A group of Ethiopian cabdrivers has agreed to pay a fine for violating Seattle election laws when they contributed $5,000 last year to the City Council campaign of Dwight Pelz, now chairman of the state Democratic Party.

A taxi association formed by the drivers wrote checks to seven of its members, who then wrote $650 checks to Pelz last October. Such a transaction concealed the source of the contributions, and, in effect, skirted the city's $650 limit on campaign contributions from individuals and organizations, said Wayne Barnett, executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

Drivers say they funded the American Taxi Association with their own money in 2003 in order to get more cab licenses, and the association was merely giving them some of their own money to give to Pelz, who was then a member of the King County Council.

Still, the association of 25 Ethiopian drivers has agreed to pay a $4,550 fine.

The ethics commission will consider the proposed settlement Thursday.

The contributions to Pelz were not the largest made last year by the Ethiopian drivers. They gave $14,000 to King County Executive Ron Sims and $5,750 to King County Councilman Pete von Reichbauer for their re-election campaigns. They also paid $5,000 to Sims' former aide Tim Hatley to lobby the County Council last year.

Those donations are out of the Seattle Ethics Commission's jurisdiction.

The council and Sims laid out a process last year for issuing more county cab licenses, something the Ethiopian drivers wanted. The drivers hired Hatley and lobbied the County Council after they failed to force the city of Seattle to issue more licenses through a lawsuit.

Sims denied that the drivers' contributions or Hatley's lobbying influenced any of his actions. "There is no linkage, no connection at all in any way," he said.

Sims said he proposed a process for issuing more licenses — which the council approved unanimously last October — because the council requested it.

And, when the county awarded eight new licenses on Wednesday to serve passengers in wheelchairs, the American Taxi Association did not get any of the licenses doled out through a competitive process.

Pelz said he met with drivers last year but that their contributions did not influence his support for issuing more licenses.

"I thought they made a good case for changing the current system," he said.

The ethics commission did not implicate Pelz in any wrongdoing.

Tigabie Tekeba, president of the American Taxi Association, said his group contributed to Pelz, Sims and von Reichbauer not to gain cab licenses but because they liked the three politicians and found them sympathetic on issues important to immigrants.

Tekeba insisted that no one suggested his group contribute to the three politicians or hire Hatley. Tekeba said he did not expect his group's contributions would buy any political favors, in part because the competition for new licenses is so intense that no group could get away with such a scheme.

"Never did anybody promise us anything," said Tekeba, who fled Ethiopia's communist regime in 1989, after he and other student protesters narrowly escaped being shot by troops.

"We didn't like the one-party system. We were for free-market economics," he added. "We came here for opportunity. Hopefully for some people the American Dream is a reality."

Upon arriving in Seattle, Tekeba drove a cab while he earned two degrees at the University of Washington, he said.

Now a full-time employee at the Seattle Housing Authority and a part-time driver, Tekeba is determined to improve taxi-driving opportunities for other Ethiopian immigrants who have few other job options when they first come to Seattle.

The current taxi system is unfair, he maintains. Most drivers don't own licenses and instead lease them from those who hold the 831 licenses that allow drivers to pick up fares in Seattle and King County.

The city and county have capped the number of available licenses in an effort to promote reliable service and good wages. Too many cabs on the streets might lead to lower wages, poorer service and less-safe cars, according to city and county regulators.

Tekeba says most drivers pay about $192 a day, on average, to lease and operate a cab and must work long hours to make minimum wage. They receive no health-care or retirement benefits, no vacation time and no job protection, he said.

"The current system exploits new immigrants. All we're asking for is open competition," he said.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com

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