State panel weighs restrictions for GOP accounts

OLYMPIA — The state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) will consider whether it should prevent the state Republican Party from using certain accounts to pay for activities that promote specific candidates.

The PDC staff has not yet completed its investigation into whether the party improperly used a certain account to pay for three mailers that promoted Republican Dino Rossi over Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, in the state primary.

Staffers have not made a recommendation on what the commission should do, but they are presenting the case to commissioners today.

The last time the PDC staff sent an investigation to the commission without making a recommendation was in 2004, when a committee backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce began attacking Democratic attorney-general candidate Deborah Senn without filing as a political committee or reporting its funding sources.

The state Supreme Court later ruled the committee broke state campaign-finance laws.

The current case concerns three mailings sent before the Aug. 19 primary that attacked Gregoire on public safety, taxes and spending.

All three contained photos and quotes from Rossi and the statement, "Vote for Dino Rossi and our entire State Republican Team in the Aug. 19 Primary."

The state's political parties have two primary accounts they use to pay for political activities related to nonfederal races. Nonexempt accounts can be used for candidate campaigns, but contributions to those accounts are capped at $4,000 from interest groups and political-action committees. Exempt accounts are not subject to those caps but can be used only on things like fundraising activities and get-out-the-vote campaigns.

A complaint was filed Aug. 18 by Bellevue attorney Kyle Olive. The Republican Party says the mailings were "internal political communications" sent only to members of the party as it defines them.

"We haven't done anything wrong," said Matthew Lundh, a state GOP spokesman. "It's unfounded."

PDC spokeswoman Lori Anderson said the staff believes that in this case, the party paid for the mailings using exempt money. But it hasn't made any further determination.