Editorial
Shoddy disclosure

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All three major candidates for Washington governor have failed to fully disclose information on thousands of dollars of campaign donations. The campaigns of Christine Gregoire, Dino Rossi and Ron Sims did not report occupations and employers of some donors. (Gregoire's campaign had the highest rate of compliance, say Public Disclosure Commission officials.)

Donations are capped at $1,350 per contributor to any state executive office campaign per election, with the primary and general counted as separate elections. Failure to report donor employers and occupations may not be an idle bookkeeping mistake. Some donors don't want people to know where check-writers work or if a union leader or corporate executive is telling employees to donate to a particular campaign.

Since 1993, the Public Disclosure Commission has required reporting occupation and employer to provide greater insight to the influence of unions, corporations or political groups.

The amount of donations so far that did not specify occupation and employer has been estimated at $600,000, only a fraction of $5 million raised overall in the governor's race. The amount is not the point. The omission of information hampers voters' ability to fully understand which individuals or groups seek to influence campaigns.

The fine is $1,000 per single violation, up to $2,500 for multiple violations. The penalty for multiple violations may not be high enough to persuade people to disclose information.

The campaigns say they are trying to gather the information and report. In some cases, reporting requirements make it difficult to provide information in a timely manner because campaigns have limited time between receipt of a check and the deadline for filing campaign reports.

But this is Washington, where voters place great value on campaign transparency. Reporting donors' occupations and employers helps voters make an informed decision about which candidate they would like to become governor.