What's Upstream-Update pt2
I'm Bob Larson. The group established to protect farmers in our state is still waiting for answers to allegations the What's Upstream group broke campaign finance laws ...GERALD BARON ... "Well, we have not heard back from the Public Disclosure Commission. They had given Mr. Wasserman, the campaign sponsor and campaign manager, additional time following our second complaint of failing to register for a citizen's initiative campaign. So, we have not yet heard from them about what their response is."
Save Family Farming Executive Director Gerald Baron says they're also waiting to hear from prosecutors ...
GERALD BARON ... "Following that, we sent letters to Attorney General Bob Ferguson, as we as to the Skagit County Prosecutor who also has the authority to prosecute state campaign laws. And they have a 45 day window in which to decide how they're going to proceed with this, whether they're going to proceed with enforcement. And it's important to know that should the Public Disclosure Commission, the state Attorney General, or the Skagit County Prosecutor all decline to prosecute this, which we would find stunning if that were to be the case, our state laws also provide for citizen's enforcement so we would be able to proceed with enforcement actions relating to the violations even if none of these agencies were willing to prosecute."
What's Upstream organizers are accused of illegally using more than $650,000 in EPA funds to promote creating mandatory 100-foot buffers between farming and waterways.