On Monday, Oct. 28, the Washington Secretary of State's Office reported that a "suspected incendiary device" was put in the Fisher's Landing ballot drop box in Vancouver. The FBI responded, and the Secretary of State's Office, which oversees elections, reminded voters that they can track the status of their ballot at votewa.gov to make sure it is received and accepted.
If you realize your ballot has not been marked as received, voters can print out a replacement ballot or go to their local election office to get a replacement through Election Day.
"We take the safety of our election workers seriously and will not tolerate threats or acts of violence that seek to undermine the democratic process," Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said in an email to media outlets. "I strongly denounce any acts of terror that aim to disrupt lawful and fair elections in Washington state." (SW)
CAMPAIGN FINANCE COMPLAINTS
Last week, Spokane County Commissioner Al French filed at least four complaints with Washington's Public Disclosure Commission, the agency tasked with overseeing state campaign finance law.French filed complaints against the groups that financially supported the failed recall attempt against him in late August, and another alleging that Spokane Fire Department officials used publicly funded resources to support his challenger, Molly Marshall.
"We have asked the PDC to deal with these in an expeditious fashion because [these groups] need to be held accountable," French says. "The public oughta know who's deceiving voters, because they deserve honesty."
The first batch of complaints allege that multiple political action committees and organizations, including FUSE Washington, FUSE Votes, Washington Conservation Voters and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Greater Washington, made contributions to the Clean Water Accountability Coalition in excess of the state's limit on contributions to county-level recall attempts.
French says that the PDC only allows contributions of $1,400 or less for these types of elections. PDC spokesperson Natalie Johnson says the limit is actually smaller: $1,200. Each of the groups in the complaint contributed $2,500 to $4,000, according to the Clean Water Accountability Coalition's reports to the PDC.
Our requests for comment from Knoll Lowney, the coalition's attorney, were not returned immediately on Oct. 28 and 29.
French's other complaint relates to a 30-second advertisement about wildfire mitigation, in which Marshall appears with Spokane firefighters union President Randy Marler in front of city firetrucks and a fire station. French argues that constitutes the use of publicly funded resources to support a candidate for office.
Spokane Fire Chief Julie O'Berg responded to the complaint by urging the PDC to "recognize that the City of Spokane and its Fire Department are not respondents in this complaint." O'Berg argues that the only respondents should be Marler and the union.
"The city has little, if any, ability to control the activities of off-duty union officials engaged in union activities involving political speech," O'Berg wrote to the PDC.
The complaints are still pending in the "assessment of facts" stage, but Johnson says state statute requires the commission to resolve a case or turn it into a formal investigation within 90 days of a complaint being filed. In this case, that deadline will be in late January. (CR)
DEFAMATION LAWSUIT
Photographer Pennie Collinson filed a defamation lawsuit against Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris and Kootenai County on Oct. 21, alleging that Norris publicly and falsely accused her of taking pictures of child pornography in the library.The alleged incident occurred in April, when Collinson attended the Kootenai County Republican Party primary election forum in Cataldo, where she worked as a photographer for Mike Bauer, who was another Republican candidate for sheriff. (Norris is currently running for reelection and won the most votes in the Republican primary.) Dozens of people were there and some filed declarations of what they heard Norris say about Collinson.
Collinson first filed a tort claim in July (a precursor to filing a lawsuit against a public entity or official). At the time, Norris issued a press release that was shared on the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office Facebook page, offering $10,000 for video proof of the incident and stating, "Ms. Collinson's allegations are 100% false."
After the lawsuit was filed last week, Norris posted a press release on his official Sheriff Bob Norris Facebook page stating that the lawsuit is "baseless" and warning residents to beware of fake news and election lies.
"The claims are 100% false and are nothing more than local-level lawfare to create doubt and uncertainty regarding my character and reputation," Norris stated in the press release.
Collinson's lawsuit says she is dealing with pain and suffering, severe emotional distress, and a slew of anxiety-related issues. She is asking for $10,000 or more and for Kootenai County to remove and stop posting defamatory content about her. (VCM)
PROPOSITION 1 UPDATES
It's decision time for Spokane's community safety sales tax, or Proposition 1, which would increase the local sales tax by 0.1%, or 10 cents per $100 purchase in the city. If passed, revenue would fund investments in public safety.Recently, after Mayor Lisa Brown's office clarified how the revenue generated by the tax would be used, more downtown business owners agreed to support it. The Downtown Spokane Partnership is the latest business organization to endorse the proposition.
In an announcement last week, the Downtown Spokane Partnership said its support is based on the city's "pledges to prioritize additional new police officers downtown, and clarification from Spokane City Council to establish a dedicated Community Safety Fund to provide additional transparency and an automatic mechanism to sunset the tax on December 31, 2035."
The mayor has promised that some of the new revenue designated for the police department would go toward reinstituting the neighborhood resource officer program. That program would place at least seven new police officers outside of the downtown core.
But according to the city's communications director, Erin Hut, other revenue could go toward maintaining the Crisis Outreach, Response and Engagement, or CORE program, a 30-day pilot that has added six police officers downtown in recent weeks.
Other revenue from the tax would be designated to the fire department, municipal court and Office of the Police Ombuds.
Proposition 1 was supported by the Spokane City Council in a 5-2 vote, and was previously endorsed by the Spokane Business Association. Greater Spokane Incorporated is officially neutral on the tax. (EB) ♦