Disclosure Commission to Lindquist recall backers: no anonymity

If employees of Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist want to contribute to a campaign to recall the boss, they’ll have to disclose their names.

The state’s campaign-finance watchdog made that clear Thursday. Members of the Public Disclosure Commission rejected a request from recall backers that would have allowed quasi-anonymous contributions from deputy prosecutors and other county employees.

Allowing anonymity would “frustrate the purpose” of the Public Disclosure Act, Commissioner Grant Degginger said.

Fircrest attorney Joan Mell, arguing for the recall campaign, said many staff members at the prosecutor’s office would like to contribute to the campaign but fear retaliation from Lindquist.

“Mr. Lindquist will be monitoring those individuals and can target them in their jobs,” Mell said.

Mell cited a pair of active whistleblower complaints against Lindquist filed by a pair of deputy prosecutors. Those complaints have been under investigation since June. The inquiry is nearly finished, according to multiple sources.

Lindquist said he agreed with the decision.

“I support Washington's voter-approved campaign finance laws. Playing by the rules, I've won two elections against some of the same people who are behind the recall effort,” Lindquist said. “Now they want to undermine campaign transparency by letting secret backroom donors into politics.”

Recall backers sought a modification of campaign disclosure rules that would have allowed individual employees to refer to themselves as a “Pierce County Justice System Contributor,” rather than by name.

In addition to Lindquist’s employees, the rejected proposal would have applied to county-appointed public defenders, law enforcement officers, officials who work for the county, and criminal and civil attorneys who are members of the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association.

The recall campaign started in June, after Fircrest resident Cheryl Iseberg filed a recall petition against Lindquist, alleging multiple acts of misconduct in office. In August, a judge found factual and legal sufficiency for the charge that Lindquist engaged in a vindictive prosecution.

Backers need 38,642 signatures to bring the issue to the ballot next year. To date, they have raised about $12,000, according to PDC records.

Recall backers have an active Facebook page. So does Lindquist. Following the creation of his “Support Our Prosecutor” page, some individuals listed as supporters — including employees of his office — told The News Tribune their names were added without consent.

Mell alluded to those circumstances at Thursday’s PDC meeting and noted that unidentified employees filed a complaint with the county’s human resources division about the unauthorized use of their names on Lindquist’s Facebook page.

The News Tribune has requested a copy of that complaint via public disclosure; in August, human resources personnel declined to provide the records, saying the matter was part of the larger whistleblower investigations.

The request to allow anonymous contributions was rare but not unprecedented. The PDC allowed it in 1997 and 1998 in narrow circumstances and rejected it in 2009 during the statewide campaign for Referendum 71, a successful same-sex marriage initiative.

Thursday, commissioners said the fears of retaliation by Lindquist might be genuine but added employees have options to seek redress, including labor grievances and whistleblower complaints.

“Everyone involved has some recourse if they’re wronged,” Commissioner Amit Ranade said. “It might not be the best recourse.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Disclosure Commission to Lindquist recall backers: no anonymity."