributions in clear violation of the campaign disclosure laws. Judge Wickham found that No Gas failed to report the source of this cash, as well as in-kind contributions from Fisher Broadcasting (an amount the campaign later valued at $20,000 for May). In his ruling Oct. 26, 2005, Judge Wickham confirmed his earlier order requiring disclosure. He found that "Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson were the principal organizers of the campaign and openly used their media time to advertise the campaign and solicit funds for it ... Their actions were not accidental and the impact on the campaign was not incidental. Anything less than the facts in this case might well not be a reportable contribution." "Those who criticize government for lack of accountability and openness have a special responsibility to themselves to be accountable when they step into the public forum of an initiative campaign," said Mike Vaska, an attorney at the Foster Pepper law firm representing the prosecutors. "The public's confidence in our elections depends on ensuring that secret campaign contributions do not creep back into our political system," he said. County files lawsuit against Initiative 912 backersposted 06/25/05
The state’s public disclosure law requires that campaigns raising and spending more than $3,500 must file reports showing the names, addresses, occupations and employers of their contributors, the total amount each contributor has donated and how the funds were spent. The prosecutor's charge: I-912 campaign has wantonly ignored the state’s campaign finance reporting law and failed to disclose the identities of all of its contributors. "The counties and cities took this highly unusual action, which is provided for in the public disclosure law, because the pace of a review by the Public Disclosure Commission would be too slow to be meaningful," said attorney Mike Vaska, representing the counties and cities. "We believe this is the first time this has been done, but the urgency of the issue compelled this action." The lawsuit filed in Thurston County Superior Court June 23, 2005 seeks a preliminary injunction and penalties to stop I-912 campaign organizers from spending money from unidentified sources. "San Juan County takes this action because we want our future determined by a fair process, not by illegal campaign contributions," said San Juan County Prosecuting Attorney Randall K. Gaylord. "As a county, we have a lot at stake. We depend on a healthy transportation network, and the transportation package is a fair way to pay for it." According to the prosecutors, the I-912 campaign raised $40,000 from Internet contributions in May, but concealed these funds for a month by failing to make required reports to the PDC. In June, supporters disclosed they had raised $70,000, again mostly from unidentified sources. "The Sunshine Laws apply to the I-912 campaign. The campaign leaders have not said where they get all of the contributions from," Gaylord said. "This thwarts the public's right to know. We want honesty and disclosure, now, when it matters. It's the little guy that will get hurt if they don't comply." According to the prosecutors', radio hosts Kirby Wilbur and John Carlson have spent countless hours working on campaign strategy and promotion while on the Fisher payroll, and the KVI website urges listeners to help the two get the measure on the ballot. None of these resources provided by the Seattle-based broadcasting corporation have been reported as required per state disclosure laws. |
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