Stark has yet to report council race fundraiser

A year after Spokane City Councilman Brad Stark held a fundraiser to retire a 2003 campaign debt, he has yet to submit campaign donation reports required by the state.

He admits he made a mistake, but says he received confusing information from staff at the state Public Disclosure Commission about how to report the receipts.

Stark is trying to clear up the problem even as his primary campaign for county assessor moves into its final weeks.

“It was a simple mistake. It was my fault,” he said about the lack of reporting on the fundraiser.

But it is not the only time Stark’s campaign work has come under notice of PDC staffers, who monitor candidates for state and local races to ensure that they comply with campaign reporting requirements, and investigate complaints.

Earlier this month, Stark was notified by the PDC that his county assessor campaign signs were misleading because they did not include the words “elect” or “for” to indicate that he is the challenger in the race. Stark subsequently bought 2,000 “elect” stickers to be added to the signs.

He is running in a hotly contested Republican primary against appointed Assessor Ralph Baker, whose chief deputy lodged the complaint about the campaign signs.

Both Stark and Baker have traded barbs in recent weeks, including a charge by Stark that Baker was promoting his campaign by having press releases sent out at county expense to announce services in his office. Baker said he wasn’t going to stop doing his job because there’s a campaign.

As for the City Council fundraiser, Stark said he held the event to retire a $980 debt, which includes a bill from a media consultant in Seattle from his 2003 nonpartisan election to a South Side district council seat. Stark is in his third year of a four-year term.

During the Aug. 31, 2005, fundraiser, Stark netted nearly $3,500 from supporters, he said. They paid for a steak and chicken barbecue at a private home in the Glenrose area, according to a flier for the event.

Michael Smith, of Spokane, said he was among 50 supporters listed as members of an invitation committee on the flier. He said contributors believed they were giving money to Stark’s City Council race.

Stark said that the money remains in an account for his City Council election and that none of it was used in his race for assessor.

Phil Stutzman, compliance director for the PDC, said Stark could not transfer the money to the assessor race without getting permission from contributors. Any surplus could be applied to a re-election race for City Council, he said.

Stutzman confirmed that the PDC has asked Stark to update his reports to include money raised at the barbecue, but that the matter is not under investigation.

Stark said he has e-mail correspondence with a PDC staffer showing that earlier efforts to report the fundraiser were unsuccessful because the PDC’s electronic computer reporting system would not accept the initial submittals. He said he was working with a staff member at PDC to confirm the proper way to submit the information.

Stutzman said that Stark should submit a new disclosure form for a potential re-election race in 2007 so that he can account for his surplus of funds, despite the fact he is running for assessor.

Matt Monroe, who has worked on local campaigns, said he was invited by Smith to join him at the fundraiser a year ago, and was checking Stark’s PDC reports to see who had contributed. He said he was dismayed to discover that Stark had failed to make the reports, which are accessible online.

“I remembered it and wondered where the money went,” Monroe said. “I’m concerned he didn’t report it.”