Attorney General Rob McKenna’s office has just announced that it has filed suit today in King County Superior Court against the Washington State Republican Party for alleged campaign violations. The suit was started based on a complaint filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission alleging the state party misused funds from its exempt account for three mailings in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate, Dino Rossi. Check that complaint out, right here. Exempt funds are ones that have no contributions limits, but have specific permitted uses, such as voter registration, precinct caucuses or ballot counting. The law specifically states, also, that the funds can be spent in that manner “all without promotion of or political advertising for individual candidates.” The funds can also be spent by a political committee for internal organization or fund raising “without direct association with individual candidates.” Check out the law on this, right here. According to the PDC’s investigation, the WSRP spent more than $150,000 in “soft money,” i.e. ~ the exempt funds. The state party argues that the mailings were “internal political communications with its members,” according to the complaint, and not allowing the party to use the funds in that way is a violation of the First and Fourteen Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The WSRP’s attorneys also argue that the “internal political communication” they believe they made was not a ...
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