No probe in complaint over Seattle mayor’s use of campaign funds

SEATTLE – The state Public Disclosure Commission says a five-year statute of limitations means a complaint over the Seattle mayor’s use of surplus campaign funds to fend off sexual abuse allegations in 2008 will not be investigated.

The Seattle Times reported Renton activist Chris Clifford filed a civil complaint Saturday, arguing the 2008 payments were illegal and that Mayor Ed Murray should be fined.

Murray paid an attorney and a private investigator over $18,000 that year to defend against claims raised by Jeff Simpson, who alleged that Murray had sexually abused him decades earlier.

The Seattle Times reported the use of the funds Thursday in a story about sexual-abuse allegations leveled against Murray by Simpson and two other men, one of whom has filed a lawsuit.

Murray has denied the allegations.