DMITRI IGLITZIN Igltzn@workerlaw.com Orgnal va emal to: pdc@pdc.wa.gov and peter.lavallee@pdc.wa.gov Peter Lavallee Executve Drector Washngton State Publc Dsclosure Commsson PO Box 40908 Olympa, WA 98504-0908 Re: False and Msleadng Poltcal Advertsement Complant aganst Glen Morgan, Send a Message PAC, and Conscence of the Progressves PAC, A Brghter Thurston County PAC, and Real Progressves n Thurston County PAC Our Fle No. 2800-999 Dear Mr. Lavallee: It has come to our attenton that four PACs funded and managed by Glen Morgan have engaged n a last mnute drty trcks campagn n support of the Republcan canddates runnng n the 6th, 19th, and 26th legslatve dstrcts, as well as Thurston County. These ads, funded by self-proclamed transparency advocate Glen Morgan, are a blatant attempt to mslead voters who mght otherwse vote for the Democratc canddate n each race nto castng throwaway votes to the beneft of the GOP. These ads contan msleadng, defamatory, and otherwse unlawful nformaton, and have been dssemnated broadly to over 100,000 voters across the State of Washngton. Specfcally, these ads falsely communcate to voters that the undersgned organzatons have endorsed Teresa Purcell, Joe Pakootas, Nathan Schlcher, and/or EJ Zta n the 2018 electons, despte the fact that those canddates are not runnng n these races, and when n nearly every nstance, each of the organzatons lsted has actually endorsed the Democratc canddate runnng n the 2018 electon. Specfcally, the ads contan the followng false assertons: The attack ad on Jessa Lews suggests that UFCW 21, Fuse Washngton, the Washngton State Labor Councl, AFL-CIO, and the Progressve Voters Gude (a project of Fuse Washngton) have endorsed Joe Pakootas for Senate n Washngton s 6 th Legslatve Dstrct, when n fact each of those organzatons has endorsed Jessa Lews. In fact, Pakootas has never even run for state legslature and nstead ran for Congress n 2016.
Page 2 of 5 The attack ad on Ern Fraser suggests that AFSCME Councl 28, Fuse Washngton, the Progressve Voters Gude, and Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawa have endorsed Teresa Purcell for House n Washngton s 19 th Legslatve Dstrct when n fact each of those organzatons has endorsed Ern Fraser. The attack ad on Conne FtzPatrck suggests that Fuse Washngton, the Washngton State Labor Councl, AFL-CIO, Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawa, and AFT Washngton have endorsed Nathan Schlcher for the House of Representatves n Washngton s 26th Legslatve Dstrct when n fact nearly each of those organzatons has endorsed Conne FtzPatrck. The attack ad on Tye Menser suggests that Fuse and the Progressve Voters Gude have endorsed EJ Zta for Thurston County Commssoner, when n fact they have endorsed Tye Menser and have never endorsed Zta for Thurston County Commssoner, although they dd endorse her n 2017 when she ran for the entrely dfferent offce of Port of Olympa Commssoner. The attack ads maled out n the 6th, 19th, and 26th legslatve dstrcts were pad for by Conscence of the Progressves PAC, sponsored and solely funded by Send a Message PAC. The attack ads maled to Thurston County voters were pad for by Real Progressves n Thurston County, sponsored and solely funded by A Brghter Thurston County PAC. Mr. Morgan s the campagn manager for all four PACs. The ads consttute several blatant volatons of Washngton s campagn fnance laws that the PDC should mmedately act on to ensure that Glen Morgan s not successful n commttng further volatons amed at msleadng voters before the mpendng electons. 1. Morgan s Ads Falsely Convey to Voters that Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta Have the Endorsement of the Undersgned Organzatons n the 2018 Electons. Washngton s Far Campagn Practces Act makes t unlawful to sponsor poltcal advertsng or poltcal communcaton that, makes ether drectly or ndrectly, a false clam statng or mplyng the support or endorsement of any person or organzaton when n fact the canddate does not have such support or endorsement. RCW 42.17A.335(c). Mr. Morgan has done precsely that by assertng that Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta are endorsed by the undersgned organzatons, when n fact none of the organzatons have endorsed those canddates n the 2018 electon and have n fact endorsed the canddates that Morgan s ads attack. Mr. Morgan may rely upon the fact that the organzatons have prevously endorsed Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta, n prevous years electons when those canddates were actually runnng for offce (though for an entrely dfferent offce than that targeted n Morgan s ads, n the case of Zta and Pakootas). However, such a defense fals n lght of the lberal constructon that must be gven to the FCPA. RCW 42.17A.001. Moreover, the statute forecloses ths argument by makng t unlawful to mply the support of an organzaton, ether drectly or
Page 3 of 5 ndrectly. RCW 42.17A.335(c). Moreover, the statute s clear that a volaton occurs where a canddate does not have such support or endorsement. Former canddates Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta do not have e.g., they do not presently enjoy the support of the undersgned organzatons. Instead, those organzatons have each endorsed other canddates (the current Democratc canddate) for the offce once sought by Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta. Mr. Morgan s suggeston that Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta are endorsed by the undersgned organzatons carres wth t the ndrect suggeston that Fraser, Lews, Menser and/or FtzPatrck do not enjoy ther support. Ths false suggeston that the undersgned organzatons oppose Fraser, Lews, FtzPatrck, and Menser wll cause mmeasurable and rreparable harm. In precsely the same way the Legslature explaned that falsely suggestng that a canddate s an ncumbent deprves the actual ncumbent of the beneft of the publc confdence, Mr. Morgan s suggeston that Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta are endorsed by progressve organzatons deprves the actual canddates who have been endorsed by those organzatons of the confdence and beneft that holdng those endorsements carres. Voters who trust and rely upon the recommendatons of organzatons lke Fuse, the Washngton State Labor Councl, AFL-CIO, Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawa, UFCW 21, AFT Washngton, and AFSCME Councl 28 may well follow Mr. Morgan s advce and wrte n the names of the wrte-n canddates to the very real detrment of the actual canddates runnng n those races. Indeed, Mr. Morgan s entre subterfuge s based entrely upon the assumpton that voters wll be msled nto votng for hs spoler canddates. The false mplcaton of enjoyng progressve organzatons support not only harms the canddates, t also does harm to the organzatons as well. The fake ads mply to voters that the undersgned organzatons are attemptng to sabotage the campagns of Fraser, Lews, FtzPatrck, and Menser, when n fact each of the undersgned organzatons supports ther canddaces. Suggestng that the undersgned organzatons are part of an effort to splt the progressve vote by supportng a spoler wrte-n canddate s precsely what the Legslature referred to when t explaned that false statements statng or mplyng an organzaton s support or endorsement deprve[s] the organzaton of the beneft of publc confdence and/or wll expose the [] organzaton to contempt, rdcule, or reproach, or njure [] organzaton n ther busness or occupaton. Laws of 2009, c. 222. Indeed, Fuse Washngton has already receved complants from members, expressng ther dsappontment that the organzaton was spendng resources to support a wrte-n canddacy because the Democratc canddate was not progressve enough precsely the false mpresson Morgan s ads are ntended to convey. In short, Mr. Morgan and hs poltcal acton commttees have blatantly volated both the sprt and the letter of Washngton s campagn fnance laws by falsely nformng voters that the undersgned organzatons support wrte n canddaces of Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta, and relatedly that the undersgned organzatons are opposng the canddaces of Lews, Fraser, FtzPatrck, and Menser.
Page 4 of 5 2. Morgan s Ads Harm Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta By Falsely Suggestng that They Are Runnng Wrte-In Campagns. Not only does Mr. Morgan s false advertsng harm the canddates attacked n hs ads, and the organzatons whose support Mr. Morgan falsely nvokes, t also harms the canddates Mr. Morgan urges voters to support va wrte-n votes. Mr. Morgan s ads carry wth them the false nsnuaton that hs PACs have the support of Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta, a suggeston that could not be further from the truth. The ads support of those canddates, coupled wth the PACs progressve soundng names, tend to cause voters to beleve that the ads were carred out at the behest of or wth support from the ndvduals endorsed n those ads. Such a suggeston that these ndvduals are actvely tryng to defeat the Democratc canddates n these races s lkely to expose those ndvduals to hatred, contempt, rdcule, or obloquy, and to deprve them of the beneft of publc confdence and socal ntercourse. 3. Morgan s Ads Fal to Identfy the Endorsed Canddate s Party Preference. Mr. Morgan s ht pece aganst Fraser fals to dentfy the party preference of Purcell, the canddate Morgan attempts to mslead voters nto supportng. Whle Purcell s not n fact runnng for offce, and hence has not fled a Declaraton of Canddacy for the 2018 electon, Morgan should have denoted the party preference expressed the only tme she has run for offce the Democratc Party. Hs falure to do so volates WAC 390-18-020(1) and (2). Mr. Morgan s ht pece aganst Menser lkewse fals to dentfy the party preference of Zta, who successfully ran for Port Commssoner as a Democrat n 2015 and 2017. Morgan s falure to note ths party preference expressed on the only declaraton of canddacy Zta has ever fled volates WAC 390-18-020(1) and (2). 4. Conscence of the Progressves PAC Faled to Lst Offcers on Its C-1pc Form. At least one of the PACs Mr. Morgan has used to launch msleadng poltcal attack ads appears to have faled to lst Mr. Morgan as an offcer of the PAC. WAC 390-05-245 defnes a commttee offcer as a person who makes, drects, or authorzes contrbuton, expendture, strategc or polcy decsons on behalf of the commttee. If Mr. Morgan had anythng to do wth decdng how Conscence of the Progressves PAC s funds were to be spent, he should have been lsted as an offcer. Ths seems overwhelmngly lkely to be the case gven that he s an offcer of the PAC that sponsors Conscence of the Progressves, and s lsted as campagn manager for both Conscence of the Progressves PAC and Send a Message PAC. Moreover, Conscence of the Progressves PAC s treasurer s desgnated on the C1pc form as performng mnsteral functons only. Therefore, f Mr. Morgan s not an offcer of the PAC, Conscence of the Progressves has volated the FCPA by falng to desgnate any offcers on ts C1pc form. In ether case, t s clear that the Conscence of the Progressves and/or Mr. Morgan has volated the FCPA n such a way as to deprve voters of nformaton about who s makng decsons about the PAC s actvtes.
Page 5 of 5 5. The C-1pc Forms of the PACs Contan Other Omssons and False Informaton. Several of Mr. Morgan s PACs C-1pc forms contan addtonal unlawful msstatements and fal to nclude requred nformaton. For nstance, each of the PACs has now submtted an amended C-1pc form (see reports 100867441, 100867442, 100867443, and 100867444), yet each of those reports falsely checked the box ndcatng that the report was a new C-1pc form rather than an amended form. 6. Morgan Acted Wth Actual Malce. Mr. Morgan s actons were undertaken wth actual malce as defned n the FCPA, RCW 42.17A.005(1) ( to act wth knowledge of falsty or wth reckless dsregard as to truth or falsty. ). There can be no queston that Mr. Morgan knew t was false to assert that the undersgned organzatons support wrte-n canddaces of Purcell, Pakootas, Schlcher, and Zta, as the ads suggest. The ads are transparently undertaken n bad fath,.e. n order to mslead voters nto harmng and undermnng the exact values the attack ads purport to endorse. Moreover, the wllful nature of Mr. Morgan s volatons s rrefutable gven that there can be no doubt that Mr. Morgan s well famlar wth the FCPA s requrements. As someone who has fled lterally hundreds of ctzen complants, Mr. Morgan cannot clam gnorance of the law. It s also worth notng that ths s not Mr. Morgan s frst volaton of the FCPA. PDC staff ntated a complant aganst Mr. Morgan n 2014, a case that remans open as half of the penalty mposed on Morgan was suspended and remans pendng. See PDC enforcement case number 14-072. We urge the PDC to conduct an mmedate revew nto these allegatons. The serous nature of these actons warrants referral to the Attorney General, pursuant to RCW 42.17A.755(4). The severty of the FCPA volatons commtted by Morgan warrant penaltes greater than the maxmum the PDC s authorzed to mpose. Sncerely, Dmtr Igltzn Danelle Franco-Malone Counsel for the Washngton State Labor Councl, AFL- CIO, Fuse Washngton, UFCW 21, Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawa, AFT Washngton, and AFSCME Councl 28