WA Conservation Voters Action Fund PAC: Alleged Violations of RCW 42.17A.240 and .305 for failure to accurately disclose expenditure details on reports (C-4 & C-6 reports) (EY21, Jan22)

Case

#102195

Respondent

Washington Conservation Voters Action Fund PAC

Complainant

Glen Morgan

Description

A complaint was filed against the Washington Conservation Voters PAC, a continuing political committee registered with the PDC during calendar year 2021, may have violated: (1) RCW 42.17A.240 and WAC 390-16-037 by failing to timely and accurately disclose on Summary Full Campaign Contribution and Expenditure reports (C-4 reports), the required breakdown and expenditure descriptions for independent expenditures made in support of or opposition to candidates for public office during the 2021 election cycle; and (2) RCW 42.17A.260 by failing to timely file and accurately report the expenditure descriptions for independent expenditures made in support of or opposition to candidates for public office during the 2021 election cycle during the 21-days prior to the general election.

On January 15, 2021, the Washington Conservation Voters PAC filed a Committee Registration as a Continuing Political Committee, selecting the Full Reporting Option, and listing Lennon Bronsema as the Committee Manager, and Sean Pender as the Ministerial Treasurer.       

The complaint alleged that the Washington Conservation Voters PAC (Committee) failed to timely and accurately disclose the expenditure descriptions on the C-4 and C-6 reports, including the sub-vendor breakdown and expenditure details for political advertising undertaken as independent expenditures during the 2021 election cycle.  

WAC 390-16-037 describes how to report the “Purpose of Campaign expenditures” as follows: (1) Any person required to report the "purpose" of an expenditure under RCW 42.17A.240(6), or 42.17A.255 (5)(b), must identify any candidate(s) or ballot proposition(s) that are supported or opposed by the expenditure.”

The rule goes on to state in subsection (2) “Whenever an expenditure is made to a candidate or a political committee pursuant to an agreement or understanding of any kind regarding how the recipient will use the expenditure, the report must describe in detail that agreement or understanding and the goods and/or services to be provided.”  Finally, the rule provided two examples of how to describe the expenditures for the C-4 report, and the C-6 report of more than $100 under RCW 42.17A.255 for “robocalls” which listed “GOTV – phone bank 28th and 29th Legislative districts” and for printing “5,000 brochures.”

Staff reviewed the C-4 reports filed by the Committee, specifically the 21-Day Pre-General Election, the   7-Day Pre-General Election, and Post General Election C-4 reports and amended C-4 reports.  Staff’s review found: 

1. On October 12, 2021, the Committee timely filed the 21-Day Pre-General Election C-4 report disclosing $78,615 in total contributions received and $81,257.61 in total expenditures made that included a $45,000 expenditure made to Hopkins & Sachs, Inc. on September 30, 2021.  The C-4 report listed the description as “Digital Ad placement ½ each Mary Bacon, Elizabeth Pew Support.”
2. On October 26, 2021, the Committee timely filed the 7-Day Pre-General Election C-4 report disclosing $1.31 in  contributions received and $71,447.95 in total expenditures made that included five expenditures made to Upper Left Strategies, Seattle, Washington between October 13 to 25, 2021, and totaling $33,076.36 for the printing and mailing of three independent expenditure mailers and the purchase of $10,000 in digital ads placed in support of R. Lewis. The C-4 report also disclosed: (1) two Committee expenditures were made to Hopkins & Sachs, Inc. totaling $16,827.82 for a $10,000 expenditure made on October 25, 2021, listing the description as “Digital Media Ads: Pro M. Bacon & Pro E. Pew”, and a $6,827.82 expenditure made on October 16, 2021, for “Direct Mail: 8,779 pieces. Pro M. Bacon, Pro E. Pew” ; and (2) a $16,214.20 Committee expenditure was made on October 25, 2021, to The Sexton Group, out of Chicago, Illinois, for Phone calls: Pro Labrant, pro Perez, & pro Harless.  
3. On December 10, 2021, the Committee timely filed the Post-General Election C-4 report disclosing $46,997.65 in monetary and in-kind contributions received and $24,084.86 in total expenditures made.  

On January 10, 2022, the Committee filed an amended Post-General Election C-4 report disclosing the same $46,997.65 in monetary and in-kind contributions received, and that total expenditures increased to $28,116.38, and included: (1) a $10,000 expenditure made to Upper Left Strategies on October 26, 2021, for a “Digital Media purchase – pro R Lewis; (2) a $6,249.85 expenditure made to The Sexton Group on November 1, 2021, for “Texting Services”; and (3) a $4,031.52 expenditure made to Upper Left Strategies on October 29, 2021, for “Printing costs for pro R. Lewis mailer, 12,266 pieces.”

Staff also reviewed the original and amended C-6 reports that were filed within 21 days of the November 2, 2021 general election.  The review found that WA Conservation Voters Action Fund (WCVAF) filed a total of 41 initial and amended C-6 reports between October 14, 2021 through January 10, 2022, disclosing independent expenditures undertaken in support of or opposition to 2021 candidates on the general election ballot and checking either box #1 or box #2 on the C-6 form.  The 41 C-6 reports filed by WCVAF included: (1) 18 initial C-6 reports filed between October 14 through November 1, 2021; (2) seven amended C-6 reports filed between October 25-26, 2021; (3) eight amended C-6 reports filed on October 29, 2021; and (4) eight amended C-6 reports filed on January 10, 2022.  

Mr. Pender stated in his responses to the PDC that the Committee and WCVAF “would like to work with a Filer Assistance Specialist to amend reports if that is needed to resolve this situation.”  He stated that WCVAF “takes seriously its compliance responsibilities as a registered state political action committee, strives to follow all applicable reporting requirements…is diligent about completing its filings in a timely and compliant manner.”  He stated that WCVAF believes the C-4 and C-6 reports and amended C-4 and C-6 reports filed by the Committee, complied with requirements found in 42.17A.260(3)(C) and WAC 390-16-037.  

Mr. Pender stated that WAC 390-16-037 did not specifically state “anything about identifying the number of items purchased”, but noted the rule listed two examples and only one indicated WCVAF “would only need to provide numbers of printed materials, not for calls or texts.”   He stated that for a few of the C-6 reports, WCVAF “reported estimated expenditure amounts and then amended the form when final amounts became available.”  He added that the Committee, WCVAF and its officers and staff “strive to stay up to date with the filing and reporting requirements of Washington State campaign finance law, and we attend trainings to continually improve our compliance efforts.”  

In addition, Mr. Pender stated that as part of WCVAF’s “commitment to compliance,” the WCVAF “has taken steps to educate and cross-train all staff regarding political activity reporting, so that if a staff member is out of the office or unavailable for any reason,” the required report will still get timely filed.   He stated that WCVAF staff continued to work with staff concerning the limitations of the “Description” field on the C-6 report that limits the filer or user to a 28-character description of the independent expenditure.  He stated that when filing the C-6 reports, WCVAF “staff spent several minutes on each form trying to fit in as much descriptive text as possible but were constantly running into that 28-character limit.”  PDC staff confirmed the 28-character limit for the expenditure description field of the PDC filing application for electronically filing the C-6 report. 

On March 24, 2022, the Committee file an amended 21-Day Pre-General Election, a 7-Day Pre-General Election, and Post-General Election C-4 report in accordance with PDC staff’s request, disclosing the required expenditure description(s), including the sub-vendor breakdowns and expenditure details for the independent expenditures.

Staff reviewed the C-6 statutes, rules, and reporting requirements in accordance with RCW 42.17A.260, for the C-6 reports that were filed by WCVAF.  Staff’s review found that the expenditure descriptions listed in WAC 390-16-037 only applied to the C-4 reporting requirements found in RCW 42.17A.240, and the C-6 report, Box #1 reporting requirements found in RCW 42.17A.255.  

As a continuing political committee participating in the 2021 election cycle and regularly filing C-3 and C-4 reports, the Committee was exempt from filing C-6 reports, box #1 for Independent Expenditures of $100 or more in accordance with RCW 42.17A.255.  

In addition, the rule concerning how to report “Expenditures by agents and agents’ sub-vendors” found in WAC 390-16-205, only references WAC 390-16-037.  WAC 390-16-205 does not mention or refer to RCW 42.17A.260 for reporting independent expenditures within 21 days of an election (Box #2 of the C-6 report).  Thus, the independent expenditure descriptions disclosed on the C-6 reports, box #2 filed by WCVAF complied with the C-6 reporting requirements.  

Based on our findings, that included: (1) the Committee timely filed the initial 21-Day Pre-General Election, the 7-Day Pre-General Election, and Post-General Election C-4 reports disclosing some of the expenditure details for the independent expenditures made in the form of political advertising and the candidates supported or opposed; (2) the Committee filed 33 C-6 and amended C-6 reports between October 14 through November 1, 2021, prior to the November 2, 2021 general election date; and (3) the Committee timely filed amended 21-Day Pre-General Election, 7-Day Pre-Genera Election, and Post-General Election C-4 reports after staff requested those amendments.

PDC staff has determined that, in this instance, the Committee’s failure to provide the required sub-vendor or expenditure descriptions and details for several expenditures that were otherwise timely disclosed on the C-4 reports does not amount to a violation that warrants further investigation.  The Committee was responsive and timely filed the amended C-4 reports listed above disclosing the required information as soon as the deficiency concerning the expenditure description requirements were brought to its attention.  

As noted above, the C-6 reports, box #2 filed by the WCVAF substantially complied with the independent expenditure reporting requirements, including the expenditure descriptions/details.  

The Washington Conservation Voters PAC made ministerial errors on the required C-4 reports, which the impact on the public interest was mitigated by the fact that the Committee filed the 33 initial and amended C-6 reports during a 17-day period prior to the general election disclosing independent expenditures undertaken during the 2021 election cycle.  

Upon notification of the errors, the Washington Conservation Voters PAC timely amended the pertinent C-4 reports, making the necessary technical corrections as requested by staff.  Based on this information, the PDC finds that no further action is warranted and has dismissed this matter as a technical correction in accordance with RCW 42.17A.755(1).   

Disposition

Resolved with Technical Correction

Date Opened

January 06, 2022

Areas of Law

RCW 42.17A.240, RCW 42.17A.305

Documents

• WA Conservation Voters PAC Complaint Return Ltr (PDC Case 102195).pdf
• 102195 WA Conservation Voters Action Fund Complaint.pdf
• WA Conservation Voters Response (PDC Case 102195).pdf