Washington authorities on Wednesday handed down thousands of dollars in fines to groups supporting a series of voting measures. But that has nothing to do with the measure itself. The initiative will remain on the ballot, with voting beginning next week.
According to a formal complaint filed with the Freedom of Information Committee, the organization Let’s Go Washington failed to properly report how its contracted vendors spent money on signature drives to get bills on the ballot. It is said that it was not done. The measure aims to reverse or repeal some of the state’s most recent major climate, tax and health policies.
The complaint alleges that the organization did not properly keep or create records about potential subcontractors hired by petition companies and did not provide detailed information to staff immediately after requests were made. It is specifically stated.
Let’s Go Washington defended attorney Callie Castillo at a hearing on the issue last week, arguing that the charges were “overreach.” The organization also said it was not informed or provided with information about whether its partner companies were using sub-vendors.
Lawyers representing PDC staff say Let’s Go Washington failed to conduct due diligence to track how vendors contracted to support various initiatives used funds from the group. said.
After several days of final decisions, PDC officials found Let’s Go Washington responsible for two of the four violations charged and fined the group $20,000. .
“Failure to question or follow up on the contractor’s non-responsiveness or refusal to provide information is not enough,” reads part of the ruling. “If this were the norm, any committee could ignore this issue and claim they knew nothing about the contractor’s conduct and had nothing to report.”
The fine could be reduced if Let’s Go Washington pays $10,000 within 30 days, has no further violations, and reports more information to the commission about whether subvendors were used. .
Brian Heywood, founder of Let’s Go Washington, said in a statement that the decision sets a “new precedent” for campaign finance reporting.
“If the PDC ‘feels’ that an organization should retain evidence that its vendor has used sub-vendors, they can impose fines on that organization,” the statement reads. “We are considering options regarding the PDC order.”
Heywood said Let’s Go Washington has filed complaints against a handful of other organizations it believes have committed similar violations.
