This Washington
Democrats Ask Attorney General McKenna to Go After Republican Group
Noting similar—and perhaps more egregious—shenanigans, Democrats ask why investigation into shadowy GOP group isn’t as high a priority as Moxie Media case.
On November 18, Washington State Democratic Party chair Dwight Pelz sent a letter to the Public Disclosure Commission as an addendum to the complaint the state Democrats filed on November 10 against Americans for Prosperity Washington.
AFPW is the group that, without filing campaign-disclosure documents with the PDC or disclosing its donors, mailed out campaign hit pieces against Democratic candidates, including one denouncing state Sen. Eric Oemig in the 45th, one trashing state Sen. Randy Gordon in the 41st, and one attacking state Sen. Rodney Tom in the 48th. (Oemig was defeated by Republican Andy Hill, Tom narrowly beat back a challenge from Republican Gregg Bennett, and Gordon is currently losing---though barely---to Republican Steve Litzow). AFPW is the local affiliate of Americans for Prosperity—a national 501(c)4 that took advantage of the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court ruling to fund Tea Party candidates without having to disclose its donors at the federal level. (Citizens United allows corporations to contribute unlimited amounts to nonprofit political committees, which do not have to disclose their donors.)
The Democrats' November 10 complaint (a follow-up to an earlier complaint against AFPW by the Sierra Club) made the point that it is against state campaign law for campaigns to fail to disclose their donors.
On the day the Democrats filed their complaint, though, AFPW finally filed campaign finance reports with the PDC. Those reports identify 10 donors—standby conservative donors including Eastside GOP activist Sarah Rindlaub and conservative Seattle-area investor Richard Alvord—whose contributions total $32,000. (That number seems low given the extent of the mailers the group did, which the Democrats estimate cost around $500,000 .) Doug Ellis, director of the PDC, tells PubliCola he can't tell if the $32,000 would cover all the money AFPW spent because the investigation is still ongoing.
AFPW's director is former KVI talk jock Kirby Wilbur. We have called him several times during our ongoing reporting on this story. He has not called back. (The PI reports that Wilbur is running for GOP state party chair.)
The AFPW filing claims that the group is a "grassroots group" rather than a political committee. Filing requirements aren't as stringent on grassroots groups—for example, they don't have to file regularly or in the runup to elections because they are considered public policy lobbying groups, not election groups.
This is where Pelz's follow-up letter comes into play. He asserts that AFPW is a political committee. Political committees are required to follow more rigorous reporting standards, including documenting their finances in advance of elections.
Pelz writes:
Pelz compares the AFPW complaint to the one filed against Democratic consultant Moxie Media—which was expedited by the PDC and kicked up to Attorney General Rob McKenna's office. (Moxie Media and Moxie's head consultant Lisa MacLean, as we've reported , set up a fake political committee to hide liberal donors on behalf of then-38th District Senate candidate, progressive Nick Harper, who defeated moderate incumbent Jean Berkey this year.)
"Our point is these guys committed a worse sin than Lisa MacLean," Pelz says. "She filed a faulty report, [but AFPW] didn't file any report." (It's also worth noting that part of MacLean's scheme involved criticizing Berkey for raising taxes, something her progressive coalition was actually for; similarly, in the AFPW mailer against Oemig, they criticize him for overturning I-728, the smaller class size initiative, something the GOP supported.)
The Republicans have demanded that Harper not be seated until the AG completes his investigation. Pelz's rejoinder: "These guys"---AFPW candidates like Hill and Litzow---"shouldn't be seated either."
He adds: "The PDC is sitting on this thing, but they sent the other one to the AG. Now, it looks like the AG is going after Democrats and not Republicans. McKenna shouldn't settle for that. He should go the the PDC and ask for the AFPW case too."
The PDC's Ellis says the agency only sent the Moxie case to the AG (after completing a big investigation, which, by the way, was pretty damning) because Berkey sent what's known as a "45-day letter" to the PDC, which pressured the PDC to do so. (Such letters, also known as "Citizen Action" letters, threaten citizen lawsuits if the state doesn't take action within 45 days; if a citizen wins her case, the state has to foot the bill.)
Ellis says that even though Democratic state Sen. Karen Keiser (D-33, Burien) took it upon herself to send a letter to the AG complaining about AFPW on her party's behalf right after the election, she did not send a "45-day" letter.
McKenna spokeswoman Janelle Guthrie said McKenna is waiting for the PDC to finish its AFPW investigation before weighing in. She says that's what happened in the Moxie case.
Guthrie also said that McKenna isn't being partisan. For one, she pointed out, that the Moxie case is going forward on behalf of a Democrat (Berkey) who's taking on a Democratic consulting firm, Moxie Media. Second, she asked: "Has Mr. Pelz forgotten about the BIAW MSC case?" (McKenna sued the Building Industry Association of Washington Members Services Corporation for failing to report contributions to Dino Rossi's 2008 gubernatorial campaign. He won that case this September .)
You'll notice in AFPW's filing that the group lists its home base as Alexandria, Virginia—headquarters of the national AFP 501(c)4 Tea Party group. This may be AFPW's out. AFPW might simply list AFP as its top donor—technically abiding by state law to disclose donors. But full disclosure could stop there.
As we saw during the national election this year, 501(c)4s don't have to disclose donors under federal campaign finance rules. AFP could use federal law to trump state law and fail to disclose who its money came from.
On November 18, Washington State Democratic Party chair Dwight Pelz sent a letter to the Public Disclosure Commission as an addendum to the complaint the state Democrats filed on November 10 against Americans for Prosperity Washington.
AFPW is the group that, without filing campaign-disclosure documents with the PDC or disclosing its donors, mailed out campaign hit pieces against Democratic candidates, including one denouncing state Sen. Eric Oemig in the 45th, one trashing state Sen. Randy Gordon in the 41st, and one attacking state Sen. Rodney Tom in the 48th. (Oemig was defeated by Republican Andy Hill, Tom narrowly beat back a challenge from Republican Gregg Bennett, and Gordon is currently losing---though barely---to Republican Steve Litzow). AFPW is the local affiliate of Americans for Prosperity—a national 501(c)4 that took advantage of the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court ruling to fund Tea Party candidates without having to disclose its donors at the federal level. (Citizens United allows corporations to contribute unlimited amounts to nonprofit political committees, which do not have to disclose their donors.)
The Democrats' November 10 complaint (a follow-up to an earlier complaint against AFPW by the Sierra Club) made the point that it is against state campaign law for campaigns to fail to disclose their donors.
On the day the Democrats filed their complaint, though, AFPW finally filed campaign finance reports with the PDC. Those reports identify 10 donors—standby conservative donors including Eastside GOP activist Sarah Rindlaub and conservative Seattle-area investor Richard Alvord—whose contributions total $32,000. (That number seems low given the extent of the mailers the group did, which the Democrats estimate cost around $500,000 .) Doug Ellis, director of the PDC, tells PubliCola he can't tell if the $32,000 would cover all the money AFPW spent because the investigation is still ongoing.
AFPW's director is former KVI talk jock Kirby Wilbur. We have called him several times during our ongoing reporting on this story. He has not called back. (The PI reports that Wilbur is running for GOP state party chair.)
The AFPW filing claims that the group is a "grassroots group" rather than a political committee. Filing requirements aren't as stringent on grassroots groups—for example, they don't have to file regularly or in the runup to elections because they are considered public policy lobbying groups, not election groups.
This is where Pelz's follow-up letter comes into play. He asserts that AFPW is a political committee. Political committees are required to follow more rigorous reporting standards, including documenting their finances in advance of elections.
Pelz writes:
As can be clearly seen from the electioneering communications by AFPWA, their attempts were not to influence the public regarding policy, but rather to influence elections. AFPWA distributed pieces exclusively in Senate swing districts, the 30th, 41st, 45th, and 48th. If they were attempting to influence the public on policy, doing so solely in the tightest Senate swing districts in the state just weeks before the primary and general elections is highly unlikely. There is no grey area here, AFPWA is a political committee.
By filing an L6 [the form for a grassroots group], AFPWA is once again attempting to evade disclosure requirements. As is, the public remains unaware of when contributions were received, the contact information of contributors, when contributions were spent, how contributions were spent, and wherecontributions were spent to name just a few items not required by an L6. By only filing an L6, the public still remains in the dark about AFPWA’s existence as a continuing committee.
Pelz compares the AFPW complaint to the one filed against Democratic consultant Moxie Media—which was expedited by the PDC and kicked up to Attorney General Rob McKenna's office. (Moxie Media and Moxie's head consultant Lisa MacLean, as we've reported , set up a fake political committee to hide liberal donors on behalf of then-38th District Senate candidate, progressive Nick Harper, who defeated moderate incumbent Jean Berkey this year.)
"Our point is these guys committed a worse sin than Lisa MacLean," Pelz says. "She filed a faulty report, [but AFPW] didn't file any report." (It's also worth noting that part of MacLean's scheme involved criticizing Berkey for raising taxes, something her progressive coalition was actually for; similarly, in the AFPW mailer against Oemig, they criticize him for overturning I-728, the smaller class size initiative, something the GOP supported.)
The Republicans have demanded that Harper not be seated until the AG completes his investigation. Pelz's rejoinder: "These guys"---AFPW candidates like Hill and Litzow---"shouldn't be seated either."
He adds: "The PDC is sitting on this thing, but they sent the other one to the AG. Now, it looks like the AG is going after Democrats and not Republicans. McKenna shouldn't settle for that. He should go the the PDC and ask for the AFPW case too."
The PDC's Ellis says the agency only sent the Moxie case to the AG (after completing a big investigation, which, by the way, was pretty damning) because Berkey sent what's known as a "45-day letter" to the PDC, which pressured the PDC to do so. (Such letters, also known as "Citizen Action" letters, threaten citizen lawsuits if the state doesn't take action within 45 days; if a citizen wins her case, the state has to foot the bill.)
Ellis says that even though Democratic state Sen. Karen Keiser (D-33, Burien) took it upon herself to send a letter to the AG complaining about AFPW on her party's behalf right after the election, she did not send a "45-day" letter.
McKenna spokeswoman Janelle Guthrie said McKenna is waiting for the PDC to finish its AFPW investigation before weighing in. She says that's what happened in the Moxie case.
Guthrie also said that McKenna isn't being partisan. For one, she pointed out, that the Moxie case is going forward on behalf of a Democrat (Berkey) who's taking on a Democratic consulting firm, Moxie Media. Second, she asked: "Has Mr. Pelz forgotten about the BIAW MSC case?" (McKenna sued the Building Industry Association of Washington Members Services Corporation for failing to report contributions to Dino Rossi's 2008 gubernatorial campaign. He won that case this September .)
You'll notice in AFPW's filing that the group lists its home base as Alexandria, Virginia—headquarters of the national AFP 501(c)4 Tea Party group. This may be AFPW's out. AFPW might simply list AFP as its top donor—technically abiding by state law to disclose donors. But full disclosure could stop there.
As we saw during the national election this year, 501(c)4s don't have to disclose donors under federal campaign finance rules. AFP could use federal law to trump state law and fail to disclose who its money came from.
