Enforcement of Campaign Finance Laws

Overview

In 1972, Washington’s voters approved the state’s campaign finance disclosure laws, also known as the Fair Campaign Practices Act, to promote complete disclosure of all information respecting the financing of political campaigns and lobbying. These laws govern the state’s campaign finance requirements by, among other things, requiring campaign finance reporting and setting contribution limits and have been amended and updated since 1972.

Through the Act, the voters approved creation of the state’s Public Disclosure Commission. The Commission is charged with providing timely and meaningful public access to accurate information about the financing of political campaigns, lobbyist expenditures, and the financial affairs of public officials and candidates. It also works to ensure compliance with and equitable enforcement of Washington's disclosure and campaign finance laws. The Commission is a quasi-judicial body and hears cases concerning alleged violations of RCW 42.17A. The Commission may assess penalties up to $10,000 per violation. The Commission may also refer apparent violations of the law to the Attorney General, which works in conjunction with the Commission.

The Attorney General also has authority to investigate a person’s or organization’s activities when there is reason to believe there is a violation of the state’s campaign finance laws. Upon a referral from the Public Disclosure Commission, the Attorney General may bring a lawsuit in the name of the state and pursue appropriate civil remedies, including penalties.

The table below details recently resolved lawsuits brought under RCW 42.17A by the Attorney General to enforce this law:

AGO Case Outcomes

Resolution Date	Defendant	Violation	Judgment
12/21/2018	Justin Galloway	Failing to timely file and disclose contributions and expenditures.	Total: $500 $500 civil penalty
12/20/2018	Jim CastroLang	Failing to timely file and disclose contributions and expenditures.	Total: $1,500 $1,500 civil penalty
12/17/2018	Google	Failing to maintain legally required information for Washington state political advertising placed on its online platform.	Total: $217,000 $200,000 civil penalty $17,000 AGO costs and fees
12/12/2018	Facebook	Failing to maintain legally required information for Washington state political advertising placed on its online platform.	Total: $238,500 $200,000 civil penalty $38,500 AGO costs and fees
11/27/18	Spokane County Democratic Central Committee	Failing to timely file and disclose contributions and expenditures.	Total: $83,300 $36,000 civil penalty $36,000 civil penalty provisionally suspended $11,300 AGO costs and fees
07/26/2018	Jared Karsetter	Failing to timely file and disclose contributions and expenditures.	Total: $31,165 $6,465 civil penalty $9,700 civil penalty provisionally suspended $15,000 AGO costs and fees
06/29/2018	King County Democratic Central Committee	Failing to timely file and disclose contributions and expenditures.	Total: $36,797 $12,027.50 civil penalty $12,027.50 civil penalty provisionally suspended $12,742 AGO costs and fees
06/15/2018	Thurston County Democratic Central Committee	Failing to timely file and disclose contributions and expenditures, including debts; failing to disclose the true identity of contributors to a political committee; improperly transferring campaign contributions; and making personal use of campaign funds.	Total: $27,426 $8,343 civil penalty $8,343 civil penalty provisionally suspended $10,740 AGO costs and fees
06/15/2018	James Cooper	Failing to timely file and disclose contributions and expenditures, including debts; failing to disclose the true identity of contributors to a political committee; improperly transferring campaign contributions; and making personal use of campaign funds.	Total: $1,125 $1,125 civil penalty
06/08/2018	Clark County Republican Central Committee	Failing to timely report debts, contributions and expenditures.	Total: $84,099 $37,372.50 civil penalty $37,362.50 civil penalty provisionally suspended $9,364 AGO costs and fees
06/01/2018	Teresa Purcell	Failing to timely report debts, contributions and expenditures, and failing to report employer and occupation information for contributors giving more than $100.	Total: $22,395 $10,395 civil penalty $8,000 civil penalty provisionally suspended $4,000 AGO costs and fees
04/20/2018	San Juan County Democrats	Failing to timely report expenditures, contributions and debt.	Total: $13,105 $4,110 civil penalty $4,110 civil penalty provisionally suspended $4,885 AGO costs and fees
04/06/2018	Sharlaine LaClair	Failing to timely report contribution and debt, failing to properly disclose committee officers, failing to include sponsor identification on mailing	Total: $2,500 $1,250 civil penalty $1,250 civil penalty provisionally suspended
03/06/2018	Eastside Democratic Dinner Committee	Failing to timely report contributions and expenditures.	Total: $6,925 $1,392 civil penalty $1,392 civil penalty provisionally suspended $4,140 AGO costs and fees
03/02/2018	Kittitas County Democrats	Failing to timely report expenditures, contributions and debt.	Total: $27,782.17 $7,912.50 civil penalty $7,912.50 civil penalty provisionally suspended $5,217.17 forfeited anonymous contributions $6,740 AGO costs and fees
02/09/2018	Freedom Foundation	Failing to properly and timely report independent expenditures.	Total: $8,660 $4,330 civil penalty $4,330 AGO costs and fees
11/22/2017	Jeff Morris	Failing to timely disclose contributions.	Total: $1,130 $170 civil penalty $960 AGO costs and fees
11/08/2017	Cindy Larsen	Failing to timely disclose in-kind contributions	Total: $2,000 $2,000 civil penalty
10/27/2017	Pierce County Democratic Central Committee	Failing to timely report expenditures, contributions and debt.	Total: $38,520 $15,890 civil penalty $15,890 civil penalty provisionally suspended $6,740 AGO costs and fees
09/22/2017	Washington & Northern Idaho District Council of Laborers PAC	Failing to timely disclose contributions and expenditures.	Total: $36,610 $15,347.50 civil penalty $15,347.50 civil penalty provisionally suspended $5,615 AGO costs and fees
08/18/2017	Strom Peterson	Failing to timely disclose expenditures made, debts incurred, and in-kind contributions.	Total: $11,950 $4,355 civil penalty $4,355 civil penalty provisionally suspended $2,340 AGO costs and fees
07/14/2017	Sam Hunt	Failing to timely report expenditures and contribution.	Total: $6,475 $1,367.50 civil penalty $1,367.50 civil penalty provisionally suspended $3,740 AGO costs and fees
07/14/2017	Washington Budget and Policy Center	Failing to timely and properly file independent expenditure reports.	Total: $47,300 $16,755 civil penalty $16,755 civil penalty provisionally suspended $13,790 AGO costs and fees
03/14/2017	Frank Chopp	Failing to timely report contributions and expenditures.	Total: $8,209.78 $1,740 civil penalty $1,740 civil penalty provisionally suspended $4,729.78 AGO costs and fees
03/03/2017	Kelsey Hulse	Failing to timely report contributions and expenditures.	Total: $2,920 $515 civil penalty $515 civil penalty provisionally suspended $1,890 AGO costs and fees
02/13/2017	Audubon Washington	Failing to timely file independent expenditure reports.	Total: $4,390 $650 civil penalty $3,740 AGO costs and fees
02/13/2017	Jay Manning	Failing to timely file financial disclosures.	Total: $6,385 $1,572.50 civil penalty $1,572.50 civil penalty provisionally suspended $3,240 AGO costs and fees
01/20/2017	Kim Wyman	Failing to timely file contribution and expenditure reports and timely deposit contributions.	Total: $12,090 $1,975 civil penalty $1,975 civil penalty provisionally suspended $8,140 AGO costs and fees
01/06/2017	Food Democracy Action!	Failing to register as a political committee.	Total: $412,328.10 $319,281.58 civil penalty $93,046.52 AGO costs and fees
11/2/2016	Grocery Manufacturers Associatoin	Intentionally concealing the source of contributions.	Total: $19,095,028.67 $18 million civil penalty and punitive damages $1,095,028.67 AGO costs and fees
09/23/2016	Washington State Labor Council	Failing to timely and properly file lobbyist employer and annual contribution disclosure reports	Total: $25,872 $9,250 civil penalty $9,250 civil penalty provisionally suspended $5,240 AGO costs and fees $2,132 PDC costs
07/15/2016	Washington State Association for Justice	Failing to properly file lobbyist employer and annual contribution disclosure reports	Total: $9,240 $1,500 civil penalty $5,240 AGO costs and fees $2,500 investigation costs
02/08/2016	Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 925 & SEIU Local 925 Public Service PAC	Failing to properly report contributions to defendant PAC and failing to report the value of in-kind services and administrative costs	Total: $77,063.93 $20,844.75 civil penalty $6,948.25 civil penalty provisionally suspended $4,500 civil penalty $1,500 civil penalty provisionally suspended $7,240 AGO costs and fees $3,630.93 investigation costs
01/29/2016	Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 775 & SEIU Quality Care Committee	Failing to properly report contributions to defendant committee and failing to report the value of in-kind services and administrative costs	Total: $51,806.50 $19,687.50 civil penalty $6,562.50 civil penalty provisionally suspended $4,500 civil penalty $1,500 civil penalty provisionally suspended $15,240 AGO costs and fees $4,316.50 investigation costs
12/16/2011	Lisa MacLean, Henry Underhill, Moxie Media, Conservative PAC and Cut Taxes PAC	Acting to conceal the true participants in campaign activities, the true source of funding for PAC activities, the fact that a pledge had been made for funding the activities of the PACs; failing to properly file committee registration forms for PACs; and failure to properly and timely file reports of contributions pledged to PACs	Total: $290,000 $110,000 civil penalty $140,000 provisionally suspended $40,000 AGO costs and fees Required training from PDC on campaign finance responsibilities
11/01/2010	Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties	Failure to properly register the "Just 10%" program as a political committee or file the required contribution and expenditure reports	Total: $340,000 $150,000 civil penalty ($50,000 annually over three years) $150,000 provisionally suspended $40,000 AGO costs and fees
09/24/2010	BIAW Member Services Corporation	Conducting an illegal fundraising campaign and concealing solicitation and receiving of campaign contributions toward 2008 electoral activities	Total: $634,000 $242,000 civil penalty $342,000 provisionally suspended $50,000 AGO costs and fees
09/17/2010	Washington State Republican Party	Misuse of funds from an exempt account for mailings in violation of the permitted uses under the campaign finance disclosure law	Total: $45,000 $15,000 civil penalty $10,000 provisionally suspended $20,000 AGO costs and fees
12/03/2008	Washington Education Association	Use by a union of nonmembers' agency fees for election-related purposes	Total: $975,000 $735,000 civil penalty $240,000 to fee payers affected by the allegations in this action Required to produce an audit of the percentage of WEA's annual budget utilized for "760 expenses" Joint press release announcing resolution
09/26/2007	TME Capital Group and Environmental Materials Transport	Failure to disclose contributions or expenditures as an organized political committee	Total: $125,000 $125,000 civil penalty $15,000 AGO costs and fees Required to file any necessary reports to register as political committees and account for all contributions for times relevant to the complaint
10/19/2005	Alfred J. Kiefer	Intentional failure to properly or timely file a Statement of Financial Affairs for calendar year 2003	Total: $5,000 $5,000 civil penalty $1,670 AGO costs and fees $270 court costs and fees $257.68 investigation costs and fees Required completion of a Statement of Financial Affairs with PDC for the year 2003

AGO Decisions on Public Disclosure Commission Referrals

Referral No.	Respondent	Allegation	Decision
2017-04-28	Evergreen Freedom Foundation	Failure to report independent expenditures	Lawsuit filed October 8, 2019
2018-10-20	Facebook (2)	Failure to maintain and produce political advertising information as commercial advertiser	Letter 11/30/2018
2020-04-14	Facebook (3)	Failure to maintain and produce political advertising information as commercial advertiser	Lawsuit filed April 14, 2020
2020-07-30	Twitter	Failure to maintain and produce political advertising information as commercial advertiser	Lawsuit and stipulated judgment filed Oct. 12, 2020
2020-10-19	Google	Failure to maintain and produce political advertising information as commercial advertiser	In response to the Public Disclosure Commission’s Sept. 3, 2020 referral of PDC Case Nos. 48424 and 59475, Complaint filed against Google, LLC, pursuant to RCW 42.17A.755(4), the Attorney General has made the decision to exercise his statutory authority under RCW 17A.765 to commence an action against Google.