Brad Shannon:
The Politics Blog

Brad Shannon maintains this blog. He is political editor at The Olympian and can be reached at 360-753-1688 or bshannon@theolympian.com.

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PDC rates No. 1 in US for campaign money disclosure - again

• Published September 19, 2008

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It’s time to throw a bone to Washington’s campaign disclosure watchdogs. They’re doing a stellar job, according to experts that measure this kind of work.

The Campaign Disclosure Project has ranked the state’s campaign-finance disclosure as No. 1 in the country for the fifth straight year. The project, which gave passing marks to 40 of the 50 states, is the product of work by the California Voter Foundation, the Center for Governmental Studies and the UCLA School of Law.

Only Washington and California got A grades.

The report says electronic report filng, which the PDC does for lobbyists and most candidates, is a big part of the improvement it’s seen since 2003 in many states. It also found web site usability improved in two-thirds of the states since 2007, yet 40 percent of sites were rated low. The PDC's site is at www.pdc.wa.gov and had many upgrades this year.

You can find the report here. Here’s one telling paragraph that shows the breadth and depth of Washington’s high performance:

Washington has ranked first in all five Grading State Disclosure assessments, and earned an A in each of the four scoring categories in 2008. Along with Washington, California and Michigan earned grades in the A range, and 21 states earned Bs. Nine states earned Cs, and seven earned Ds. Four of the states that earned Ds in 2008 - Arkansas, Montana, New Hampshire, and Utah - improved from Fs in 2007 to passing grades in 2008. Ten states failed the 2008 assessment.

The PDC issued this statement earlier in the week from Ken Schellberg, chairman of the five-member citizen commission who lives in Bellingham:

“Without a doubt both the Commission members and staff are delighted and honored to receive this recognition from the Campaign Disclosure Project. It is always gratifying when others judge your work as consistently top-notch. Be assured, though, that we will not rest on our laurels. There is still much to do and we will focus on doing it well.”

The PDC’s other citizen commissioners are vice chairman Jim Clements, a former lawmaker from Selah; secretary Dave Seabrook of Battle Ground; Jane Noland of Seattle and former lawmaker Bill Brumsickle of Centralia. Executive director Vicki Rippie is the agency’s top administrator.