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Wednesday, Jul. 01, 2009

Board said Keiser's "payback" blog didn't violate ethics rules

By Michelle Dupler, Herald staff writer

I returned earlier this week from a four-day camping and whale-watching trip to the Skagit Valley and San Juan Islands. The weather was clear and beautiful most of the time, although chilly enough that I was glad to return to the sun-drenched Tri-Cities — just in time for some scorching July weather.

I’ve spent the last few days catching up on voice mail, e-mail and snail mail, while also juggling breaking news on the health care beat that I recently added to my coverage of government and politics.

One of the more interesting items waiting on my desk was a package from the Legislative Ethics Board saying the board had dismissed a complaint against Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, over the “It’s payback time” blog item she wrote during the legislative session.

Keiser came under fire in March when Republican opponents of a bill that would have changed the state workers compensation Retrospective Ratings Program waved printouts on the Senate floor to support allegations that the real motive behind bill was political payback against the Building Industry Association of Washington.

Senate Bill 6035 would have, among other things, required groups participating in the program to say how they spend money refunded to them from overpayments.

Keiser’s blog didn’t mention the bill specifically, but claimed the BIAW had used money refunded from the program “in nasty, bullying and partisan political campaigns” and said it was time to “talk about payback.”

The BIAW had taken money refunded to it and used a portion to pay for political campaigning — mostly for Republicans, such as unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi.

The blog item was edited during the Senate’s debate on the bill and inflammatory statements about the BIAW were redacted, but printouts were plastered on the walls of Republican lawmakers’ offices the next day.

The bill passed the Senate by a narrow margin of 25-24, but never made it out of the House before the Legislature adjourned in the wee hours of April 27.

The ethics complaint alleged that Keiser used her blog — which is produced with public resources — for “private purposes that did not advance the public interest,” and that seemed “motivated by private or campaign considerations.”

The ethics board on June 22 determined that Keiser’s blog was merely an expression of her opinion and was not an impermissible use of public resources.

The board resolved two other complaints in favor of lawmakers on June 22.

- An October 2008 complaint alleging Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, violated ethics laws by releasing confidential information about someone who made a complaint against her was dismissed.

Roach reportedly had been trying to help grandparents of a child who had been placed in foster care and posting about the situation in her personal, non-legislative blog. The foster mother complained that Roach had slandered her and made personal attacks in the blog. The foster mother also claimed personal information about her had been revealed, although Roach never said her name.

The board found that while Roach had used her office to advocate for the grandparents in court and with the Department of Social and Health Services, her actions didn’t violate state laws. The board also found that disclosure of any of the foster mother’s personal information did not violate ethics laws.

- The board found reasonable cause to believe Rep. Shelly Short, R-Addy, had violated ethics laws by using her legislative contact information on a campaign website, but dismissed the complaint after determining the violation was inadvertent and had been corrected once the complaint was filed.

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