Political group Let’s Go Washington accused of illegal activities

A year-long investigation has led to charges filed by the state’s campaign watchdog against Let’s Go Washington (LGW) for allegedly violating campaign finance laws while collecting signatures for six initiatives last year, the Washington State Standard reported.

The accusations center on how a political action committee founded by conservative businessman Brian Heywood reported spending to collect signatures for the 2023 bill. Politico calls Heywood “a hedge fund executive who spends millions of dollars to bypass Democrats’ blockade of state government.”

The dispute stems from LGW’s success last year in collecting signatures for six initiatives in the Washington state Legislature. Lawmakers passed three initiatives related to police enforcement guidelines, parental rights and taxes. Voters will decide on three others aimed at repealing the capital gains tax, cap-and-trade and making the state’s new long-term care program voluntary.

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Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) staff in Washington filed charges Sept. 9 alleging that LGW failed to “accurately and timely” report its signature-gathering expenses for each measure. They also allege that the commission failed to obtain and disclose information from vendors about their spending on subcontractors and failed to produce requested campaign records.

After receiving a subpoena in July, LGW provided 9,000 pages of materials. The five-member Public Disclosure Commission will consider the allegations at a special meeting on October 3.

Heywood said the group “has been transparent in all of its campaign reporting,” adding that commission staff “do not dispute that we have reported every penny we have received and spent,” and that the issue is merely a technicality about how the information was reported.

An alliance of progressive groups opposed to referendum measures filed a complaint in July 2023, alleging that LGW had failed to disclose details about how money flowed in and out of the committee for each initiative. They argued that by using Heywood’s “deep pockets” as a near-exclusive source of cash in 2023, the committee bypassed the need for regular contribution reports and failed to report commitments to cover in-kind expenses.

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Lawyers representing SEIU 775, Washington Conservation Action, Planned Parenthood and Civic Ventures had pushed for action on the allegations before the fall election. At a commission meeting two months ago, they urged commissioners to refer the matter to the D.C. attorney general but were rebuffed because staff had not completed its investigation.

Defend Washington, as the coalition calls itself, said this week that the allegations show that LGW “attempted to conceal important facts from voters as they considered how to vote on these measures… and then resisted the PDC when it attempted to investigate.”

Initially, the committee treated it as a single effort, combining all funds raised and spent. Earlier this year, at the request of committee staff, the committee filed revised reports that included specific amounts for each initiative.

Another allegation involves Allstate Petition Management (APM), one of two signature-gathering firms hired by LGW. According to commission documents, the commission reported $1.9 million in payments to APM but failed to collect information about the amounts paid to subcontractors, as required by state law. LGW requested that information from Roy Ruffino, APM’s top executive, who responded that the information was proprietary and unwise to disclose.

According to PDC officials, the case is still under investigation and charging documents could be amended.

Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X Here and email him here.