Unions Complain About Builder Campaign Council Says Industry Violated State Campaign Finance Laws

The state’s unions are seeking sanctions against their longtime election foe, the building industry, for an interlocking system of committees that spent thousands of dollars on last year’s legislative races.

In a 12-page complaint filed Tuesday, the Washington State Labor Council contends the Building Industry Association of Washington “systematically violated the letter and spirit” of state campaign finance laws.

The council asks the state Public Disclosure Commission, Attorney General Christine Gregoire and county prosecutors from Spokane County to King County to take action against the association.

“The BIAW attempted to influence the entire political landscape of the state of Washington through this operation - and in a very real sense, did so,” said Jim Oswald, an attorney for the unions.

Elliott Swaney, a lobbyist for the building association and officer for many of the committees, called the complaint “nothing more than sour grapes.”

The building association “followed to the best of our ability the guidelines set up for us by the PDC,” he said, adding he hadn’t yet studied the complaint.

At issue are 17 “independent expenditure committees” that the association helped set up and fund for Republican legislative candidates.

The council primarily backs Democrats.

In April, The Spokesman-Review detailed how campaign committees set up by the building association and a pro-business group, United for Washington, spent a half-million dollars on state elections.

The committees - which usually had similar-sounding names hinting at good government or responsible legislative policy - all had officers from the association and the business group. They used the same political consultants, transferred money among themselves and sent out mass mailings in the closing days of the campaigns.

One of those committees, the Inland Empire Committee, spent $9,965 on a brochure supporting Reps. Duane Sommers and Brad Benson. It is among the committees named in the Labor Council complaint.

Melissa Warheit, commission executive director, said the PDC has already studied some activities of the independent expenditure committees. The staff had some questions about the way United for Washington accounted for leftover funds, which the lobbying group answered.

“There was never a formal investigation,” Warheit said. The labor council complaint appears to raise new questions, she added.

The council - which is joined in its complaint by former U.S. Rep. Jolene Unsoeld, and four Democratic legislative candidates - contends the committees committed serious violations of state campaign laws.

The committees failed to list their interlocking affiliations, which is required on state campaign spending forms, the council contends. The committees weren’t really independent, the council contends, because the association was sharing information with candidates.

The association also failed to account for more than 80,000 campaign yard signs that it supplied to candidates, the complaint alleges. The value of those signs would be more than $100,000, and does not show up in reports filed by either the association or the campaign committees.

The source for information about the signs is the building association itself, the labor complaint said. In its 1996 annual report, the association told members it “constructed and distributed 82,000 signs for its endorsed candidates.” It quoted a successful candidate, Rep. John Koster of Monroe, as saying the association’s yard signs, information and money “helped make the difference in my election.”

Neither the BIAW, nor Koster, nor Rural Citizens for Snohomish County, the independent committee set up to help the GOP candidate, list the signs, Oswald said.

The council is asking for an expedited investigation. If the commission doesn’t act within 45 days, it will request criminal proceedings from Gregoire and prosecutors in 10 counties where the committees operated.

If that action isn’t started within 10 days, it will file civil complaints, Oswald said.

, DataTimes