Conservative watchdog group Evergreen Freedom Foundation has filed complaints with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) alleging that 68 government agencies in Washington State, including the City of Kirkland, have paid lobbyists but failed to disclose the payments. The City of Kirkland is alleged of paying two lobbyists at total of $143,000 from 2005-2009, without filing paperwork with the PDC.

“When the city became aware that the complaint was filed with the PDC, we immediately contacted the PDC to acknowledge it,” said City of Kirkland Communications Program Manager Marie Stake, noting that the city was not directly notified about the complaint. “We’ve assured the PDC that we take this issue seriously and will take any necessary action to ensure Kirkland is in full compliance.”

The complaint alleges that “the City of Kirkland apparently failed to properly file L-5 lobbying forms as required for public agencies under RCW 42.17.190,” and that the only report available on the PDC Web site from the City of Kirkland is from the first quarter of 2007.

“There are no other reports disclosing the expenditures for the other quarters,” said Preston Mui of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in the complaint. “Because of this, I believe Kirkland failed to properly file L-5 lobbying forms with the PDC.”

The two lobbying agencies that the City of Kirkland used were Soren Northwest Inc. and Phil Watkins Public Affairs Inc.

The report said that Soren Northwest Inc. received payments from the City of Kirkland totaling $95,000 from 2005-2009. The company had approximately $324,500 in undisclosed payments to government agencies in Washington State, according to the report.

The City of Kirkland paid Phil Watkins Public Affairs Inc. $6,066.68. The company had approximately $48,000 of undisclosed payments from government agencies around Washington State in 2005, the report stated.

Of the 68 complaints, the report did not place the City of Kirkland in the top 20 in the state. The University of Washington paid out the most to lobbyists from 2000-2009 with $1.6 million. Seattle was the highest-ranking city on the list at No. 5 with $1.2 million. The last agency on the list, No. 20, was the King County Public Hospital District No. 1 with $672,849.69.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation said in a press release that “data compiled by contract lobbyists and public agency lobbying report forms filed with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) reveal $6 million worth of taxpayer-funded lobbying expenditures in 2009 alone,” and that Washington State government agencies have spent $24 million from 2005-2009 on lobbyists.

View the full report here: www.effwa.org/main/article.php?article_id=3199