One man has filed several complaints against Olympia City Council candidates

Public disclosure complaints have been filed against a majority of Olympia City Council candidates — and all but one of the complaints has come from Tenino resident Glen Morgan.

Four of the eight candidates running for Olympia office — Max Brown, Clark Gilman, Lisa Parshley and Renata Rollins — are facing allegations that they improperly filed information with the state Public Disclosure Commission. Only candidates Jim Cooper, Danny Marsh and Jeannine Roe face no allegations so far.

All of the complaints, except the one regarding Brown, were filed by Morgan. The complaint regarding Brown was filed by Olympia resident Jim Lazar.

Kim Bradford, a PDC spokeswoman, said the commission has about 400 open cases statewide. She was unable to give an estimate for when the cases will be resolved.

Typically, the commission receives complaints and posts them on the PDC website. The respondent has about two weeks to respond to the complaint. Most complaints are handled administratively — resulting in dismissal, a warning, or the respondent agreeing there was a violation and paying a penalty, Bradford said.

Formal investigations are opened for the most serious violations. Those investigations can go before the full commission, she said.

The PDC has the authority to impose penalties of as much as $10,000.

However, some complaints are filed jointly with the Public Disclosure Commission and the state Attorney General’s Office, Bradford said. In those cases, the commission waits to see whether the Attorney General’s Office will take legal action.

The local complaints are as follows:

Position 4

▪  Max Brown: Lazar alleged on June 1 that Brown improperly itemized his assets while filing financial documentation.

▪  Clark Gilman: Morgan alleged that Gilman didn’t file timely, accurate contribution reports. He further alleged that Gilman didn’t accurately report debt in a timely way, and that Gilman didn’t adequately break down expenses.

Position 5

▪  Lisa Parshley: Morgan alleged Aug. 22 that Parshley didn’t file accurate and timely contribution reports, that Parshley didn’t report debt accurately or in a timely way, and that she didn’t properly break down expenses. He further alleged that she should have listed an additional person as a committee officer, and that the person not listed as a committee officer made unauthorized expenditures. He also accused Parshley of failing to submit accurate and timely financial information.

Parshley wrote a written response, denying all of Morgan’s Aug. 22 allegations.

Morgan filed additional allegations Oct. 9. He wrote that Parshley didn’t file accurate and timely contribution reports, that Parshley didn’t report debt accurately or in a timely way, that Parshley didn’t accurately break down expenses, and that she didn’t include the addresses of donors.

Position 6

▪ Renata Rollins: Morgan filed a complaint Oct. 9 alleging that Rollins didn’t file accurate and timely contribution and expenditure reports, that she didn’t report debt in an accurate and timely way, and that she didn’t properly break down expenses.

This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 3:41 PM with the headline "One man has filed several complaints against Olympia City Council candidates."