Washington campaign regulators warn 20 primary candidates over missing spending reports

The Washington Public Disclosure Commission posted overdue notices July 31 for 20 candidates who appeared to have missed a required campaign-spending report, putting disclosure compliance in focus just days before the state’s Aug. 4 primary.

The notices, sent July 30, concern a C-4 expenditure report due July 28 that covered campaign spending from July 14 through July 27. The PDC described the issue as possible noncompliance. The notices are not final findings that a candidate violated campaign-finance law, and they are not penalties.

What the report covers

Washington requires candidates and committees participating in the primary and registered as full reporters to file mandatory pre-election expenditure reports, regardless of how much financial activity occurred during the reporting period.

Full-reporting status generally applies to campaigns that raise and spend more than $7,000. The C-4 report is intended to show campaign expenditures during the final period before the primary, when candidates are making their last appeals to voters.

The PDC says campaigns that fail to file mandatory reports may face enforcement action. Any enforcement decision would come separately from the overdue notice.

The candidates listed by the PDC

The notices involve races across Washington, including legislative, judicial, county, public-utility and port offices:

• Annie Fitzgerald — state representative, Legislative District 38
• Anthony G. Sandoval — state representative, Legislative District 14
• Blake Richards — Asotin County sheriff
• Bruce King — Snohomish County PUD 1 commissioner
• Darryl Chepoda Jr. — Kittitas County sheriff
• Jack McEntire — state representative, Legislative District 15
• Jennifer Rene Richardson — Grant County Superior Court judge
• Jerry Burns — Port of Bellingham commissioner
• Joe Schmick — state representative, Legislative District 9
• John P. Gibbons — state representative, Legislative District 45
• Jonathan Bingle — state representative, Legislative District 6
• Kenneth W. Chadwick — Grant County Superior Court judge
• Kriston Chapman — Columbia County clerk
• Matthew Carlson — Adams County sheriff
• Michael Simonds — Kitsap County assessor
• Nicolette Ocheltree — state representative, Legislative District 6
• Ricky J. Felici — Island County sheriff
• Shaena Garberich — state representative, Legislative District 35
• Spenser R. New — Port of Bellingham commissioner
• Avrum (Alex) Tsimerman — state representative, Legislative District 41

What happens next

A campaign may file the overdue report or respond to the commission. The PDC may pursue enforcement if it determines that a mandatory report was not filed as required. The July 30 notices do not remove a candidate from the ballot, change ballot status or determine the outcome of the primary.

The PDC lists Sept. 10 as the deadline for the next post-election expenditure report. That filing is separate from the July 28 pre-primary report at issue in the notices.

What voters can check

Voters can review campaign-finance filings through the PDC’s public records and campaign-finance databases. Those records may show whether a named campaign later filed the overdue C-4 report and what expenditures it reported.

The immediate election deadline is the Aug. 4 primary. The Secretary of State says voters must deposit ballots in an official drop box by 8 p.m. on Election Day. The PDC also lists Aug. 3 as the end of the campaign-books public-inspection period for the primary.

The notices flag possible late or missing disclosures at a consequential point in Washington’s election calendar. They do not, by themselves, establish final wrongdoing by any candidate.

Sources

• PDC sends overdue notices to candidates with late 7-day pre-primary report
• Washington Secretary of State Elections