Update: Tri-Cities state senator’s judicial campaign accused of violating ethics rules

Update: This story has been updated to reflect that Sharon Brown was granted a retroactive exemption from disclosing her ex-husband’s financial interests.

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A state senator hoping to be the next Tri-Cities judge is accused of violating a judicial ethics canon by using money from her 2018 legislative run to fund her judicial campaign.

Sen. Sharon Brown allegedly transferred $37,400 over a couple months from a Senate campaign surplus account into her judicial campaign fund, according to a recent complaint filed with the state.

The complaint claims the money originally was raised for the Kennewick Republican’s campaign for a second full term representing the 8th Legislative District, but she received more contributions than were needed to cover her expenses.

Roger Lenk, a self-appointed Tri-Cities government watchdog, wrote in his complaint to the Commission on Judicial Conduct that it is a violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct’s Canon 4.

Lenk, a Franklin County resident, says the issue is the use of “partisan non-judicial campaign funds for a nonpartisan judicial campaign.”

In Washington state, judges must run for election without stating their political party preference.

Brown is still a state senator and will keep that post if she isn’t elected to the open Benton-Franklin Superior Court position.

She told the Tri-City Herald that she could not answer Lenk’s charges about the campaign money because she has not seen the complaint.

“I have never violated campaign laws, and I have gone out of my way to follow the letter of the law,” said Brown.

Confidential process

Lenk’s written complaint to the Commission on Judicial Conduct is five pages with 22 pages of supplemental documents, including reports filed by Brown’s legislative and judicial campaigns with the Washington state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).

Lenk asked the commission to keep him “appraised of your progress in this important local matter.”

The commission is an independent agency of the judicial branch that works to protect the integrity of the judicial process and promote public confidence in the courts by enforcing ethics rules for judges.

After receiving a complaint, the commission conducts a confidential investigation and brings the results before board members for potential action.

Lenk points to the ethical canon that states: “A judge or candidate for judicial office shall not engage in political or campaign activity that is inconsistent with the independence, integrity or impartiality of the judiciary.”

The complaint states that Brown’s 2018 legislative run raised $148,900.

An unused amount of $70,000 was moved into a “Friends of Sharon Brown” surplus account in December 2018 and reported to the state PDC the following month.

Then, starting last June, Brown’s judicial campaign began drawing on that surplus account for a total $37,400.

Lenk claims that aside from $1,350 in contributions, Brown’s judicial run has been entirely funded by money that came over two years ago for that Republican Senate campaign.

Those contributors in 2018 gave money “for the purpose of advancing causes which partisan non-judicial candidates have control and influence,” wrote Lenk. “In contrast, funds for judicial campaigns have restrictions which serve to avoid the political associations of funds solicited for partisan non-judicial campaigns.”

Miscellaneous receipts filed by Brown’s campaign with the PDC show those funds were transferred “to Judicial race with written permission.”

State rules say judicial candidates are prohibited from soliciting campaign contributions more than 120 days prior to filing for office.

Lenk also takes issue with Brown — a sitting Washington state senator — maintaining a partisan website with Washington’s Senate Republican Caucus.

He points to ethics rules saying judicial candidates are not to be aligned or associated with a political organization.

Attorney nearly 20 years

Brown got her Washington law license in June 2001, and has worked as a business attorney on mergers and acquisitions and construction law.

She was a Kennewick City Council member before her appointment to the Washington Senate in 2013. She replaced Jerome Delvin following his election to the Benton County Commission.

Brown has since been re-elected twice, most recently in 2018.

After filing in May to run for the Superior Court vacancy, Brown said she is ready to pass the legislative baton on to someone else and take her public service into the judicial branch.

If elected to the bench, she will have to step down from the Legislature.

Her challenger is Dave Petersen, a former Pasco Municipal Court judge.

The two beat out four other candidates in the August primary to advance to the Nov. 3 general election.

Brown and Petersen are vying for the seat being vacated by Judge Bruce Spanner. He’s retiring in December after 12 years on the bicounty bench.

Superior Court judges are four-year positions that bring in a salary just shy of $200,000.

Dismissed complaint

The Washington Public Disclosure Commission recently dismissed two complaints against Brown filed separately by Kennewick City Councilman John Trumbo and former Richland council candidate Lillian “Randy” Slovic.

Both complaints dealt with claims she failed to accurately report her personal finances and debts beginning in 2015.

The commission ruled Brown did not violate financial disclosure rules, and allowed her a retroactive exemption from disclosing her ex-husband’s reportable financial interests that came before their divorce.

Trumbo’s complaint to the PDC came two weeks after he was reprimanded by the Kennewick City Council in a 4-2 vote in June 2020 for his personal investigation of Brown.

An ethics complaint against Trumbo last November said he used his council position or title to improperly seek information about the sale of Brown’s home after her divorce.

He claims Senator Brown has been less-than-honest about a licensed marijuana greenhouse business that was founded and operated by her now-ex husband and his son, and about work done at her home before its sale in September 2019.

The homebuyer called city officials concerned why Trumbo was questioning her about her purchase of the home.

Trumbo said he was treated unfairly in the council’s handling of the ethics complaint, and that he did nothing wrong in asking about the private home sale.

Brown has continued to maintain she did not know about her former spouse’s financial deals.

This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 8:00 AM.