Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission will decide whether Let’s Go Washington, which put four initiatives on November’s ballot, was deliberately opaque in its signature-collection finances, and if it had dragged its feet in opening its books to the public. The commission held a hearing Thursday, but a date for their ruling has not been set.
The PDC staff has charged Let’s Go Washington with taking eight to 675 days to add required details to 21 original campaign finance reports. The staff alleges that Let’s Go Washington has not sufficiently addressed whether its five signature-collection contractors hired any subcontractors. And the staff has charged Let’s Go Washington with not fully opening its financial records until the PDC subpoenaed them.
Redmond hedge fund manager Brian Heywood founded Let’s Go Washington in 2022 to put initiatives to public votes during elections. The group successfully gathered signatures on seven initiatives in 2023 and 2024, three of which the Legislature passed. Washington voters will face four of the group’s initiatives in November — repealing the state’s cap-and-invest program on carbon pollution; making participation in the Washington Cares program voluntary; repealing a state capital gains tax; and forbidding any state or local bans on using natural gas.
At issue is whether the five signature-collection contractors — TDM Strategies, Your Choice petitions, All State Petition Management, Collective Voice Solutions and RM Consulting — hired subcontractors. If so, the group should have reported how much the subcontractors were paid and what work the subcontractors did.
Heywood co-founded TDM Strategies, which received $700,000 from the almost $9 million that Let’s Go Washington spent on the five contractors, said Chad Standifer, an assistant attorney general prosecuting this case. Heywood donated the majority of the $9.15 million collected in the past two years by Let’s Go Washington, which according to PDC records has spent slightly more than $12 million.
Kelly Palmer, Let’s Go Washington’s chief of staff, testified that none of the five contractors indicated they had subcontractors, but that Let’s Go Washington did not aggressively try to determine if any existed. Palmer said Let’s Go Washington tried to comply with the PDC’s requests for financial information, but its intensive campaign activities slowed it down. Both the PDC and the group testified Let’s Go Washington did not break down expenses among the first six petition drives for most of 2023, but eventually the organization told the PDC that each drive equally received about one-sixth of the money. Let’s Go Washington’s attorney, Callie Castillo, contended that the group has disclosed all its expenditures, the PDC has not proven any subcontractors existed and the group eventually complied with all PDC requests.
Phil Stutzman, a PDC compliance officer, argued that one contractor reported its use of subcontractors is “proprietary,” implying that it does use subcontractors. Stutzman also said an employee for Your Choice confirmed the use of subcontractors, though Let’s Go Washington’s Palmer said that employee was in a conflict with Heywood over money and was eventually charged in an unspecified trespassing incident.
Standifer argued that Let’s Go Washington has not disputed that it delayed eight to 675 days to fix 21 financial reports, saying that extra information was needed for the public to know how that money was spent. He zeroed in on Let’s Go Washington’s failure to actively determine if subcontractors existed. And he noted a subpoena was needed for the organization to fully open its books to the PDC.
Let’s Go Washington faces a potential fine of up to $10,000 per violation. It is up to the PDC commissioners to determine how many violations occurred.