Anti-monorail group fined; late reporting of contributions cited

By Mike Lindblom
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Other links Ethics and Elections commission letter listing errors in I-83 campaign reports (25K PDF)

The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission levied the penalty against Initiative 83, known as "Monorail Recall," which would ban or revoke city permits to build new monorails.

The most serious violation involved delays in not fully reporting an agreement by skyscraper developer Martin Selig with a professional signature-collection firm.

Selig signed a contract in late June to make two $20,000 payments, but one of those didn't show up on public-disclosure listings until July 26 — two weeks after a July 12 news conference where campaign leaders showed off their boxes of petition signatures. They did not mention Selig's deal and described their drive as a predominantly volunteer effort. Several hours later, they reported $61,000 in donations from Selig. That included part of the paid signature contract.

"If it were disclosed they were hiring signature gatherers from out of town, and housing them, it would have put a very different light on that campaign, one that they didn't want," said pro-monorail activist Peter Sherwin.

The ethics report called the delay "unacceptable," though Wayne Barnett, city Ethics and Elections Commission director, also noted that I-83's volunteer treasurer, Liv Finne, was out of the country part of the time. Finne said yesterday she didn't think the second $20,000 had to be reported until later, when Selig actually spent the money.

"Our investigation turned up no intent to deceive, but others are free to draw their own conclusions," Barnett said.

In all, Selig has spent more than $150,000 for signatures, attorneys, office space, parking and Seattle Mariners baseball tickets to reward volunteers.

The campaign was also late in depositing or reporting nine contributions of $100 or less.

The city said Finne, who co-chairs the I-83 campaign, has cooperated. The fine will be reduced to $300 if she is replaced by someone who has time to file accurate reports. Finne plans to resign as treasurer.

"I plan to personally pay this fine so that the Monorail Recall campaign can proceed unhampered by the miscellaneous reporting mistakes I have made," Finne said.
 
A state appeals court is expected to decide by Monday whether I-83 is legal to place on the November ballot.

The Seattle Monorail Project, planning the 14-mile Green Line through the western half of the city, is seeking to throw out thousands of petition signatures that were collected before a county judge rewrote the ballot title in June.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com