Before you go accusing me of making allegations of illegal activity..
here is the report...
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PDC fines trapping initiative backers
By PAUL QUEARY
The Associated Press
1/28/03 5:33 PM
OLYMPIA (AP) -- The state's campaign finance watchdog fined the backers of Washington's voter approved animal-trapping ban Tuesday for illegally concealing massive purchases of television advertising time.
The case against Protect Our Pets and Wildlife -- which stems from the 2000 election season -- has been pending for more than a year. Last winter, the Public Disclosure Commission referred the case to Attorney General Christine Gregoire because the panel's authority to impose fines was too limited to punish the violation.
But Gregoire's office sent the case back because Protect our Pets and Wildlife -- the campaign committee for Initiative 713 -- was broke. On Tuesday, the commission fined the group $2,500, the maximum allowed under law. If Gregoire had pursued the case, she could have sought fines of as much as $10,000 per violation.
"The record clearly indicated ... that there were repeated violations," Commission Chairman Michael Connelly said.
Shawn Newman, an attorney for Protect Our Pets and Wildlife, promised an immediate appeal.
"It really boils down to an issue of free speech," said Newman, who contends that PDC investigators essentially made up the rule in question after the fact.
State law requires regular disclosure of campaign spending, in part to give election opponents and others some insight into campaign strategy. For example, big spending on television time indicates an impending advertising blitz, and learning of such a push can give opponents time to respond.
Near the end of the 2000 campaign, Protect Our Pets and Wildlife reported a single $535,205 expenditure for television time in its Oct. 26 report to the commission.
The commission's staff contends the purchase -- actually multiple orders placed over several weeks by a consultant -- should have been reported in detail on Oct 17. The time was ordered as early as Aug. 31, although the ads ran in the crucial final stage of the campaign -- late October and early November.
Campaign officials contend there was no obligation to pay the stations until a few days before the commercials aired.
Ed Owens, who led the opposition to I-713, brought the original complaint against Protect Our Pets and Wildlife after discovering orders for advertising time in TV station records that hadn't been disclosed to the PDC.
Owens also doubts the notion that the political action committee is really broke. Protect Our Pets and Wildlife drew much of its money from the Humane Society of the United States.
"If HSUS can afford to channel nearly $300,000 worth of resources of the state to finance this initiative, they can certainly afford to pay the obligations of their PAC," said Owens. "Unfortunately the law can only get to the PAC itself."
The society's northwest regional director, Lisa Wathne, is currently battling Owens' push to overturn I-713.
I-713 bans the use of body-gripping traps to capture any mammal for recreation or commerce in fur, along with two specific poisons. Initiative sponsors, primarily the Humane Society of the United States, argued that such methods are cruel and inhumane. The initiative passed with nearly 50 percent of the vote.
Opponents of the initiative, including trappers, farmers, ranchers, timber owners, say damage from wildlife has skyrocketed since I-713 passed.
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