Complaint Opinion 06-05
Date
12/21/2006
Number
06-05
Topic
Campaign Use of Legislative Press Releases
Respondent
Toby Nixon
Question/Complaint
Does the posting of legislative press releases by a legislator on his campaign web site violate RCW 42.52.180?
Summary
Yes. The Board revisited several years of precedent including the recent opinion in Advisory Opinion 2004 - No. 1, and again concluded that a legislator's posting of legislative newsletters on his or her campaign web site constitutes a use of public resources to assist a campaign as does the posting of these materials on legislator's non-campaign web site after June 30 in his/her election year. Whether the materials were properly created in the first place is not determinative; rather, it is the use to which the materials are later put which determines whether the statute has been violated. Respondent stipulated to the violation and was penalized by a Letter of Instruction.