Home Washington Cities City of Olympia Teamsters Union PAC fined for lawbreaking, Seattle Socialist Sawant under formal investigation

Teamsters Union PAC fined for lawbreaking, Seattle Socialist Sawant under formal investigation

Glen Morgan

May 13, 2020

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Teamsters and sawant — The Teamster Union PAC was recently fined, and Seattle Socialist Kshama Sawant gets a closer investigation for her many additional campaign finance violations

I’ve filed a lot of complaints against politicians, judges, PACs, and candidates over the past few years for violating various Washington State laws (see here for complete list of resolved cases). Mostly these involve violations of Washington State’s glorious campaign finance laws (RCW 42.17A) and also the random patchwork of ethics laws which are theoretically applied to some of the political leadership in this state (not equally applied, but random application occurs). I receive numerous reader requests for updates on the status of these cases. Many are still “in process” (being investigated) at this time, but I try to keep readers updated as these are completed by the Public Disclosure Commission, the Washington State Attorney General, or various other local and state ethics boards.

Last Friday, the Public Disclosure Commission completed their investigation of the Washington Teamsters Legislative League PAC (see case file here). This was based on a campaign finance complaint I filed against this PAC on December 21, 2017 (see here). Mostly, this PAC concealed large campaign contributions to various Democratic Party legislators and delayed revealing many of these expenditures for extensive periods of time during various election cycles. As anyone who has followed my work knows, this is not unusual behavior. This PAC agreed to a $1,000 fine (see here), and received a formal wrist slap warning letter from the PDC last week (see here).

This was the 66^th Politician, Judge, or PAC officially fined since I started this effort in late 2016, and was the 154^th group/politician officially confirmed by a regulatory agency as a law-breaker based on my complaints. Many more will be added to that list over time. The wheels of justice and bureaucracy move slowly, particularly if the violators are aligned with the favored political establishment.

For those who complain about the paltry sum of the fine, please remember, this was a direct result of the “Stop Glen Morgan Bill” which Inslee signed into law in 2018 (much of which I supported, by the way). The steep fines were originally intended to be applied to political outsiders only (and the campaign finance laws were mostly about creating barriers to entry and the protection of incumbents who already know the game). However, once the entire political establishment of Washington State began to experience the joys and wonder of the campaign finance laws equally applied – it wasn’t so fun any more. It became time to change the law. So, in theory, insiders and outsiders alike will mostly receive wrist slap fines moving forward (unless you are Tim Eyman – in which case, the scorched earth rules still apply).

Seattle Socialist Kshama Sawant gets investigated for lawbreaking once again.

I filed a more recent complaint against Seattle City Councilmember Socialist Kshama Sawant on February 11, 2020 (linked here). Mostly, as you can see from the complaint this was based on the ethics violations committed by Sawant as documented by the Seattle ethics commission report attached to the complaint. Another citizen filed a similar complaint at the same time (linked here), which was combined in one investigation. Based on a recent letter received from the PDC on May 11, 2020 (linked here) it appears this case is likely to result in a deep dive investigation now which may or may not result in some type of wrist slap fine. Sawant’s response written by the law firm who usually defends these politicians when I file complaints (yes, they owe me a Christmas basket and a thank you note at least for all the business I’ve sent their way) is linked here. The first complaint I filed against Sawant (linked here) resulted in a $150 fine (see here) by the Seattle Ethics and Election Commission (To whom the PDC referred the complaint to back then)a few years ago. We will have to wait to see how this more egregious violation shakes out. It may be worth writing an article just about all her ethics and campaign violations someday.

State Insurance Commissioner, Certified Public Accountants PAC, David Sawyer, and the City of Olympia

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the fine imposed on Washington State’s Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler (story linked here) for his illegal misuse of funds. Here are a few other updates on other cases:

The City of Olympia’s overt and reckless violation of the state’s campaign finance laws was put into a deep dive investigation by the PDC a few months ago as well (see letter here). This was based on a complaint I filed (linked here), and numerous other people also filed complaints against the city for egregious violations where they used taxpayer dollars to oppose a citizens initiative in clear violation of the law (see case file here). This will be a fascinating case study in just how many violations political insiders can commit with impunity. Students of the state’s glorious campaign finance laws are watching this one to see what type of wrist slap “naughty, naughty” letter they receive or if the PDC actually decides to send a mini-message to others who are willing to blatantly violate the law the same way in the future. The current strategy is to drag this out until most people forget.

Disgraced former Democrat Representative David Sawyer (29^th LD), from Tacoma was fined $1,000 based on a 2017 complaint I filed against him with the PDC (See file documents below or case file here). This was mostly for his habitually deficient and late campaign finance reporting. He also acted like the law was never intended to apply to him. This matched his Ethics Fine of $1,000 for the #MeToo investigation which occurred recently (see here). Sawyer was treated more like a Republican in this case because he was no longer a favored son of the Democratic Party (politics can be a fickle game of thrones).
The Washington State Conservation Voters Action Fund PAC was wrist slapped with a $300 fine based on two different complaints I filed against them (see here and here) in October and November 2019. These were mainly focused on shady, secretive, strategically late filings they made to obscure and conceal some of their last minute political activity. The PDC staff gave them the benefit of the doubt and imposed a minor fine. Partly, this was influenced by earlier warning letters this well-funded PAC had received for historic campaign finance violations (see here). A pattern has been established, but it might take a few more fines to correct this habitual lawbreaking.
The Washington State Association of Certified Public Accountants PAC was fined $2500 based on a 2017 complaint I filed against them. This included a laundry list of random violations mostly involved with late reporting, concealing donations made to Governor Inslee and others for many months. Unlike the Conservation Voters Action Fund PAC, this one also gave to Republicans, so they had a larger fine imposed. However, these guys are supposed to be the professionals, and if they can’t follow Washington State’s glorious and wonderful campaign finance laws, what hope is there for the rest of us?

For a complete list of the last 66 politicians, PACs, judges, and others who have been fined based on my complaints, and a list of the 94 PACs and politicians who have been publicly and officially exposed for violating these laws go to this link and see the complete list, including direct source links to the original documents. As I’ve said before, you can mock me for my hobby of exposing these guys, but there are worse and far less productive hobbies out there.

**Sometimes all we can do is shine a little spotlight in the darkness of the political process.**

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…