(The Center Square) – Washington state’s Public Disclosure Commission, at the behest of several progressive groups opposed to ballot initiatives to be decided in November, has accused voter advocacy group Let’s Go Washington of allegedly violating campaign finance laws related to gathering signatures for those initiatives.
Staff at the PDC filed administrative charges on Sept. 9 alleging Let’s Go Washington did not “accurately and timely” report how it spent money on each of the efforts to garner voter signatures on the six initiatives. PDC spent more than a year investigating the allegations.
Let’s Go Washington is also accused of failing to obtain and provide documentation from vendors hired to gather signatures. The PDC also claims Leg’s Go Washington failed to obtain and disclose information from vendors about its spending on subcontractors and did not produce requested campaign records.
After being issued a subpoena in July, Let’s Go Washington produced 9,000 pages of materials for the PDC, which will consider the charges in a special meeting Oct. 3.
Let’s Go Washington spokesperson Hallie Balch characterized the situation as much ado about technicalities.
“The dispute is over details about filing preferences that were disclosed to LGW after they had already submitted all requested documents,” she emailed The Center Square. “The PDC continuously moved the goalposts time and again, and LGW did its part to ensure that every penny received and spent was accounted for.”
Let’s Go Washington was able to get six citizen-initiated ballot measure certified to the state Legislature.
Lawmakers approved three of the measures during this year’s legislative session. Those concerned parental rights, prohibiting personal income taxes, and removing certain restrictions on police officers’ vehicular pursuits.
Voters will decide three other Let’s Go Washington-sponsored initiatives on Nov. 5: repealing the state’s capital gains tax, getting rid of the cap-and-trade system under the Climate Commitment Act, and making the state’s new long-term care services program voluntary.
Initiative 2066, sponsored by the Business Industry Association for Washington, to repeal provisions of a new state law meant to hasten Puget Sound Energy’s transition away from natural gas will also be on the November ballot.
In July 2023, a group of progressive organizations opposed to the six ballot measures filed a complaint with the PDC alleging Let’s Go Washington failed to disclose required reports about signature gathering efforts and related expenses.
One of the accusations is that a signature gathering firm hired by Let’s Go Washington has withheld information about subcontractors.
The PDC complaint includes an email sent by Let’s Go Washington to one of its vendors asking about subcontractors: “If you did use other subvendors or subcontractors in the course of your work, for LGW, please provide the names, addresses, amount of any payments, and information regarding what kind of work :was done and for what project or invoice billed to LGW.”
A response from that vendor read, “What you are asking for is proprietary information and is outside the realm of reason to disclose to you.”
“There is no dispute from the PDC that the money was accounted for, the dispute is about technical details that the Commission continued to change after LGW had already submitted the previously requested documents,” Balch said in her email to The Center Square.
The investigation remains open and PDC charges could be amended.
