In a rapid settlement last Friday, Jay Manning was fined $4,812.50 by Washington State’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson last week. A press release was issued Monday by the Attorney General announcing the fine and settlement (linked here). Jay Manning paid this fine for his failure to submit his financial affairs documents (called F1s) for two years.
This fine resulted, in part, because of a complaint filed against Jay Manning last year. Most of the time, this is the type of mistake which goes largely unnoticed. Every year, hundreds of elected officials forget to file their F1 forms. Usually, if someone notices, they are contacted by the Public Disclosure Commission and the scofflaw pays a fine and submits the required forms.
However, Jay Manning is no average politico. He once worked in the Attorney General’s office. He was the Director of the Department of Ecology for years and also served as Governor Christine Gregoire’s Chief of Staff as well. More recently he has been the Chair of the scandal-plagued Puget Sound Partnership Leadership Council and has been appointed as a Trustee for Eastern Washington University, of which he is an alum. He knew better than to skip those forms.
Jay Manning’s Biggest Mistake – partnering with Cult Leader JZ Knight
However, Manning’s biggest mistake was his decision last year to Chair JZ Knight’s Super PAC (called People for Thurston County PAC). JZ Knight is an important client for Jay Manning’s law firm – the Cascadia Law Group, and it appeared that he felt some obligation to run her corporately funded SuperPAC in its effort to keep the Thurston County Commission in the Democrat Party’s control. His efforts failed, and the Thurston County Commission no longer has a Democrat on the board – for the first time in modern history.
JZ Knight is a long-time cult leader from Thurston County, and has spent most of her professional career occupying her compound located near the City of Yelm. JZ Knight claims to channel a 35,000 year old homicidal Lemurian warrior spirit named “Ramtha” who has travelled through space and time (violating the laws of physics and common sense) to donate large sums of money to the Thurston County Democrats. Ramtha has also warned her/its followers to prepare for the impending invasion of the “Lizard People” among other apocalyptic prophesies. The Washington State Democratic Party divested themselves of her/its cash in 2012 when videos were released to the public of her/it making racist and hate speech about Mexicans, Jews, Catholics, gays, organic farmers, and others. However, Jay Manning still ran JZ Knight’s local Super PAC and apparently Manning did all this without disclosing his personal financial records as required by law. Hence the complaint, then the lawsuit by the AG, and now the settlement and fine (see source documents linked at the end of this article) 
JZ Knight has spent millions of dollars harassing and attacking former followers who have escaped the cult and exposed the truth after they left. Similar to the Church of Scientology efforts, JZ Knight has done her/its best to destroy anyone who dares expose the truth about her racist diatribes. This includes threatening expensive litigation against all who dare expose her or host the videos showing her racist speeches. She/it also gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Thurston County Democratic Party to purchase their allegiance and silence as well.
The Attorney General is not done with Jay Manning
Arguably, the recent fine and legal settlement against Jay Manning is the least significant public disclosure complaint filed against him over the past few months. A multitude of unique complaints have been filed against Jay Manning involving his shady activities with the JZ Knight SuperPAC. Some of these are still being investigated by the Attorney General’s office and are likely to result in further litigation either by the AG or by the complainant. As Jay Manning is well aware, this recent fine is just the beginning of what will most certainly be an interesting civics lesson.
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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…
(Full Disclosure: Ramtha and JZ Knight sued the author in 2014 in Federal Court for providing videos of various racist tirades she/it made in previous years to her/it’s followers as part of a public record to the Thurston County Commissioners (whose political campaigns she/it funded). Ramtha/JZ Knight claimed that the videos were selectively “edited.” She/it refused to release a full unedited video to prove the clips were edited out of context. Finally, she/it wisely chose to drop the hopeless lawsuit in 2015 since it was obvious all JZ Knight/Ramtha claims were bogus. Additionally, all the referenced PDC complaints were filed by the author against Jay Manning and the JZ Knight/Ramtha PAC he managed. The author was hopeful to see common sense restored to Thurston County once again despite the large sums of money spent by JZ Knight/Ramtha and supervised by Jay Manning. The author has been informed that Ramtha recently travelled through space and time to berate JZ Knight for wasting her money on the Democrats in Thurston County. Life truly is stranger than fiction).
Lawsuit and other pending complaints:
February 3, 2017 – Attorney General lawsuit against Jay Manning (Thurston superior Court)
February 9, 2017 – Jay Manning Stipulation and Agreed Judgement (Thurston superior Court)
Complaint #9044 – Jay Manning / People for Thurston PAC
Complaint #9995 – Jay Manning / People for Thurston PAC
Complaint #10006 – Jay Manning/ People for Thurston PAC
Complaint #11384 – Jay Manning/People for Thurston PAC
Complaint #11386 – Jay Manning/People for Thurston PAC
Complaint #12110 – Jay Manning/People for Thurston PAC
Complaint #12633 – Jay Manning – F1 and Illegal Lobbying complaint
Jay Manning skates away from transparency thanks public disclosure commission
Can political insiders violate campaign finance laws with no consequences?
AG press release about Jay Manning settlement
Sampling of AG and Prosecutor documents to Jay Manning
170105 – AG2JManning – 3 CAN notices
Ltr – TCP – 20161020 NP – People for TC PAC
Ltr-20161202 -AG2PDC People TC (3 complaints)
Background articles on Attorney General lawsuits:
Can political insiders violate campaign finance laws with no consequences?
PDC – Jay Manning 2012 Donation Report to Bob Ferguson for Attorney General campaign
AG Files Campaign Finance Complaint Against 19th District House Candidate
AGO Files Campaign Finance Complaint Against Secretary of State Kim Wyman
This Washington State official overseas elections, and now she’s paying campaign fines
AG: Eyman and Committees Violated Campaign Accounting and Disclosure Laws
Background Articles on JZ Knight/Ramtha Campaign Finance Scandals
NPR – Ramtha Channeler JZ Knight channels $54,000 into Olympia elections
Ramtha, New Age Cult Leader, Unleashes drunken, racist, homophobic rants to large following
Western Free Press – C’mon JZ Knight, how many accents does Ramtha have?
Seattle Times – State Democratic Party will donate money from JZ Knight after offensive comments
Ancient Warrior Spirit endorses Democrats
Seattle Times – Democrats again under fire over JZ Knight donations
NPR – Washington Democrats reverse course, shed JZ Knight contributions
Seattle PI – Democrats do penance for JZ Knight donations
Will County Commissioner Candidates return racist Ramtha $$?
JZ Knight Tirade Videos Submitted to Politicians she supports
The Olympian – Romero to give away JZ Knight Campaign Cash
Thurston County Dems Accept Money from JZ Knight Again
Anti-Semitic Cult Leader who channels ancient Lemurian warrior is “Democrat in Good Standing”
Thurston County goes Independent, first time in state history
[…] Sound Partnership Leadership Council Director Jay Manning (see complaint linked here and the rapid $4800 settlement linked […]
The Constitution of the United States of America begins and ends with ‘the People’.
(see the Preamble and the end of Amendment 10)
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