Lynnwood council VP paid Binda recall leader for campaign help

LYNNWOOD — The Lynnwood City Council vice president paid over $37,500 for campaign mailers to the leader of a campaign seeking to recall her fellow council member, campaign finance records show.

Julieta Altamirano-Crosby, who won her race for a seat on the Snohomish County Public Utility District board in November, paid the money to Tusk Marketing LLC, a company owned by Diodato Boucsieguez. Boucsieguez ran a recall campaign against City Council member Josh Binda in 2023, after investigations found Binda committed a number of ethics and campaign finance violations.

The money paid for postage costs, mailing permits, stamps and mailers, records show.

Altamirano-Crosby also paid $250 to Brooks Products and Service for campaign T-shirts. Brooks Products and Service is a graphic design company owned by Thomas “TJ” Brooks, a former Lynnwood police officer who made the initial complaint alleging Binda misappropriated of campaign funds in 2021.

Brooks gave over $2,000 of in-kind contributions to the 2023 recall campaign. Patrick Crosby, Altamirano-Crosby’s husband, also donated $200 to that campaign.

In January 2023, the state Public Disclosure Commission fined Binda $1,000 after he violated campaign finance law by spending campaign funds for personal items, including plane tickets and Versace clothing.

A few months later, he also acknowledged violating a number of ethics rules when he advertised his motivational speaking tour with a video filmed inside council chambers and used his public email to negotiate the contracts. Binda earned nearly $15,000 from the speaking engagements.

A judge ruled Binda’s actions met the threshold for recall in June 2023. But the recall petition did not gain enough signatures to make it on the ballot for the April 2024 special election.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, Binda made a motion to hire an independent attorney to determine if Altamirano-Crosby could serve on the Public Utility District’s board and the City Council concurrently. After making the motion, the two of them argued.

Binda brought up Patrick Crosby’s contribution to the recall campaign, saying Altamirano-Crosby’s husband “actually funded the recall.” Crosby’s contribution made up less than 5% of the money given to the campaign.

“Councilmember Binda, I’m quiet most of the time all these years with you because I’m tired that you’re bullying me all the time and harrasing me,” Altamirano-Crosby said Monday. “This is harassment.”

Altamirano-Crosby did not respond to emails seeking comment. Reached by phone Thursday, she said she did not have time to speak with The Daily Herald.

Through a spokesperson, Lynnwood Mayor Christine Frizell declined to comment. City Council president George Hurst also declined.

Boucsieguez founded Tusk Marketing in 2022, according to Secretary of State records. The company has no website and its listed business address is a home in Lynnwood. In a biography on independent conservative news site Big League Politics, where Boucsieguez has contributed articles, Tusk Marketing is described as “a campaign management firm dedicated to electing conservatives to municipal and partisan office in Snohomish County.”

Boucsieguez — who did not repsond to phone calls seeking comment — is prominent in local right-wing politics. He unsuccessfully ran for a state House seat in 2018 as a Republican and is the chair of the 32nd Legislative District Republican Party. He also serves as the western regional director for Republicans for National Renewal, a nonprofit encouraging “populists, right-wingers, hardcore conservatives and unabashed America First patriots to sign up as leaders on a precinct level,” its website reads.

Altamirano-Crosby will take office as a Public Utility District commissioner in Janurary.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.