A Quarantine Project:

While we are all, most of us, hunkered down in our homes and learning all about Zoom, at least two state citizens are on the prowl. They want to be our next state Lieutenant Governor (LG). I am sure there are more aspiring gavel-bangers out there but we are hearing from and about State Senator Steve Hobbs and former Washington State capital omnipresent Congressperson Denny Heck. Why do these two males want to be number 2, and what do they bring as capable people who are one plane crash away from the Governor’s Mansion?

The Job:

Before we plow through what are truly experience-rich backgrounds, and how these two aspirants are juggling state and federal campaign finance law to move money around, let’s look at the target.

To the untrained eye and those who have not suffered the occasional arbitrary ruling on scope and object of an amendment,  a tie vote in the Senate or an unfriendly appointment to one of the many committees to which the Lieutenant Governor makes appointments, the job looks like a trip to the capital with a big office, a decent staff and a gavel with which presiding is essential. But wait. There actually are constitutional, statutory and Senate Rules burdens placed on the LG.

The Job: The Constitution Assignments

In article three of our state constitution we start to see the executive branch and the LG.

SECTION 1 EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. “The executive department shall consist of a governor, lieutenant governor, …” (and others you know about.)

SECTION 3 OTHER EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, TERMS OF OFFICE. “The lieutenant governor… shall hold their offices for four years respectively, and until their successors are elected and qualified.”

SECTION 10 VACANCY IN OFFICE OF GOVERNOR. “In case of the removal, resignation, death or disability of the governor, the duties of the office shall devolve upon the lieutenant governor.”

SECTION 16 LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, DUTIES AND SALARY. “The lieutenant governor shall be presiding officer of the state senate, and shall discharge such other duties as may be prescribed by law. (And there are a bunch, including a cluster found in the Rules of The Senate) He shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars, which may be increased by the legislature, but shall never exceed three thousand dollars per annum.” In 2020, it is actually $132,000, plus the office, plus the expense account, plus the staff, and plus, plus plus.

The Job: The Statutory Assignments

In 2006, with tasks and assignments and special committees and trade missions and the Washington Generals things (what?), the legislature made the following finding and put all the odds and ends tasks for LG  in one statute, RCW 43.15.010.

RCW 43.15.020 has numerous sections and includes various tasks like;  serving as President of the Senate (the gavel thingy), being governor when the real governor is out of office or incapacitated, serving on eleven committees including the Capitol Furnishings Preservation Committee, State Finance Committee,  State Capitol Committee, The  Washington Health Care Facilities Authority, and,  here it is, the Association of Washington Generals (what?). 

The Morning Wire: Keeping you informed on politics, policies, and personalities of Washington State.

The LG also appoints folks to some fairly important committees like;  Washington State Gambling Commission, Sentencing Guidelines Commission,  State Building Code Council, Joint Administrative Rules Review Committee,  Legislative Ethics Board (yes there is one),  the Washington Economic Development Finance Authority, and The Washington Horse Racing Commission.

It would take two more pages to list all the statutory jobs of the LG, so we will just encourage you to see the role in Economic Development/International Trade (that’s code for trade missions), and an interesting task of handling the Sport Mentoring Program.

The Job: The Senate Rules Assignments

If the constitution and the statute aren’t enough work to do, the Senate itself has offered the LG a couple of other key roles in the slog of public policy formation.

Under Senate Rule 1, Duties of the President, it states; “The president shall take the chair and call the senate to order precisely at the hour appointed…, and shall preserve order and decorum in all meeting rooms.” The LG is essentially in charge of security at the capitol.  That alone is big task. The debate about metal detectors rages.

And then there is real power of the LG. Under sub 4. of Rule 1.  “The LG…shall decide all questions of order subject to an appeal to the senate.” (Questions/”call” of order means in English that you ask the LG whether a senator is following the parliamentary rules of the chamber.) BTW, you better have your ducks in a row if you appeal a decision.

Sub 9 of Rule 1 adds “… When a vote of the senate is equally divided, the lieutenant governor, when presiding, shall have the deciding vote as provided for in the state Constitution” (wow).

Finally two more big ones; Rule 50, “The lieutenant governor shall be a voting member and the chair of the (Senate) committee on rules.”

And, Rule 66 allows the LG to determine, if asked, if an amendment to a bill is allowable as within the scope and object of the title or the subject of the bill.

Rule 66 Of the Washington State Senate reads; “ … no amendment to any bill shall be allowed which shall change the scope and object of the bill. (See also Art. 2, Sec. 38, State Constitution.)”

Boom. Sorry, your amendment won’t hunt.

Who Are They, These Two Aspirants?

Steve Hobbs:

From his posted biography we know that Senator Steve Hobbs has been a member of the Washington State Senate since 2006. He serves as  chair of the Transportation Committee (big committee!) and also serves on the  Financial Institutions, Economic Development and Trade Committee as well as the Environment, Energy and Technology Committee.

In addition to representing the people of the 44th district (cities and area of Lake Stevens, Marysville, Snohomish, and Mill Creek east of I-5) and, he is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Washington Army National Guard and proudly served in Kosovo and Iraq.

He is a father of three boys, and claims to have been raised in a “working class family.” He received a Master’s of Public Administration from the University of Washington Evans School. In 1994 he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Washington. He also holds an associate’s degree from Everett Community College.

Hobbs has listed twenty-six state and local awards and achievements, and enjoys music by Huey Lewis.

If he can be categorized, a lot of  people agree that he leans moderate and some in the business community and their lobbyists are quietly holding their breath, hoping he stays in the senate where few moderates find a home. More are needed for balance. Senator Hobbs is generally well respected by members of the chamber.

Hobbs is in a very envious position. He can run for LG, lose, and still have two years left on his Senate position. It is referred to as a “free shot.” It is not “up, or out” for Hobbs.

Denny Heck:

Heck is a native Washingtonian and graduated from The Evergreen State College. He has been married for 43 years to Paula Fruci Heck, an educator who began her career as a teacher and retired as principal at Jefferson Middle School in Olympia. He and Paula have lived in Olympia for 34 years. They have two sons, Bob and Trey, and are grandparents of Maleah.

In 1976, Heck was elected to the legislature at the age of twenty-four.

In 2012, in his second run for congress, he was elected as the first Congressman from the newly formed 10^th district in Washington.

Congressman Heck serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, is the only Member of Congress from the Pacific Northwest who serves on the House Financial Services Committee.

Heck successfully grew several small businesses in Washington State. One specializes in workplace education. Started in Olympia with only two employees, today it employs more than 300 people throughout the United States and has continued to grow in recent years. Congressman Heck was also an original investor in Real Networks, the digital entertainment company that pioneered streaming media on the Internet.

In 1993 Congressman Heck co-founded TVW to provide the people of Washington State greater accessibility to their state government. TVW has grown into the nation’s preeminent statewide public affairs network.

He is a former Majority Leader of the State House of Representatives where he was one of the prime authors of the state’s historic Basic Education Act.

Governor Booth Gardner hired Heck as his Chief of Staff during his second term.

Now For the Campaign Money Part:

The Hobbs Transfer:

If Hobbs wants to move leftover money from his State Senate campaign committee to a new  committee from which he will draw funds to run for LG (which only makes sense), under state law he must first get permission to move the money to the new committee from all the folks who gave him money thinking they were spending it to help him get elected to the State Senate seat. Simple enough, and polite, and required by law.

RCW 42.17A.490 describes the process of obtaining written permission from donors and explains that permission is required for both surplus funds and active campaign funds.

The rub comes for the contributors and the limit amounts they can contribute to Hobbs for the total campaign cycle (primary/general). The answer is dependent on whether the money being transferred is “surplus funds” or “current/active campaign funds.” If Hobbs declares the left over money as “surplus” then the donor can allow or give permission for the transfer, and still make an additional contribution to the LG race up to the limit ($2000) for the campaign each cycle, primary and general or $4000. A net gain. If he declares left over money as “active”, then after receiving permission, he can transfer, but the amount counts towards the donor’s total allowed, thus a net reduction. ($2000 per cycle, minus the transferred amount)

Surplus funds are defined in RCW 42.17A.005(50) as:

“…In the case of a candidate, the balance of contributions that remain in the possession or control of that candidate subsequent to the election for which the contributions were received, and that are in excess of the amount necessary to pay remaining debts or expenses incurred by the candidate with respect to that election.”

In other words, it’s what is left over after the election, and not mingled with new funds meant for another or the next campaign.

Once “mingled” the funds are “non-surplus” funds.

For active campaign funds (non-surplus), funds must be reported in the receiving campaign as if they are new contributions coming from the donor. The funds are attributed to the individual donors and they count towards that donor’s contribution limit to the new campaign.

Once permission is obtained, the funds can be transferred. For surplus committes, funds can be reported in the receiving campaign in a lump sum manner and do not get attributed to the individual donors nor do they count towards that donor’s contribution limit to the new campaign.

The funds must also be reported as expenditures when they leave a surplus account or other campaign account. The expenditures can be reported as a lump sum with the name of the destination as the vendor and a description of what the expenditure was.

The Non-PDC Nuance of The Hobbs Request:

What does a donor, a lobbyist, a contributor say to a seated chair of the Senate Transportation Committee when asked permission to move their original legislative contribution and apply it to a Lieutenant Governor’s race? They are looking down the barrel of a candidate who, if victorious, will have a chance to rule on a few significant motions in the State Senate. If the candidate loses the bid for state-wide election (LG), they are looking down the barrel of an ongoing, seated, yes, chair of a major committee in the State Senate; Transportation. (so major, it has it’s own budget process outside of the state budget!)

Ah, what to do? Do they really have a choice?

The Heck Transfer:

This one is a little more interesting and on its face much more simple…on its face.

One PDC guidance provides:

“In the case of a candidate’s federal committee looking to transfer contributions to his or her state committee, the cleanest approach would be for the federal committee to return the contributions to the contributors. The contributors could then contribute directly to the state campaign.”

Note the qualifier “cleanest”.

Is Heck going to send all the money back with a note that requests contributions to an LG race in his home state? That’s a tall order.

However, a closer read of the federal election statute and the state PDC law shows two things. First, section 30114, (a) (4) of the federal law clearly allows a transfer or “expenditure” of funds to …”a local or state committee (campaign committee like LG, parenthetical clarification added)…”

This from the PDC when asked about the possibility of the transfer of federal committee money to state executive election committee:

“You asked: Is a federal committee a legal source of funds for a state committee? The answer is yes, a federal committee is a legal source of funds for a state committee. A federal committee contributing to a Washington state committee for a state executive office would be subject to the contribution limit, which is $2,000 per election (or $4,000 for the cycle).

The federal committee also could choose to refund unspent money to contributors, who could then in turn donate it to a state committee.

RCW 42.17A.490 expressly allows a state or local committee to use contributions solicited for one state or local office on a campaign for a different state or local office, with the written approval of the donor. RCW 42.17A does not address the ability of a state or local campaign to do the same with federal committee funds.”

“Does not address…”  The state law is silent. It does not specifically allow, it does not prohibit.

A transfer from federal committees to Washington state executive office campaign committee would appear to be allowable.  Governor Inslee was allowed to transfer funds from his congressional campaign committee to his gubernatorial campaign committee. This would be a precedent.

Bottom line

Regardless of Hobbs’ campaign committee status, active or surplus, and whichever path Heck chooses for his movement of campaign funds to an LG committee, this race is going to be interesting.

Someone, maybe Heck or Hobbs, will be our next LG. A position that allows visibility, opportunity for state-wide optics and a pulpit.

2020 elections are just six months away. A lifetime in political terms.

Show me the money!

Jim Boldt is a former publisher of the Wire, a former legislator and a now-occasionally retired public affairs consultant

Your support matters.

Public service journalism is important today as ever. If you get something from our coverage, please consider making a donation to support our work. Thanks for reading our stuff.