The Metro Park District vote ended in a nearly 80 percent ‘No’ vote Tuesday night, but anti-MPD political action committee Families For a Responsible Bonney Lake will continue its campaign through formal election complaints.
Shawnta Mulligan — a member of the committee who campaigned against the measure at public meetings, on social media and in a series of YouTube videos — announced Tuesday morning, in an email to the Bonney Lake City Council and local media outlets, the group would be filing formal complaints with the state Public Disclosure Commission and State Auditor’s office.
“The City of Bonney Lake … violated ethics and its fiduciary responsibility to its citizens during the April 23rd special election,” reads the introduction of the 18-page document. “The city participated in electioneering and political advertising by producing newspaper materials that intended to sway public opinion and rebutted arguments from a political committee. They also allowed the pro committee to use publicly funded logos and pamphlets which violates RCW 42.17A.555 that prohibits public agency ‘office publications’ from being used to ‘promote a ballot proposition.'”
In the document, Families For A Responsible Bonney Lake alleges the March and April issues of the Bonney Lake Reporter — a city newsletter published online and in the Courier-Herald as advertising space — implicitly encouraged people to vote for creation of the park district through subliminal graphics, misleading cost estimates, and by refuting terminology coined by the con committee, such as “forever tax” and “double tax.”
The letter noted the April Bonney Lake Reporter was published 10 days early, and goes on to speculate this was done to sway voters who mail their ballots early.
The offending graphic the group noted was contained in the March 20 and April 10 reporter entries titled “Vote Bonney Lake Metropolitan Park District,” with the “V” replaced by a check mark.
The misleading cost estimates the letter cites refer to the taxing cost example used by the city in its informational materials. The example calculates the tax burden on a home worth $200,000. Families For A Responsible Bonney Lake alleged this was misleading, as the median home price in Bonney Lake is $232,000, as estimated by real estate service Zillow.
The organization also alleged the city allowed the pro committee to use a city-created logo to campaign for the park district.
Mulligan emailed the complaint letter to the auditor and PDC at 12:40 p.m. Tuesday. The con committee presented the letter to the council at the Tuesday regular meeting.
At the podium, Mulligan said Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman encouraged them, in a group meeting, to file the complaint.
“Oh, definitely,” Swatman said in an interview Friday. “I felt if they wanted to get another opinion on it, they should seek out that third party. We would not want the city (of Bonney Lake), or any city government, to encourage people to vote yes or no on an issue. You need a third party like the PDC for that objective judgment.”
A PDC complaint had never been filed against the city itself during Swatman’s tenure in office, he said. He added that he did not believe the city’s educational materials were persuasive; he pointed to the definitive “No” vote on the measure as evidence.
“It was the voters making a choice,” he said. “You would think there would be a closer election if the city were successful in trying to sway (voters).”
City Administrator Don Morrison said the city believed it was within the law.
“I understand the PDC will send us an inquiry letter next week, to which we will respond,” he wrote in an email Friday. “If the PDC then determines that there is any basis to open a formal investigation, they will notify us. The City is confident that the educational information we provided to the public about the proposition was well within the guidelines, and that the complaint will go no further than a simple inquiry.”
