The sponsor behind several initiatives on the November ballot faces a $20,000 fine from the state’s Public Disclosure Commission after the agency said it determined the sponsor, the political action committee Let’s Go Washington, violated state campaign finance laws by failing to maintain and produce necessary records regarding the use of subcontractors to gather signatures for the initiatives.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the commission noted that half of the fine could be suspended if Let’s Go Washington meets certain conditions, including paying half the amount owed within 30 days.
The commission held a hearing on Oct. 3 to weigh any fines against Let’s Go Washington over delays in providing required details about campaign finance reports. Additionally, PDC staff alleged that Let’s Go Washington was not clear about whether the five contractors tasked with gathering signatures for the initiatives had hired subcontractors. Under state campaign finance laws, the commission can issue fines of up to $10,000 for each campaign violation.
“LGW has an obligation to inquire and confirm whether its contractors have used sub vendors,” the commission wrote in its order. “Failing to ask or failing to follow up on a contractor’s non-response or refusal to provide the information is insufficient. If this were the standard, any committee could simply ignore the issue and argue it has no knowledge of its contractor’s actions and nothing to report.”
The commission’s final order did note, however, that Let’s Go Washington “properly reported the allocation of its expenditures” totaling more than $12 million.
Brian Heywood, the Redmond-based hedge fund manager and sponsor behind Let’s Go Washington, said in a statement Wednesday that the organization is evaluating its options with the PDC order and claimed that PDC staff were “gaslighting” in their press release.
“PDC staff never asked for full books of account until August, which we promptly turned over,” Heywood noted. “We were fined for not disclosing sub vendors even though we had no knowledge of any use of sub vendors, and even if we again prove no sub vendors were used, we are still fined $5,000.”
Heywood added that the political action committee has filed its own complaints “based on this new standard” with the PDC against the six groups who first filed the complaints using the same grounds and that Let’s Go Washington expects a prompt investigation before the election on Nov. 5.
The three initiatives in question would impact current state laws in different ways: I-2117 would repeal the state’s cap-and-invest program and prohibit lawmakers from imposing any similar measures in the future; I-2104 would allow Washington residents to opt out of the state’s long term care program; and I-2109 would repeal the state’s capital gains tax.