McNey, Steve: Alleged violation of RCW 42.17A.555 by using City of Federal Way Facilities to assist the 2022 Campaign of Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell for King County Prosecuting Attorney. (EY22, Apr 23)

Case

#123787

Respondent

Stephen McNey

Complainant

PDC Staff

Description

• Allegation: Violation of RCW 42.17A.555 by using City of Federal Way Facilities to assist the 2022 Campaign of Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell for King County Prosecuting Attorney.

The PDC dismissed its staff-generated complaint concerning alleged violations that Steve McNey may have violated RCW 42,17A.555  by using or authorizing the use of City of Federal Way facilities, including staff time of Noah Pawlowski, a 2022 intern with the City of Federal Way, to assist the 2022 campaign of Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell for King County Prosecuting Attorney. Staff dismissed this matter in accordance with RCW 42.17A.755(1) and will not be conducting additional investigative work into these allegations or taking further enforcement action in this matter.

The alleged activities were brought to the attention of the Public Disclosure Commission by a federal agency (the FBI), not by Noah Pawlowski. That agency became aware of the concerns while Mr. Pawlowski was applying for employment with it.

Based on staff’s review, we found the following:

• From July 18, 2022, through December 31, 2022, Noah Pawlowski worked as an intern for the City of Federal Way, mostly in the office of Mayor Jim Ferrell, but with some time near the end of his employment with Brian Davis, Community Development Director & City Administrator in the office of Community Development, working on a variety of projects.
• Mr. Pawlowski said that shortly after starting work as an intern, he was asked by Steve McNey, in his role as Intergovernmental & Public Affairs Officer, if he would be interested in volunteering for Mayor Ferrell’s campaign for King County Prosecutor. Mr. Pawlowski agreed, and initially performed volunteer services during evening hours and on weekends, on his own time, as an unpaid campaign volunteer. However, Mr. Pawlowski said that shortly after beginning his volunteer services, Mr. McNey gave him campaign work that he understood was to be completed while working as an intern for the City of Federal Way. 
• Mr. McNey stated that in no way did he ever direct or suggest to Mr. Pawlowski that he work on campaign-related issues during official work hours. Mr. McNey said the campaign work he gave Mr. Pawlowski was minimal and that Mr. Pawlowski was expected to perform all campaign-related volunteer work on his own time.
• There was also a difference in understanding concerning why Mr. Pawlowski’s hours were increased from 20 to 40 hours per week for a two- to three-week period and how long he was authorized to remain at full-time pay. Employees of the mayor’s office stated Mr. Pawlowski’s hours were increased solely to provide needed administrative coverage for approximately two weeks while two employees were out of the office. Mr. Pawlowski said he understood from Mr. McNey that the need to cover the administrative needs of the mayor’s office for a couple of weeks was an opportunity to reward him for working on Mayor Ferrell’s campaign.
• Mr. Pawlowski stated that the campaign work he performed for Mr. McNey during the workday primarily involved updating and editing online content. Mr. Pawlowski said, “He (McNey) would have me update and respond to anything that was going on for our social media posts at the time. He would have me help edit published content that was campaign content for advertisements. He would help, or have me draft statements to look at, or to edit, or to read over, or to draft myself, that would be published in the media. And any other campaign events or speaking opportunities or debates I was expected to help the campaign prepare for.”
• PDC staff found no evidence that Mr. McNey used public facilities to “put campaign ads on t-shirts” as alleged in the staff-generated complaint.
• PDC staff found Noah Pawlowski and his testimony credible but also found employees of the mayor’s office credible.
• When asked if it was accurate that he took contemporaneous notes of what happened during his internship, Mr. Pawlowski said, “It is accurate, and I prepared a lot of notes in time for my meeting with the FBI agents. And, unfortunately, after they told me that it didn't fit the (federal) prosecutor’s portfolio, at the time it wasn't something that they were going to pursue, I got rid of the notes because I was moving on.”
• No records concerning the campaign work Mr. Pawlowski said he completed while working as an intern for the City of Federal Way were readily available or provided to PDC staff.

Disposition

Case Closed with No Evidence of Violations

Date Opened

April 05, 2023

Areas of Law

RCW 42.17A.555

Documents

• 123787 McNey Stephen Complaint.pdf
• 123787 Response to Complaint.pdf
• 123787 Case Closurre Letter - Respondent.pdf