Lawyer prepares complaint against county judicial candidate

Published 1:30 am Saturday, October 8, 2016

OLYMPIA — As Attorney General Bob Ferguson considers legal action against a Snohomish County judicial candidate for alleged campaign finance violations, a Moses Lake criminal defense lawyer moved Friday to do so on his own.

Attorney Robert Schiffner filed paperwork Friday enabling him to go to court as early as Oct. 17 against Cindy Larsen, who Schiffner contends broke state election laws by not disclosing an in-kind contribution prior to the primary election.

Larsen is running for Snohomish County Superior Court judge. She is competing against Rico Tessandore in the Nov. 8 election.

On Aug. 21, Schiffner filed a citizen action notice with Ferguson’s office with his allegations. Under state law, when the attorney general receives such a notice, he has up to 45 days in which to take action otherwise the filer, Schiffner, gets an opportunity to proceed.

Those days elapsed Thursday. When Ferguson had not done anything, Schiffner took the next step allowed by law: He gave the state a 10-day notice of his intention to file a complaint against Larsen.

“I’m ready to go,” Schiffner said. “The complaint is totally drafted and only needs my signature.”

Ferguson can still take action next week. If he does, it will preempt Schiffner from initiating legal proceedings.

The allegations against Larsen, a deputy prosecutor campaigning for Superior Court judge, stem from photos of her and her children that appeared in a mailer supporting passage of Proposition 1, the countywide sales tax hike measure defeated in the primary.

A Safer Snohomish County, the political committee that conducted the campaign in support of the measure, spent nearly $54,000 on the mailing to tens of thousands of voters. Schiffner contends Larsen derived political benefit from the mailing and thus needed to report it as an in-kind contribution.

Two Snohomish County residents filed similar complaints with the state Public Disclosure Commission. An investigation by PDC staff concluded Larsen should have disclosed the mailing as an in-kind contribution. Commissioners voted unanimously Sept. 23 to ask Ferguson to take action.

Schiffner said he’s never met Larsen but has known Tessandore for about three years.

Schiffner has had his own issues with state election law. He was fined $4,200 by the Public Disclosure Commission for failing to disclose contributions and expenditures for his 2009 election for Grant County prosecutor.

Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dospueblos.