OLYMPIA – State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders announced his re-election campaign nearly six weeks ago but did not file a required disclosure form until Monday.
Sanders’ campaign filed within hours of contact from the Public Disclosure Commission indicating the requisite “Candidate Registration” document needed to be turned in because the justice had begun his re-election effort.
Stan Shore, Sanders’ campaign manager, said he planned to file regardless of whether the commission compliance office had contacted the campaign. He said Sanders “was out of town for a couple of weeks. I wanted to wait until he got back to sign the papers.”
State law requires individuals to file the “C-1” registration within two weeks of publicly announcing their candidacy, raising money or spending funds on an election. PDC spokesman Doug Ellis said no action will be pursued against Sanders because the desired document did arrive.
Sanders won a seat on the bench in a special election in 1995. Three years later voters elected him to a full six-year term.
On March 31, Sanders declared his candidacy for another term. Since then he’s launched a Web site for the campaign, compiled endorsements and received contributions. Shore said a financial report will be turned in this week.
In the meantime, a public hearing by the Commission on Judicial Conduct has yet to be scheduled on charges that Sanders acted unethically while visiting with inmates at McNeil Island in January 2003.
The commission alleges Sanders created the appearance of impropriety when he conversed with several inmates at the state’s center for violent sexual predators, including one who had a case pending before the court. Sanders could face punishment ranging from an admonishment to removal.
The charges stem from a complaint filed by prosecutors in Snohomish and King counties. Sanders denied any wrongdoing and said that the complaint and filing of charges are politically motivated to harm his bid for re-election.
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