PORT ANGELES — A state decision about a Clallam County commissioner campaign complaint may not be decided until after Nov. 8 — Election Day — when voters elect a new commissioner.
As he had promised Monday, Clallam County commissioner candidate Jim McEntire, a Sequim Republican, filed a three-part complaint Tuesday afternoon with the state Public Disclosure Commission over claims in a campaign flier distributed last week by his opponent, Linda Barnfather, a Sequim Democrat, that focused in part on McEntire’s travel expenses.
PDC staff will determine before the Nov. 8 general election if the complaint has potential merit — but would not determine if an actual violation or violations occurred until after Nov. 8, agency spokeswoman Lori Anderson said Tuesday.
The PDC investigation could result either in the complaint’s dismissal or a hearing before the commission, which could decide to fine Barnfather up to $4,200.
“There could be some penalties ultimately, but that’s a long ways down the road,” Anderson said.
Barnfather said Tuesday in an email that she is confident the complaint “will be summarily dismissed” by the PDC.
Piling action
In response to Barnfather’s flier, Clallam County Republican Party Chairman Dick Pilling requested Barnfather’s travel expenses from the state House of Representatives in her capacity as executive legislative assistant to 24th District state Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, he said Tuesday.
“I was figuring if she had requested McEntire’s and was interested in that level of detail, perhaps I should be interested in hers,” Pilling said.
Barnfather said she isn’t worried.
“There are no $100 steak dinners or $13 jars of cashew nuts from a hotel minibar or any of the other frivolous expenditures on my reports,” she said.
Pilling requested the reports Friday, the same day McEntire issued a statement vowing to file the PDC complaint against Barnfather.
McEntire, 61, said in his complaint that Barnfather, 48, violated state law in the following respects:
■ Barnfather had asserted McEntire, as the current District 1 Port of Port Angeles commissioner, “spent precious tax dollars” on expensive dinners during “political junkets” to Washington, D.C., and Tacoma.
McEntire said Barnfather knew expense funds are derived from the port’s business operation revenues, not the port’s tax levy, McEntire said.
Barnfather criticized the expenditures as an imprudent use of public money.
■ Barnfather’s mailer contained an endorsement quote from retired Adm. Robert McClinton “which was entirely fabricated,” McEntire said.
Barnfather said the quote resulted from a “miscommunication” between her and her campaign and released a statement from McClinton that said his support of her “remains steadfast.”
■ Barnfather said McClinton is the former president of the North Olympic Chapter, Military Officer’s Association of America in Sequim without permission from the organization, of which McEntire, a retired Coast Guard captain, is a member.
As a tax-exempt, nonprofit group, the organization is prohibited from participating “in any campaign activity for or against political candidates,” according to the Internal Revenue Code.
Spent public money
McEntire, a critic of what he called “politics as usual,” did not challenge assertions from Barnfather’s campaign that he spent public money on a bottle of water, dinners of more than $100 and his membership in the Rotary Club.
When asked if it is proper to spend public money on those items, McEntire said, “If it’s in accordance with policy and passes muster with all the audit checks and it goes through, then that’s what I rest on.”
McEntire said he is “fully confident each and every reimbursement for official business was proper and correct.”
Port budgets that include his expenditures are reviewed annually in an audit by the state Auditor’s Office and have never been challenged, he added.
It’s “not routine” for the Auditor’s Office to review specific travel expenditures during tax district audits, agency spokeswoman Mindy Chambers said Tuesday.
The port commission reviews and approves all expenses, including specific travel expenditures, McEntire said.
McEntire challenged Barnfather to reveal her own expenditures as a public employee and has not attempted to find out himself.
“That’s not the way I want to run my campaign,” he said.
“The point is, if she’s going to make that point, let’s see the whole picture,” he said.
“My campaign is about the problems facing Clallam County, not my opponent’s travel to and from Olympia and in and from the 24th District.”
McEntire said he did not know about Pilling’s request concerning Barnfather’s expenditures.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.