Judge Rules Former Grant County Judge, Moses Lake Business Owner Violated Campaign Finance Law

A Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled that a former Grant County Superior Court judge and Moses Lake business owner violated state campaign finance laws several times after the pair sent a 2014 mailer and concealed they were the source. The state Public Disclosure Commission referred the case of Jerry Moberg and Ken Greene to the Attorney General's office.

"The bottom line is...our public disclosure laws require individuals who are sending out mailings and participating in campaigns to identify who they are and report that to the public disclosure commission so people know who is paying for the mailings that show up in their mailbox," said Attorney General Bob Ferguson. "In this case, these two individuals spent thousands of dollars to do a negative mailing in this Grant County race and they hid their identities, lied to investigators about it and that's why the court has determined they violated the law.

Now that the judge has established the two broke the law, a trial is set for February 24 to determine the penalties. The Attorney General's office is arguing that Greene and Moberg intentionally concealed Moberg's role and will ask for the penalty to be tripled, which could result in up to a total of $319,326.30, plus costs and fees.

"In other words, the judge has said 'hey you broke the law', that's decided. Now the only question is how many thousands of dollars will they have to pay for having violated the law," said Ferguson.