When that happens, violators must be slapped with a hefty fine and lawmakers must move quickly to close loopholes to ensure open and transparent campaign financing.
That’s precisely what has happened with Seattle’ Moxie Media’s case.
Attorney General Rob McKenna’s staff recently announced that they had entered into an agreement with Moxie Media and its partners, Lisa MacLean and Henry Underhill, who have agreed to pay a $250,000 fine and $40,000 in legal fees for a flagrant abuse of the campaign reporting system in 2010. If the firm complies with campaign reporting laws through 2015, $140,000 of the fine will be suspended.
What Moxie Media did was reprehensible. State investigators found that MacLean and her company established two layers of political committees to hide the true source of funding behind an effort to oust state Sen. Jean Berkey, D-Everett, who was viewed as too conservative by some union members and others.
What Moxie Media did was spend $9,000 in postcards and robo-campaign calls to boost the candidacy of little-known Republican Rod Reiger. The goal was to boost Reiger above Berkey in the vote count for the primary election, then let the top vote getter, Nick Harper, a Democrat, thump Reiger in the November general election.
By shuffling money between PACs, it was easy to hide the true source of the original funds. MacLean promised her labor union clients they would not be tied to the effort to unseat Berkey until after the primary election.
That’s precisely what happened. And that’s precisely why changes in campaign-finance laws were warranted.
Berkey was, indeed, ousted in the primary election where only the top two vote-getters advance. Harper, who was unaware of Moxie Media’s actions, was sworn into the state Senate in January.
The Public Disclosure Commission said Moxie Media violated state laws by not properly identifying funding sources. Berkey had sought a new election, but the attorney general’s office said it couldn’t determine with certainty that the campaign finance violations affected the outcome.
Influenced by the Moxie Media case, the Legislature this year approved a measure – Senate Bill 5021 – which requires further disclosure, lowers campaign reporting threshold requirements, prohibits certain contributions, and requires stricter provisions on how political action committees name themselves.
With unanimous votes in the House and Senate, lawmakers passed this much-needed bill to tighten campaign-finance regulations and increase criminal sanctions and fines up to $10,000 for serious violations.
Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, was the prime sponsor of SB 5021 which also limits transfers of cash from one PAC to another. Pridemore said his bill, which went through several rewrites, will minimize the risk of cheating.
“Regardless of your party or ideology, I think pretty much everyone agrees that it’s important for voters to know who’s behind campaigns and how money is being used,” he said. “In the past several years, we’ve seen a steep escalation of donations and campaign messages that seek to influence voters while masking the sources and agendas of the groups behind them.”
Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, said the measure is “an even-handed approach to improving disclosure” and improving enforcement.
We agree.
The hefty fine assessed by the attorney general and the quick action of the Legislature to put safeguards in place to ensure open and transparent financing in political campaigns, were the proper response. Regrettably, the corrective actions may not be enough to deter other campaign operatives looking for yet another legal loophole or way to skirt the state’s campaign finance laws.
