Marc Boldt steps up fundraising after hiring campaign treasurer
Marc Boldt, candidate for Clark County council chair
With some help from an old ally, Clark County Council Chair Marc Boldt has come into compliance with an order from the state’s elections watchdog that requires him to hire someone to manage the finances for his reelection campaign.
In February, the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission took a significant action against Boldt after concluding that during his 2015 run for council chair he failed to deposit contributions into his campaign bank account in a timely manner and failed to file paperwork to show he reimbursed himself with campaign funds for time taken off of work.
Because of the violations, the PDC issued an order prohibiting Boldt or his family members from serving as treasurer for his future campaigns. Instead, Boldt was required to hire a professional treasurer.
In the last week, Boldt stepped up his fundraising efforts, after initially being outpaced by Republican County Councilor Eileen Quiring, who is running against him. He has currently raised $10,400 to Quiring’s $19,862.
When I first checked Boldt’s C1 form, it listed himself as campaign’s treasurer. When I called up Boldt for an explanation, he said that he hadn’t yet hired a treasurer when he first filed for reelection and left the line blank. He said he wasn’t sure why the form had his name listed as treasurer.
I reached out to the PDC for an explanation. Kim Bradford, spokeswoman for the PDC, responded with an email:
The electronic systems for filing C-1s ask the candidate whether he or she wants to serve as his or her own treasurer. If the box is checked, then the system auto-fills the candidate’s name. But that autofill function happens only after the candidate has taken an affirmative step of checking the box. (If candidates do not check the box indicating that they will serve as their own treasurer, the system will prompt them to enter in a name in the treasurer field.)
Bradford did note that Boldt filed a new C1 that lists a company called Main Distinction as his campaign treasurer. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s run by Jim Mains, a Vancouver political consultant who managed Boldt’s campaign in 2015. But unlike his previous run, Mains will only be managing the money portion.
