For immediate media release
Bryan Burke, Exec. Director of Eastern
Washington Voters
Spokane County Commission Race: PDC rejects complaint by Al French against Eastern Washington Voters and Bonnie Mager
The 2010 Spokane County Commission candidate Al French filed
a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission against Eastern Washington Voters and his opponent
Bonnie Mager on November 8th. He charged
that they distributed flyers containing false statements about him constituting
libel or defamation with malice in violation of RCW 42.17.530(1)a.
The Public Disclosure Commission rejected this and other claims by now Spokane County
Commissioner Al French. They concluded
by stating, we “will not conduct a formal investigation of your complaints.”
During the 2010 election year and independent of Democrat Bonnie Mager’s campaign,
Eastern Washington Voters distributed campaign literature that documented Al
French’s lack of judgment and questionable business dealings.
Eastern Washington Voters detailed
his involvement in illegally dredging a river, attempts to fake letters to the
editor of the Spokesman Review, and his alleged conflict of interest between
his vote on City’s bus bench advertising and his relationship with his largest
contributor.
When French filed his PDC complaint he stated, “As an
architect of over 30 years in the State of Washington and as an individual with a
spotless record, I have been defamed.”
However, the PDC was unusually blunt in their
conclusions. For example, they agreed
that there was in facgt a basis for claiming French was “‘involved’ in
[illegal] dredging activity if not primarily responsible for it.” The PDC dispensed with his other claims using
equal efficiency.
Bryan E. Burke, Exec. Dir. of Eastern Washington Voters,
stated, “We researched Al French for months and carefully wrote and re-wrote
everything we distributed for accuracy and fairness. The conclusions of the PDC tell us that we
did a good job. That is important to
us.”
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