The supporters of ST3, a massive $54 billion tax proposal for light rail on the ballot this November, appear to be violating campaign finance rules.  There is great political and financial pressure to ensure passage of one of the biggest tax increases in Washington State history this November.  

A formal complaint was filed with Washington State’s Public Disclosure Commission on August 20, 2016 by Tacoma resident and citizen activist Conner Edwards against Sound Transit for violating campaign finance and public disclosure rules.  The status of this complaint can be tracked and read on the Public Disclosure Commission website here, Case #7823.  The text of the complaint is as follows (and linked here):

To Whom it May Concern —

Conner Edwards, Tacoma resident and citizen activist filed PDC complaint against Sound Transit this week
Conner Edwards, Tacoma resident and citizen activist filed PDC complaint against Sound Transit this week

I am filing a formal complaint alleging that the public agency Sound Transit violated RCW 42.17A.555 by illegally releasing an exempt list of contact information to the campaign committee “Mass Transit Now” in violation of the Public Records Act.  

The improper release of this list is evidence that the government agency Sound Transit is improperly coordinating with “Mass Transit Now” committee to influence the outcome of the ST3 ballot measure.

The contact list containing 227,000 names was used to send out a mass e-mail electioneering communication from “Mass Transit Now” promoting a “yes” vote on ST3, which will be on the 2016 General election ballot.

Public agencies routinely respond to public record requests. Designated officers keep redaction logs, containing the PRA exemptions that are most applicable to the documents the agency possesses. Experienced attorneys advise staff on what information can be released and what is exempt. It is simply not conceivable that Sound Transit was not aware of the exemption in RCW 42.56.330.  It is far more likely that they intentionally did not apply the exemption so as to benefit the “Mass Transit Now” campaign.

Any campaign with punctuation in their name is very serious indeed
The exclamation point conveys urgency!

If one person among the 227,000 had not registered for the ORCA program with a separate e-mail address, it is likely that Sound Transit’s violation of the law would not have been discovered. It is likely that the collaboration between Sound Transit and “Mass Transit Now” goes deeper than the violation I am currently writing about.

If passed, ST3 will dramatically increase Sound Transit’s taxes in Snohomish, King, and Pierce Counties. Both the “Yes” and the “No” campaign have a right to be heard, but as a government agency, Sound Transit must stop influencing the outcome of the election with public resources.

Lori Anderson, spokeswoman for the PDC, summed up the issue well: “If there’s protected records that they wouldn’t give to you or I, then they shouldn’t be giving those to the campaign… … that’s a restriction on using public facilities to support a political campaign’s ballot initiative.”

While I rely heavily on the facts written in Mr. Kamb’s 8/19 article (attached), I have also made a public record request to Sound Transit for documents related to the violation I have just described. When I receive more information related to the violation, I will share it with the appropriate PDC compliance officer.

In addition to filing this complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission, I will also be notifying the Attorney General’s Office and King County Prosecutor’s Office pursuant to RCW 42.17A.765 (4).

I reserve the right to enforce RCW 42.17A via citizen’s action in the name of the state if the Attorney General and Prosecuting Attorney fail to act within the time period prescribed by law.

Best,

Conner Edwards

As indicated in the complaint, formal notice was also sent to the Washington State Attorney General’s office and the King County Prosecutor’s office.  Not surprisingly, the King County Prosecutor’s office has deferred to the state on this one (as indicated in this letter) sent to Mr. Edwards.

As long as you can fill in the blank with "more tax dollars," Sound Transit wants to hear from you.
As long as you can fill in the blank with “more tax dollars,” Sound Transit wants to hear from you.

This complaint is based, in part, on the Seattle Times article from August 19, which exposed the fact that Sound Transit colluded with the Mass Transit Now Political Action Committee, which is largely funded by special interest corporations lobbying to profit from the tax burden Sound Transit plans to impose on local residents in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties.   This massive $54 billion tax proposal is called ST3 and it will be on the November ballot in all three counties in the targeted precincts (not all voters in these counties can vote on this tax, because the less supportive precincts were gerrymandered out of the voting district area).  

Pretty pictures won't be enough to convince voters to support ST3 in November, but apparently handing out personal contact information of the riders to lobbyists will help
Pretty pictures won’t be enough to convince voters to support ST3 in November, but apparently handing out the personal contact information of the riders to lobbyists could make a difference

Mr. Edwards formal notice to the State Attorney General’s office triggers a 45 day window where the Attorney General can choose to prosecute Sound Transit for the violation, or they can take a pass.  After 45 days, if the State AG chooses to not pursue, then local citizens can take direct legal action against Sound Transit themselves.  However, this will be a difficult case for local citizens to prosecute because Sound Transit has, over recent years, hired or “consulted” with the top 57 law firms in the Seattle area.  This means those firms are conflicted, and couldn’t be used by any plaintiffs wishing to sue Sound Transit.  

If the Attorney General chooses to pursue Sound Transit (see the confirmation letter from AG to Mr. Edwards here), most observers believe that a softball approach will be taken due to the political clout and financial support Sound Transit receives from powerful political insiders in Washington State.  

Sound Transit loves throwing itself parties on the taxpayers dime.
Sound Transit loves throwing itself parties on the taxpayers dime.

Sound Transit has, in the past, been found in violation of many public disclosure rules, illegal use of paid lobbyists, and other questionable actions.  Sound Transit is also willing to mislead the public and elected officials about their past failures to complete projects on time or on budget (even while they throw expensive parties for themselves).  This recent violation should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Sound Transit.  Although small fines have been imposed against the agency in the past, these fines have been treated as the cost of doing business for this agency.  

Conner Edwards said earlier today:

Sound Transit has repeatedly violated state law prohibiting public agencies from engaging in campaign activities with taxpayer money. This needs to end.

Taxpayer should not be forced to assist the pro-ST3 campaign in their goal to take even more money from working families in King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties.

Sound Transit need to be held accountable, and I’m willing to go to court if necessary to enforce state law.

Only transparency demanded by citizens and their elected officials can keep the Sound Transit juggernaut on the legal track and not off the rails violating the law and abusing the power they have over citizens.  Unfortunately, for the small number of riders who use Sound Transit, their personal information it appears will be distributed to any politically connected corporation or organization who can use this information in whatever means necessary to promote their special interests.  The rest of us can only observe and monitor the agencies that enforce the law.  We must ensure that there is not one set of rules for us and another for Sound Transit.

Just a start

If you want to contact the Public Disclosure Commission Directly to support this complaint, you can call or email them:

Phone       (360) 753-1111
Email         pdc@pdc.wa.gov

If you want to contact Sound Transit and tell them what you think about their tax proposal, giving out personal information on the people who use their trains and buses, or on anything else, you can contact them at main@soundtransit.org or their board of directors here.

_________________________________________________________________________

Our Constitution begins with the phrase “we the people.”  It was the founder’s intent that government be created by the people, to serve the people.  It wasn’t their intention for the people to serve the government.  It was always intended that government which failed to serve the people should be “altered or abolished.”  Until we return to the founder’s intent, we remain We the Governed

Documents Referenced in this Article

Case #7823 – Public Disclosure Commission – Sound Transit Complaint w/ Attachments filed by Conner Edwards August 20, 2016

King County Prosecutor’s office response letter to Conner Edwards complaint – deferring to State AG – August 23, 2016

Washington State Attorney General response letter to Conner Edwards acknowledging receipt of complaint and 45-day window for private legal action – August 24, 2016 

Serious reasons to be concerned about ST3:

How is ST3 like an STD?

Rueven Carlyle is right to be asking the driving questions about ST3 

Sound Transit 1 ran twice over budget.  What about Sound Transit 3?

Sound Transit throws $858k party for itself

Sound Transit 3:  Big bucks and insider consultants fuel “people powered” ST3 campaign

Sound Transit improperly send 173,000 ORCA card users info to supporters of ST3 campaign

Sound Transit fined $15,000 for lobbying violations

Vote No on ST3 – People for Smarter Transit

We Save our trail – No Transit on Trail for ST3

Smarter Transit.org

Why Sound Transit’s ST3 Timeline doesn’t matter

Sound Transit’s ST3 campaign kicks off with deception and sketchy finances

Who is benefitting from ST3?

ST3 would result in sales tax rates as high as 10.4%

Sound Transit Touts highly skewed survey to support ST3

Sound Transit should “tap the brakes” on ST3

Sound Transit’s new ST3 scam

Related articles:

Gang Green and the Government Staff Infection

The City of SeaTac suffers from a serious staff infection

Why can’t we build bridges in Washington State?

12 COMMENTS

  1. I must be a dummy because I thought it was CONSERVATIVE and ACCOUNTABLE to FIRE people who screwed up. After all Donald J. Trump made millions off of a reality TV show telling highly capable people who couldn’t pull off a business win… “YOU’RE FIRED”.

    To me, that’s accountability.
    Or maybe I’m stupid.
    You tell me.

    • Joe, who cares about some silly reality tv show?

      If Sound Transit fired their entire upper management for failing in every way to achieve anything they promise (except the fact they will spend all the money they can – they usually get that one right), I would be impressed. But they haven’t. I expect there is more to this story than you are letting on, and I’m excited to follow up with the people who are on the inside of this one. It will be interesting to get the true story from the inside.

      I would never call you a dummy or stupid, even if you call yourself those names.

      I do appreciate your comments, however, and I admire your willingness to suspend disbelief and ignore the nightmare blob in the room that is ST3 sucking all life from every other project in the state.

  2. Great article on ST 3. Not as stupid and wasteful (tho ST has bought everyone off) as City of Seattle buying Pronto. Hope ST future routes are NOT at grade on streets.

    • Sound Transit (ST) gets it the need for grade separation. A YES vote on ST3 is for more grade separated transit. A NO vote on ST3 means more congestion for transit users and single occupancy vehicles alike.

      • A yes vote appears to mean that transportation for the 1% can finally be funded, and the rest of the transportation options can be ignored and degraded. ST3 is a bet on 19th Century solutions to 21st century transportation challenges, and ignores all other options.

        • Glen,

          As to, “A yes vote appears to mean that transportation for the 1% can finally be funded, and the rest of the transportation options can be ignored and degraded.”

          Glen, that’s just not true. ST3 is about expanding the successful mass transit net for the masses into the suburbs and improving the mass transit net in Seattle. More transit for suburbs, more transit for Seattle.

          “ST3 is a bet on 19th Century solutions to 21st century transportation challenges, and ignores all other options.”

          Perhaps. There are other transit options such as giving an interstate lane specifically to double-decker buses; but you didn’t exactly champion them nor funding them did you with the Freedom Foundation? Or did I miss the Freedom Foundation’s proposed alternatives to ST3 – maybe I did, my bad. I do support and will continue to support ELECTING *ALL* transit boards.

          I hope I’m being respectful with you as pugnacious as you are with me. Thanks.

          • Joe, under no realistic scenario will Sound Transit ever provide any transportation solutions for anyone other than a micro fraction of the population. 1% might be a bit much, or they could be wildly successful and move 3% by 2045. Either way, costs too much, does too little and if it was so awesome, the private sector should do it.

            Love your enthusiasm.

  3. I respectfully disagree this rises to the level of illegal conduct. This was a mistake. Things happen.

    That said, the following positions are new hiring positions as heads must have rolled at Sound Transit under the stellar leadership of Sound Transit CEO & General Manager Peter Rogoff – the equivalent of the Seattle Seahawks’ John Schneider:

    *MANAGER, ISMS RISK AND COMPLIANCE
    (Information Security Risk Management and Compliance Monitoring)

    *SENIOR CYBERSECURITY ENGINEER

    *SENIOR CYBERSECURITY ENGINEER (ORCA)

    *SENIOR PROJECT SPECIALIST, ORCA

    I’m sure you must be pleased. Time to SUPPORT our transit team! GO SOUND TRANSIT!

      • I would look at it as ACCOUNTABILITY.

        When somebody screws up in a government job, normally they keep their job. Not the case with marquee, high quality, high performance Sound Transit.

        • Joe, it is hard to imagine the repetitive serial incompetence of Sound Transit being considered ACCOUNTABILITY by anyone. They are completely rogue, abusing the truth at every step of the way.

  4. I don’t think this situation rises to criminal activity.

    The lamestream media has NOT reported that http://agency.governmentjobs.com/soundtransit/default.cfm

    The following positions are new hiring positions as heads must have rolled at Sound Transit:

    *MANAGER, ISMS RISK AND COMPLIANCE
    (Information Security Risk Management and Compliance Monitoring)

    *SENIOR CYBERSECURITY ENGINEER

    *SENIOR CYBERSECURITY ENGINEER (ORCA)

    *SENIOR PROJECT SPECIALIST, ORCA

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