Advisory Opinion 96-11
Date
09/04/1996
Number
96-11
Requester
Tim Martin, Chief Clerk, House of Representatives
Topic
Press Releases - Normal and Regular Conduct
Issue/Question
At issue in this opinion was whether legislators could use public resources to issue a press release in response to the Governor's criticism of tax cuts and those legislators/candidates who supported the cuts.
Summary
The Board said that the issuance of press releases to inform constituents about legislative matters is well within the traditional understanding of legislative duty. In addition, in determining whether a particular responsive press release qualifies as "normal and regular conduct" pursuant to RCW 42.52.180, the Board will consider: (1) the timeliness of the response; (2) the proximity of the response to an election; (3) the relevance of the response to a legislative issue and to the initial outside statement; (4) the source of the initial outside statement; and (5) the tone and tenor of the response. Self-initiated press releases from legislators, using public resources, are very different from responses to outside sources and deserve a higher level of scrutiny.