Campaign panel fines GOP group, Reed for violations

A group of moderate Republicans has been fined $10,000 by the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) for multiple violations of election law.

Secretary of State Sam Reed also has been assessed a $15,000 fine for receiving funds in excess of contribution limits in the 2004 campaign.

In addition, initiative guru Tim Eyman and his associates were fined $300 for violating the state's public-disclosure law, and four teachers were fined for using school mailboxes and computers to promote two education initiatives on the November ballot.

The fines were issued during daylong PDC hearings yesterday in Olympia.

According to the PDC, Mainstream Republicans made a $30,000 contribution to Reed's campaign, far above the limit of $1,350. The Republican group also violated the law by publishing political advertising that falsely claimed Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland received endorsements that he didn't receive and by failing to make timely reports of independent expenditures in the election for Sutherland and Rob McKenna, who was elected attorney general.

The complaint about the Republicans was made by Washington Conservation Voters, which said Mainstream Republicans wrongly reported in a mailing to 237,000 swing voters that the conservation voters supported Sutherland for re-election when the group had endorsed his opponent, Mike Cooper, months earlier.

"This was a willful misuse of our endorsement, and our endorsement matters," said Bruce Gryniewski, executive director of Washington Conservation Voters.

Gryniewski said he was disappointed by the fine and believes the violation should have been referred to the attorney general for prosecution.

According to PDC spokesman Doug Ellis, Mainstream Republicans agreed that it broke the law and was fined $15,000, with $5,000 suspended. It promised to provide training for its members.

"It was a large fine to stipulate to," Ellis said, "but there were quite a few violations."

Sid Morrison, chairman of the executive committee for Mainstream Republicans who was at yesterday's PDC hearing, could not be reached for comment.

Citizens for Sam Reed also agreed to pay a fine for receiving contributions over the campaign limit. Mainstream Republicans did a mailing for the Reed campaign, worth $30,000, which the Republicans claimed was an independent expenditure and not bound by the $1,350 limit. But the PDC disagreed and ordered the Reed campaign to repay Mainstream Republicans $15,000, as well as pay a $2,500 fine.

Ellis said the finance director for Reed's committee also contributed to Mainstream Republicans, so Reed's campaign should have known it was in violation.

Steve Excell, a volunteer with the Reed campaign, said the campaign was unaware of the dispute until it saw the PDC complaint. He said a volunteer for the Reed campaign left and went to work for Mainstream Republicans and, unknown to Reed, raised money for the Reed campaign.

"Sam Reed didn't know about the mailing, no one in the campaign knew about the mailing," said Excell, adding that the campaign could have fought the fine but figured legal fees would cost more than the fine.

"This is purely a technical violation," Excell said. "For not knowing, we're paying a healthy price."

In other action, the PDC fined Eyman and his associates $150 each for two violations. It found Eyman and his political-action committees failed to disclose a $1,500 in-kind contribution from his wife and himself for a poll conducted in October 2003 and failed to disclose an in-kind contribution received from another Eyman PAC, Voters Want More Choices, in the amount of about $2,000 for a mailing.

Also, four teachers, including two from Ballard High School in Seattle, were fined $500 each, with $450 suspended, for using school facilities to promote Initiative 884, which proposed raising the state sales tax for education, and Referendum 55, which successfully overturned charter-school legislation passed by the Legislature.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com