Posted on 09/13/2004 9:19:28 AM PDT by truth49
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has lodged an ethics complaint against Gov. Gary Locke, claiming he violated state law by asking private companies to help pay for the recent National Governors Association conference in Seattle.
The foundation, a conservative think tank and self-appointed watchdog on state government and labor unions, on Friday asked the state Executive Ethics Board to investigate Locke's solicitation of donations from companies that have contracts to do business with the state.
The complaint alleges that Locke violated a law that says "no state officer or state employee may use his or her position to secure special privileges ... for himself ... or other persons."
Seattle was host in July to the annual summer conference held by the governors' group.
The foundation's complaint was sparked by a July 12 story in The News Tribune in which Locke admitted to personally contacting more than a dozen companies with requests for donations.
Jason Mercier, a budget analyst for the foundation, said his research showed that 18 sponsors of the NGA event had a combined 155 contracts with the state.
"People will say he's a lame-duck governor and what does it matter," Mercier said. "But the law doesn't care how many days you have left in office."
Locke announced last summer he would not seek election to a third term.
Sharon Wallace, Locke's communications director, noted the governor sought a nonbinding opinion from the ethics board in February 2003 to make sure he steered clear of any ethics problems.
"The governor relied on that and he worked carefully to adhere to those guidelines, and he believes he did that," Wallace said.
The ethics board told Locke he could solicit donations if he went through a third party - in this case, the NGA - but that he should be careful not to personally ask for money from any company that had contracts with the state over which Locke could exert some influence.
The News Tribune reported in July that Locke did both. He admitted that he called "a little over a dozen" companies, though he couldn't recall which ones and didn't keep a list. And he solicited at least two companies that his actions affected - The Boeing Co., which gave $150,000; and GTech, a Rhode Island company that has run the Washington Lottery since 1995 and gave $25,000 to the conference.
The NGA 2004 raised at least $2.2 million from 65 companies.
If the ethics board finds any violations, it has the power to impose sanctions ranging from a reprimand to a $5,000 fine per violation and can recommend removal from office or prosecution by the Attorney General's Office.
Brian Malarky, director of the Executive Ethics Board, said late Friday he was in a meeting all day and hasn't seen the foundation's complaint.
See also: http://www.effwa.org/pdfs/eff%20locke%20ethics.pdf
No mention of party .. so I'm guessing he's a Dem?
Yep. No Republican governors in Washington in 20 years.
That has to change... soon... I've worked for one company that left to go to hell aka Sunnyvale, and the one I'm at now, though small, is flirting with Phoenix.
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