Mielke Registered, But Papers Got Lost

Former Republican Rep. Todd Mielke of Spokane is now registered as a lobbyist in Olympia for Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical giant.

State law requires lobbyists to register with the Public Disclosure Commission. Registration, like all disclosure forms, is supposed to be recorded on microfilm and on a computer database.

Not in Mielke’s case. He filed the paperwork last month, but it sat on a clerk’s desk until PDC staff found it Tuesday.

The staff went looking for Mielke’s application after a West Side Stories column item in Saturday’s Spokesman-Review reported the former lawmaker had not officially registered as a lobbyist.

PDC officials said Mielke’s application wasn’t processed more quickly because the staff was bedeviled by a blizzard of paperwork and an office remodeling project.

Mielke has been in Olympia on and off since the session began Jan. 8. But he said he didn’t lobby anyone until filing his registration form Jan. 26.

, DataTimes