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David Dehlendorf – San Juan County Democratic Party Treasurer

Last week, the San Juan County Democratic Party settled a lawsuit filed last June by the Washington State Attorney General’s office for a wide variety of campaign finance violations.  The final settlement included payment for $4,885  in AG attorney fees and costs, and a fine of $8,220 (with half suspended for good behavior for the next few years) for a total settlement of $13, 105.  Despite early public denials by David Dehlendorf, the San Juan County Democratic Party Treasurer, there were serious problems with the San Juan County Democratic Party’s ability to honestly and accurately report their financial disclosure information to the Public Disclosure Commission.

It always begins with a complaint

Almost Everyone Welcome, Republicans might be spit on, judging from this local article

This lawsuit originated with a complaint filed by this author a year ago on April 26, 2017 (linked here).  The San Juan County Democratic Party’s response is linked here. The AG filed the lawsuit on June 28, 2017 (linked here).  The final settlement is linked here.  The AG did issue a press release when the lawsuit was originally filed.  However, as discussed in past articles, the AG issued no press release and not even a tweet on the final settlement since it was a Democratic Party political committee.  This stands in stark contrast to the 8 press releases about Tim Eyman’s AG case linked below (not including tweets), three press releases about Kim Wyman’s AG lawsuit (see AG press releases herehere, and here), and the many press releases and tweets about the Freedom Foundation’s AG woes as examples of how Conservative leaning groups are treated differently by the AG’s approach to press releases.

A few additional details elaborated in the AG lawsuit, based on this author’s original complaints included the following:

  • Failed to timely disclose $30,290 in expenditures on 12 separate reports, ranging from three to 165 days late. The committee filed every such report for 2016 late.
  • Failed to timely disclose $15,060 in contributions on 35 separate reports, ranging from three to 126 days late.
  • Failed to timely report $15,514 in debts and obligations incurred on four reports, ranging from 41 to 135 days late.

Moving Forward and Looking Back

Since the San Juan County Democrats claim to have over $10,000 in their campaign war chest (linked here), the initial $8, 995 check to the State should be easy to cover, and this should justify their fundraising efforts over the past year.  The local party can now move forward without the threat of an AG lawsuit on their mind any longer.  They still need to pay greater attention to their finances since the $4,110 suspended penalty will be hanging over their head for four years.  Based on past performance, it is unlikely they will be able to avoid violating the law again so it might be prudent to budget accordingly.

The San Juan Democrats often position themselves to kick the people of their county

A notable feature of the initial defense provided to the Public Disclosure Commission after the San Juan County Democrats received notice of the complaint last year was a novel explanation crafted by David Dehlendorf (linked here), who has been the San Juan County Democratic Party Treasurer throughout this drama.  Dehlendorf is well known in San Juan County for instructing other people how they should live their lives and remains a true believer in the theory that government run by people like him always knows best.  However, this political philosophy should be questioned when people like him can’t keep their own house in order.  He went on to explain how the county is made up of islands connected by ferries, airplanes and challenging communications, he also stated “Our county Democratic party is relatively unsophisticated…” which might be true, but he has never let this slow down his desire to dictate to everyone else how they should live their lives.

It could always be worse, and they are not alone

Misery always wants company

However, now is not the time to direct blame.  Dehlendorf should get credit from local Democrats for orchestrating a relatively simple settlement like this.  His decision to avoid taking the embarrassing legal path chosen by the Island County Democrats and the Pacific County Democrats (to name a few) was wise and he should get some recognition for facing the challenge of settling this lawsuit and paying the fine rather than trying to run away from his legal problems.

In the end, the San Juan County Democrats join a long list of political committees which have failed to comply with the state’s campaign finance laws.  While their violations are notably significant, they were still less significant than the Pierce County , Kittitas County, Clark County, or the Spokane County Democratic Party cases.  Regardless, this Attorney General’s lawsuit (with help from this author) demonstrates, once again, that widespread violation of the state’s campaign finance laws have been more pervasive than most observers realized even just a few months ago.  There is nothing frivolous about violations and settlements like this.

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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

Additional Background articles and documents:

PDC#17240 – Original PDC complaint filed San Juan County Democratic Party filed April 26, 2017

PDC #17240 – San Juan County Democratic Party Response to PDC complaint

AG lawsuit filed against San Juan County Democratic Party – Thurston Superior Court #17-2-03876-34 filed on June 28, 2017

AG press release about filing the lawsuit against the San Juan County Democratic Party

(downloadable AG Press Release about original lawsuit)

Final Stipulation and Judgment against San Juan County Democratic Party – Thurston Superior Court #17-2-03876-34 filed on April 20, 2018

PDC filings – SanJuanDems – C4 (expenditures) – 4-10-2018

Attorney General’s updated list of Campaign Finance Settlements 

Journal of the San Juans – “Attorney General’s Office files campaign finance complaint against San Juan County Democrats” 

(Downloadable version of this article in case the Journal of the San Juans news entity folds in the future)

Republicans harassed at county fair – San Juan County Journal – letter to the editor by San Juan County Republicans detailing Democrats spitting and attacking Republicans
Democratic Party attacks campaign transparency in Washington
Kittitas County Democrats settle AG campaign finance lawsuit for $28k in fines and penalties
Pacific County Democrats dissolve and commit fraud to avoid transparency

Washington State Democrats find hope in AG’s $38,520 fine against the Pierce County Democrats

AG Press Releases about Tim Eyman over last 15 months:

AG Press Release – “Ferguson files $2.1M Campaign Finance lawsuit against Tim Eyman”

AG Press Release – “AG Ferguson Demands Documents be disclosed in Eyman Investigation”

AG Press Release – “AG asks courts to hold Eyman, Committees, in Contempt”

AG Press Release – “AG Subpoenas enforced by court in Tim Eyman probe”

AG Press Release – “In AG Investigation, Court Finds Tim Eyman violated June 29 Order”

AG Press Release – “Tim Eyman, Committees pay AG $20K in Costs and Fees for months of delay”

AG Press Release – “AG: Judge Orders Signature Gathering Firm to disclose documents in Eyman probe”

AG Press Release – “Court rejects motion to dismiss 2 Defendants in Eyman campaign finance case”

AG Press Release – “Eyman and Committees violated campaign accounting and disclosure laws”