Monday, September 23, 2013

Bellingham Herald Buries Critical Election News

September 17, 2013

An open letter to my fellow citizens of Whatcom County:

In reviewing Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) reports, sometimes I notice minor discrepancies and give them little thought. In early July, however, I was quite taken aback when looking at campaign finance reports filed by Ken Mann, candidate for re-election to the Whatcom County Council.

Following his election to Council in 2009, Mann filed his end-of-cycle PDC Form C-4 on January 11, 2010, reporting unspent campaign funds of $7,787.47. Most officials wishing to stand for election to more than one term in office follow provisions of state law found in RCW 42.17A.430 (6), “Disposal of surplus funds” and set up a “surplus account” to properly account for unspent funds. This law clearly states that “The surplus funds of a candidate or a candidate’s authorized committee may only be disposed of in any one or more of…” the several ways spelled out in the statute.

When Mann filed his initial PDC Form C-4 for his 2013 re-election campaign on May 6, 2013, he reported a previous total cash balance of $73.60. Between January, 2010 and May, 2013, the PDC posted no reports, amended or otherwise, received from Mann concerning “left over” funds from his 2009 campaign. Despite having more than three years to do so, it appears that Candidate Mann failed to report to the PDC (and thus to his contributors and the public) how he spent or otherwise disposed of more than $7,700 in campaign funds.

Washington State’s public disclosure laws establish a citizen-complaint driven process. On July 3, I filed a complaint with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission to bring the matter to their attention. On July 10 the PDC acknowledged receipt of my complaint and advised they were undertaking a preliminary review of the matter. Because the Commission sometimes receives complaints deemed frivolous, they advise filers they have not made a determination whether a formal investigation or any enforcement action may be warranted at the preliminary stage.

On August 16, PDC Director of Compliance Philip Stutzman wrote to inform me that the PDC had launched a formal investigation of the complaint and assigned PDC Case No. 14-001 to the matter. By this point, the Commission had advised candidate Mann of the complaint, providing him with an opportunity to explain what happened to the money and to file amended PDC reports. The PDC posts reports it receives promptly, usually within 24 hours of receipt.

After ten more days elapsed, I put together a package of hard copies of the complaint, supporting documents, PDC letters, and a cover letter addressed to Bellingham Herald reporter Ralph Schwartz. On Tuesday, August 27, together with an eyewitness, I personally delivered the information to Mr. Schwartz at the Herald offices. Mr. Schwartz opened the package in our presence, took a quick look at the contents and remarked “almost $8,000 – that’s not chump change!” to which I had to agree – even in a year like this one. He said he would take the matter up with his editor, Debbie Townsend, upon her return from vacation after Labor Day. He went on to say the paper “would not likely want to do anything that might impact the outcome” of an election…. Really?

At the Whatcom County Council meeting on September 10, I encountered Mr. Schwartz in the hallway outside council chambers. He couldn’t avoid me and managed to say that he had discussed the matter with his boss, and the Herald would not publish any information until the PDC investigation is finished “hopefully by late October.” Apparently this “newspaper” does not want to inform the general public of the publically-available, but not easily located facts that have led the state Public Disclosure Commission to pursue a formal investigation. As of this writing, the investigation is very “live”, and ongoing.

Chet Dow
Whatcom County Resident
P.O. Box 30354
Bellingham, WA 98228

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