On Monday morning, Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the Washington Attorney General file suit against SEIU 925 for multiple violations of campaign finance law.
The PDC staff presented its findings following an extensive investigation into the union, concluding that SEIU 925 left unreported more than $1 million worth of monetary and in-kind contributions to its own political action committee.
The PDC staff recommended the Commission refer the case to the Attorney General for formal prosecution.
The PDC’s investigation of SEIU 925 resulted from a citizen action complaint filed by Freedom Foundation in August. While the staff only recommended prosecution for a portion of the Foundation’s alleged violations, the PDC acknowledged the union had clearly violated the law, and because of the enormous amounts of money involved in SEIU’s cover-up scheme, recommended the Attorney General, rather than the PDC, move forward with a lawsuit.
The Freedom Foundation notified the AG’s Office on Friday that it would bring suit against SEIU 925 if the Attorney General failed to do so within 10 days. We expect in the next week to receive a decision from the AG on whether he will move forward and prosecute the union.
The Foundation’s citizen action complaint contained three broad violations of state campaign finance law, yet the PDC staff recommended prosecution for only one of those violations. Our legal team has every intention of ensuring that SEIU 925 answers for all of its legal violations, even if the Foundation has to bring suit, itself.
SEIU 925 and other government unions spend millions every year to influence elections in Washington. SEIU 925 reported to the federal government that in 2014, alone, it spent over $1.25 million on politics and lobbying. There is no question that politicking is one of the union’s primary purposes.
As the political power players with the biggest clout, government unions have grown used to skirting their legal duties to further their ideological ends. Ill-gotten power breeds privilege.
But Freedom Foundation is unafraid to challenge that concentrated power. No one is above the law.
Because of our efforts, government officials are doing their job, prosecuting the bad guys, and forcing the most powerful special interests in Washington to play by the same rules as everyone else.