Stevens County judge fined for campaign violations

OLYMPIA – A Stevens County judge was fined $4,500 Thursday for repeatedly missing deadlines to report last year’s campaign expenses, including an in-kind contribution of a private investigation into her opponent paid for by her father.

District Judge Gina Tveit admitted to the state Public Disclosure Commission she missed a series of deadlines to report contributions and expenses she made in her 2014 re-election campaign, and should have filed them electronically instead of filling out paper forms. But she argued the private investigator’s report commissioned by her father, Gary Graham of Kellogg, was not a contribution, wasn’t used in the campaign against Michael Clay and shouldn’t be held against her.

The commission disagreed and included that charge in with the others.

Tveit said she talked with Graham about her upcoming election sometime in the winter of 2013-14 when there were rumors Clay would run against her. Shortly before the conversation, she said she had been concerned with Clay’s “erratic behavior” and had pulled files in Stevens County Superior Court for Clay’s two divorces and some other cases in which he was involved. But she said she didn’t mention that to her father and never asked him to hire a private investigator.

“I had an inkling he was concerned,” Tveit said, but didn’t know about the report until her father gave her a copy.

She read the report but did not use it in any campaign literature or statements. Instead, she forwarded it to the state Bar Association because she believed it showed evidence Clay had violated the code of conduct and she had an obligation to report that.

But judges don’t have an obligation to report such suspicions, PDC attorney Chad Standifer said. He asked Tveit if it would have benefited her campaign had the Bar Association mounted an investigation and disciplined Clay.

“I guess I don’t know what would’ve happened,” Tveit replied, adding she never heard back from the bar association.

The report surfaced when the PDC staff was investigating other reporting problems. They concluded the report was an in-kind contribution from her father, its price tag of $4,500 was over the statutory limit, and it should have been reported. When she reported it months later, she was charged with missing the deadline.

Tveit’s attorney, Jerry Moberg, argued it wasn’t a contribution because she didn’t consult with her father before he hired the private investigator, and she didn’t need to report it. The staff was wrong in its conclusion and wrong to tell her to report it, then charge her with late reporting, he said.

She told commissioners she listed the report as an in-kind contribution in an effort to “be in compliance” because she had missed so many deadlines, but admitted she did only a cursory review of campaign finance laws before filing and only hired her own attorney when the charge was filed.

“The evidence is clear,” Commissioner John Bridges, a former Superior Court judge, said. “This report only came about because of the potential candidacy” of Clay.

Commissioner Anne Levinson, also a former judge, said that when Tveit received the report she had personal knowledge a contribution had been made, and should have reported it then.

The commission agreed to suspend $1,500 of the fine if Tveit files all her reports electronically, pays the remainder in 30 days and has no more violations for four years.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the judge’s first name, because of a reporter’s error.