Lobbyist Fined For Failure To Report Nea Tie Pdc Says Omission Impeded Voters’ Judgment Of Education Initiatives

A top official with the Washington Education Association, the teachers union under investigation for alleged campaign finance violations, on Tuesday was fined $2,300 for filing false reports with the state.

The Public Disclosure Commission’s decision, on a 4-0 vote taken after closed-door deliberations, resolves a tiny part of a major investigation involving more than a half-million dollars and the proper use of union dues. Those larger issues are the subject of separate lawsuits filed by Attorney General Christine Gregoire and a group of teachers.

In Tuesday’s case, the PDC ruled that WEA lobbyist Kristeen Hanselman failed to properly report the involvement of the union’s parent - the powerful National Education Association - in last year’s campaign to defeat two education initiatives on the ballot.

The omission was important, PDC investigators said, because it impeded voters’ ability to learn that a national organization with the resources of the NEA was involved in the campaigns to defeat proposals that would have authorized so-called “charter” schools and vouchers for school choice.

The 65,000-member union admitted that Hanselman made mistakes on her forms and agreed to pay the fine, although union officials dispute any contention they were hiding anything.

“There was an honest mistake here,” union attorney Harriet Strasberg told the commission, adding that Hanselman should not have registered as a lobbyist because that wasn’t her job.

“I relied upon the advice of the secretary I was working with,” said Hanselman, who earns about $100,000 a year, according to documents used as evidence in the case.

Asked why she continued sending in monthly lobbying forms if she wasn’t a lobbyist, Hanselman replied: “It became a matter of routine. They came across my desk and I simply signed them.”

The case stemmed from conflicting reports from Hanselman, who reported her employer as the WEA, even though she was being paid by the parent union.

The No on 173/177 Committee correctly reported Hanselman’s employer as the NEA.

PDC commissioners said the $2,300 fine, which falls just $200 shy of the agency’s maximum enforcement authority, represents $100 for each of the 23 monthly lobbying reports she filed.

The commission followed its usual practice of suspending a portion of the fine - $750 in this case - if it’s paid within 30 days and Hanselman has no more violations in the next two years.

The fine was levied against Hanselman as an individual, but WEA spokesman Trevor Neilson said the union probably will pay it for her.

That drew outrage from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, the Olympia-based conservative policy group that has accused the union of failing to correctly report hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign spending and of illegally deducting dues from teachers’ paychecks for political uses.

“That means the teachers will pay (Hanselman’s fine),” said Peggy Jackson, spokeswoman for the foundation headed by one-time GOP candidate for governor Bob Williams.

The foundation’s allegations are the basis of a lawsuit filed in February by the attorney general, who’s seeking unspecified civil damages.

A group of teachers backed by the foundation filed a separate lawsuit that addresses allegations not included in the attorney general’s lawsuit.

Trial dates have not been set.