Ballot envelopes sit in the Thurston County elections center. (Laurel Demkovich/Washington State Standard)
A political committee that helped defeat last year’s ballot measure to repeal a Washington climate law was fined $20,000 on Thursday for not disclosing how it spent $1 million until after the election.
The state Public Disclosure Commission levied the civil penalty on Green Jobs PAC, which admitted to the violation and two other breaches of Washington campaign finance laws as part of an agreed upon settlement.
On a 4-0 vote, commissioners imposed the civil penalty of $20,000. It suspended half the sum as long as $10,000 is paid in 30 days and the group does not commit any more violations in the next four years.
“This was a serious error,” said Dmitri Iglitzin, attorney for the political committee whose major donors were bp America and Amazon. But, he told commissioners, there was no “intent to deceive. It was the classic definition of a ministerial screw-up.”
Green Jobs PAC opposed Initiative 2117, which sought to repeal the Climate Commitment Act. That’s the state law that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by requiring companies and others to buy allowances for their air pollution.
The repeal measure was the handiwork of Let’s Go Washington, a conservative political committee founded and funded by hedge fund manager Brian Heywood. In November, nearly 62% of voters rejected the initiative.
Green Jobs raised and spent $3.2 million during the campaign. Its largest donors were petroleum giant bp America, which gave $2 million, and Amazon, which put in $1 million.
It was one of four major committees that collectively shelled out $26 million to oppose the statewide measure.
Three weeks after the election, Let’s Go Washington filed a complaint alleging Green Jobs violated disclosure rules.
The commission investigation found that in mid-October, as campaigning crescendoed, the political committee spent nearly $1.1 million on mailings and commercials. But a report detailing the expenditures due Oct. 29 did not get filed until Nov. 13, days after the election. That was the major violation.
Staff also concluded Green Jobs did not provide requisite information on its sub-vendors and did not make clear on six monthly reports that its purpose was to oppose the initiative.
Assistant Attorney General Susie Giles-Klein told commissioners the violations were serious because they deprived voters of important information before the election. But she said there was no evidence the actions were intentional and noted the committee’s leaders amended the reports to comply without prompting from the commission.
The fine imposed Thursday is the same amount levied against Let’s Go Washington last fall after the commission concluded that the group failed to report spending by sub-vendors involved in gathering signatures for Initiative 2117 and five other statewide measures in 2023.
Before voting on the settlement with Green Jobs, Commissioner Douglass North voiced concern that the fine, while sizable, was becoming “a cost of doing business for large campaigns” whose employees should know how to follow the state’s campaign finance laws.
In recent months, the commission has fined Service Employees International Union Healthcare 1199NW for late reporting of contributions to candidates and AARP for not disclosing contributions it received for its campaign against a statewide initiative to make a long-term care benefit program voluntary.
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