The Link supporters to pay fine to settle election violations

Go Big Tri-Cities will pay a $1,000 civil penalty to settle findings the nonprofit violated state election law in its failed 2016 campaign to create The Link.

Supporters wanted to convince Kennewick voters to raise the sales tax to upgrade the Three Rivers Convention Center campus.

The Washington Public Disclosure Commission settled the long-standing complaint regarding The Link campaign on Thursday.

The findings follow a complaint by Vic Epperly, a Kennewick-based campaign watchdog.

Under the agreement, Go Big Tri-Cities stipulates to findings that it violated state campaign law by missing deadlines to register as a political committee, deposit checks from supporters and report contributions to the PDC.

It also failed to identify itself as a sponsor in Link-related advertising, including a moving billboard and a sticky-note-style ad attached to the Tri-City Herald.

It also failed to report $2,000 in monetary contributions and $7,500 in in-kind contributions.

Go Big Tri-Cities was led by Tyler Borders, who also worked as a consultant for VenuWorks, the private company that the Kennewick Public Facilities District hired to to manage the convention center and Toyota Center.

The district placed Proposition 16-8 on the Aug. 2, 2016 primary ballot, asking local voters to raise the sales tax by 0.2 percent to expand the convention center, add a Broadway-style theater, modernize Toyota Center and make other improvements to the aging complex.

Voters have rejected the proposal three times, including the first time in 2013 and again in 2017.

This story was originally published April 26, 2018 at 6:07 PM with the headline "The Link supporters to pay fine to settle election violations."