Washington: Public Disclosure Commission

I don't usually cover Eastern Washington legislative races, but when I saw the name "Fagan" I thought it might be someone related to Jack Fagan or Mike Fagan, the father-son team who are the Eastern Washington partners of professional initiative promoter Tim Eyman of Mukilteo.

Susan Fagan, from Pullman, said she is NOT related to those other Fagans.

She is, however, one of the Republican precinct committee officers who selected former state Rep. Don Cox to replace the late Rep. Steve Hailey in the Legislature after Hailey's death. Now, she is running in the special election to select a permanent replacement. Primary will be in August; runoff in November this fall.

Maybe that headline overstates what the state Public Disclosure Commission actually did earlier this month.

The PDC said the woman who lodged a complaint against then-candidate, now-state Rep. Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup, a month before the November 2008 election did not back up her claim. So the PDC dismissed the complaint.

Lindsey Grad claimed Dammeier was getting a below-market rate on the cost of his campaign literature from Print NW, a company in which Dammeier has a 14 percent ownership interest. Grad claimed that printing amounted to an in-kind campaign contribution in excess of the $800 contribution limit, and that Dammeier didn't report it.

The PDC contacted a Tumwater printing company and found that Print NW actually charged between 5 and 15 percent more than what Dammeier's own print shop charged him for some work, and 15 percent less for door hangers.

The Public Disclosure Commission decided earlier today to notify the office of Attorney General Rob McKenna of multiple violations of state campaign finance laws by the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties and the Building Industry Association of Washington's Member Services Corporation.