Jeff Smart may have learned the hard way about the meaning of “snail mail.” Either that or bureaucratic bungling.
The Mill Creek City Council candidate was facing an enforcement hearing before the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) earlier this week because he had yet to file required documents. But now, he’s in the clear. The reason he nearly got in hot water in the first place was not his fault – the documents he mailed to the PDC were temporarily missing.
“I’m not sure whether it was the postal service (that caused this mistake) or whether the documents were sitting at (the PDC’s) office,” Smart said. “Apparently, there’s a lot of candidates around the state that this is happening to.”
Smart’s personal financial statement and campaign finance information was postmarked Aug. 21, a day after he told The Enterprise in an interview that he would file the required documents with the PDC right away.
As the postmark indicated, he did. However, the PDC’s Olympia office did not admit to having those documents until last Friday, Sept. 5 – 15 days after he mailed them. Whether they were temporarily lost in the mail or misplaced at the PDC offices is a mystery.
“We’re concerned about this because we have so much stuff coming to us that is time sensitive,” said Sally Parker, a PDC auditor. “Mr. Smart’s (documents are) the ones that had the longest time lag, but he’s not the only one.
“They just got temporarily lost in the mail,” Parker said.
Smart’s hearing, which was set for Wednesday, Sept. 10, was canceled and he will not face any enforcement action.
Smart said he offered to send the information to the PDC through quicker means, such as via fax or e-mail.
“It would be nice to be able to fax these to them,” Smart said. “But they told me they have to have hard copies that come in the mail.”
As for the documents themselves, Smart announced on his campaign finance intention form that he is running a low-cost campaign. Like the other four contenders for City Council, Smart has opted for “mini-reporting,” in which candidates pledge to spend no more than $3,500 on their campaign and to accept no contribution larger than $300 from any contributor, including themselves.
Smart, a political newcomer and local business owner, is running against incumbent John “Jack” Start for position 6 on the City Council.
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