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News Release No. 2005-5 October 26, 2005 Favorable
Court Ruling Backs Public’s Right To Know Secret Money
Has No Place In Campaigns Thurston
County Superior Court Judge Christopher Wickham today dismissed civil rights
claims by the No New Gas Tax Committee against local prosecutors from San Juan
County, Seattle, Auburn and Kent who successfully sought an order requiring
disclosure of concealed monetary and in-kind contributions to the committee’s
signature-gathering campaign. “This
is a victory for openness and transparency in campaigns. The public’s right to know who is funding an
initiative campaign has been vindicated,” said Randy Gaylord, San Juan County’s
Prosecuting Attorney. “There are no
special rules for talk radio hosts.
Anyone who runs an initiative campaign, no matter how powerful or
prominent, must comply with state public disclosure laws,” he said. The
lawsuit began in June when the No New Gas Tax Committee reported $70,000 in
“anonymous” cash contributions in clear violation of the campaign disclosure
laws. Judge Wickham found that No Gas failed to report the source of this cash,
as well as in-kind contributions from Fisher Broadcasting (an amount the
campaign later valued at $20,000 for May). In
his ruling today, Judge Wickham confirmed his earlier order requiring
disclosure. He found that “Kirby Wilbur
and John Carlson were the principal organizers of the campaign and openly used
their media time to advertise the campaign and solicit funds for it … Their
actions were not accidental and the impact on the campaign was not
incidental. Anything less than the
facts in this case might well not be a reportable contribution.” “Those
who criticize government for lack of accountability and openness have a special
responsibility to themselves to be accountable when they step into the public
forum of an initiative campaign,” said Mike Vaska, an attorney at the Foster
Pepper law firm representing the prosecutors. “The
public’s confidence in our elections depends on ensuring that secret campaign
contributions do not creep back into our political system,” he said. |