McKenna: Inslee’s campaign funded with illegal transfers

In the battle for governor, one complaint begets another.

Hours after Democrat Jay Inslee alleged Republican Rob McKenna has repeatedly violated state disclosure laws, McKenna’s campaign manager countered that Inslee illegally transferred wads of money from his congressional campaign account into his gubernatorial quest.

And the manager, Randy Pepple, said he’ll prove it next week when he lays out the details in a complaint to be filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission.

That’s the same watchdog agency where Inslee filed his complaint late Thursday alleging McKenna failed to properly and timely disclose thousands of dollars in expenditures. It also asserts McKenna improperly paid three workers from his attorney general campaign fund.

Pepple called those allegations bogus. Inslee’s camp knew they’d be the target of a filing with the PDC next week and are trying to throw up a smokescreen with their allegations, he said.

“Our complaint is that they illegally transferred money and his complaint is we reported a bill a month late,” Pepple said.

Inslee has moved hundreds of thousands of dollars from his federal account to the state race. Pepple said he did not know yet exactly how much of it might be in question.