Campaign Donations Get Scrutiny

Fri., April 19, 1996

Associated Press

A slew of donations from an Eastern Washington potato magnate and his relatives and associates to the gubernatorial campaign of Dale Foreman is drawing scrutiny from the state Public Disclosure Commission.

P.J. Taggares, who owns a 50,000-acre farm in the Columbia River basin in Adams County, gave the maximum $1,000 contribution to Foreman’s campaign.

His wife, his grandson and his daughter-in-law also gave money. So did his bookkeeper, his accountant, his administrative assistant, his farm manager, his shop foreman, his payroll manager, and even his housekeeper.

The Public Disclosure Commission is trying to determine whether all those donations were just coincidence or an illegal attempt to circumvent the campaign contribution law.

The Spokesman-Review reported last fall that the Taggares family and several Taggares employees gave a total of $12,000 to Republican congressional candidate George Nethercutt in 1994. There was a $2,000 limit per person in that campaign.

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