Washington lawmakers decline comment on abortion rallies ethics complaint alleging violation of campaign law

(The Center Square) – Eleven Washington lawmakers have declined to comment on an ethics complaint alleging that they illegally used public resources to organize and conduct campaign events under the guise of press conferences.

The events in question took place on June 25 at the state capitol and on the campus of Western Washington University, a state college, on Oct. 21.

Present at one or both events and named in the complaint are, in addition to Inslee, Democratic senators Manka Dhingra, Emily Randall, June Robinson and Liz Lovelett and representatives My-Linh Thai, Jessica Bateman, Debra Lekanoff, Alex Ramel, Alicia Rule, Sharon Shewmake, and Vandana Slatter.

The complaint, which also named Gov. Jay Inslee, was filed Oct. 24 with the Legislative and Executive Ethics Boards by Glen Morgan of watchdog group We the Governed.

The We the Governed website boasts of “665 complaints filed with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) or Ethics Board,” leading to over $612,563 in fines for “79 politicians, judges and PACs fined, +126 others caught and formally sanctioned.”

The complaint says that Inslee used staff time and resources to organize the event in violation of Washington campaign law, and that the legislators used public resources including facilities to participate in what was in effect a partisan political event, also in violation of Washington law.

A spokesperson from Senators Manka Dhingra and June Robinson responded to a request for comment by email, writing, “Because of election-year restrictions, I’m not able to provide a response, but I’ve passed your request along.” No other responses from lawmakers were received by press time.

Washington law prohibits the use of state resources for campaign purposes but does not prohibit communication with the press and specifically allows “activities that are part of the normal and regular conduct of the office or agency” during an election year.

The ethics complaint asserts, “Although the governor attempted to mitigate the obvious political tone of the event by halfheartedly saying a few times they were not advocating for any particular political party, these comments were outweighed by the numerous constant partisan attacks on an opposing party. He thundered ‘Voters have the right to make decisions this fall. We are not intending to advocate for a particular vote [sic] but one party stands for the right of choice and one party stands against it.'”

The Oct. 21 Bellingham event coincided with the first day of the 18-day voting period in Washington, shortly after voters would have received their ballots by mail.

Mike Faulk, communications director for the governor’s office, told The Center Square in an email last week that legal counsel had not yet reviewed Morgan’s complaint.

“These legislative policy events are common on both sides of the aisle and we organize them with respect to ethics rules,” Faulk added. “The events named were to highlight policies that are top of mind for Washingtonians and inform the public on the work being done by Washington’s elected officials.”