Washington’s disclosure law requires legislators to report travel paid for by an outside government or organization. But some state lawmakers have traveled to far-flung destinations — Taiwan, Spain, Chile — at someone else’s expense with limited transparency.
Legislators often refer to Washington as the most trade dependent state in the nation. They point to trade missions as a helpful way to cultivate relationships that help create economic opportunities. Yet, a lack of reporting makes it difficult to determine exactly how often lawmakers are traveling abroad in an official capacity and whether the groups or individuals footing the travel bills have an interest in state policy.
“When lawmakers are going on official trips, doing state business, they are representing the state, so citizens of the state deserve to know what’s going on,” said Jordan Libowitz, with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, D.C.
The lack of transparency creates uncertainty, Libowitz said, adding, “When there is no disclosure, but people know the trips are happening, it raises questions.”
Retiring lieutenant governor leading a delegation of state officials to Cuba this weekend
Lt. Gov. Brad Owen’s office said the Cuba trip is a fact-finding mission in the hopes of learning more about the Cuban health care system. Officials will visit biotech and neuroscience centers and have a meeting at the ministry of public health. Several lawmakers will accompany Owen on the trip, including Sens. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, and John McCoy, D-Tulalip. Other officials include Lisa Brown, the chancellor of Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University, and Babak Parviz, a vice president at Amazon. Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, initially expressed interest in attending but later changed his mind.
The Columbian asked all 147 lawmakers and the lieutenant governor to disclose whether they traveled on any foreign trips paid for by others or themselves while serving in the Legislature. Of those who voluntarily disclosed their trips — allowing The Columbian to cross-check with public records — a handful unveiled spotty practices when it comes to reporting the trip to the state’s Public Disclosure Commission. Nearly 50 legislators didn’t respond, leaving only a partial picture of how common the practice is; a scan of disclosure reports makes it difficult to determine whether they aren’t reporting or if they haven’t been on a trip.
Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, traveled to Taiwan in 2014 courtesy of the Taiwanese government. The trip was valued by one lawmaker who also went on the trip, and who disclosed it, at $20,000. But there was no mention of the trip on Rivers’ public disclosure forms.
Sen. Marko Liias, D-Lynnwood, traveled to Spain in 2009, paid for by the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade, but no one would know it by looking through his disclosure forms. Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, visited Chile in 2012, courtesy of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Rep. Brad Klippert, R-Kennewick, went to Canada to study transportation efforts, paid for by a railroad. There’s no record of either trip filed with the state’s disclosure commission. There also were trips to Korea and Japan that went unreported.
Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, traveled to China in 2012 without documenting it on a disclosure form. His reaction echoed most of the other lawmakers’ when contacted.
“I didn’t know I was supposed to report it. Was I supposed to?” said Moeller, who has long been a champion of transparent government. “Of course I’ll amend (my report) if that’s necessary. I’ll make it right.”
Rivers pointed out her trip to Taiwan was well-publicized. She wasn’t trying to conceal the trip and said she’s looking forward to some clarification about reporting requirements. Rivers filed an amended disclosure report after she was contacted. She estimated the value to be $6,234. Other lawmakers who went on the same trip valued it anywhere from $6,778 to $20,000.
“The good news is, something like this happens, it sheds light on it, (and) I anticipate we will see something from the ethics office,” Rivers said. “This is one of those things that happens and we learn from it and we make sure we’re in compliance in the future, now that we know.”
To view the disclosure forms where legislators are expected to document their trip, a member of the public would need to request the information from the state’s public disclosure commission. It requires scrolling through pages of online facsimiles, often completed in illegible handwriting.
Latest mission
This weekend, Democratic Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, who leaves office at the end of the year, is leading a delegation of 17 officials to Cuba to study that country’s health care system. Owen, who has carved out a reputation for leading trade, cultural and educational missions, said the trips improve cultural competency and help local businesses.
Owen has traveled the world to promote the state’s industries from seafood to agricultural products. Trade missions, the lieutenant governor said, aren’t about “lying around all day on the beach sipping pina coladas,” but usually are full of back-to-back meetings.
And although there are no clear accountability measures to determine a trade mission’s effectiveness, they often generate concrete results. In Taiwan, the legislators signed a reciprocal driver’s license agreement with the country, allowing Taiwanese citizens who live in Washington to bypass the state’s driver license exam if they have a license in Taiwan.
But even Owen has raised the issue that there is no enumerated power or even a particular office, person or board to oversee or sanction trade missions.
In 2015, while expressing outrage over a Washington State Executive Ethics Board’s decision to fine him for using state resources to bolster his nonprofit, which helped children deal with bullying, he told a legislative panel: “At the same time, (the ethics board has) said, and this is kind of bizarre to me, it’s OK to lead trade, cultural and goodwill education missions for the state, which is found exactly nowhere in state statute or constitution. … It baffles me that the international travel with no directive can be determined an official duty but working with kids is not.”
The current trip to Cuba is more of a fact-finding mission, according to information from Owen’s office.
Oregon also requires state lawmakers to disclose trade missions; they must report the name and address of the person paying the expense, the nature of the event and the date and amount of the expense on a annual statement of economic interest. Oregon’s administrative rules also clarify that an “officially sanctioned or officially designated” trip has the approval of the president of the Senate, Speaker of the House, the designated majority or minority leader of either chamber or appointed committees of the legislative body.
Who pays?
Many lawmakers are quick to dismiss any scrutiny of their travels; they point out that taxpayers’ money is rarely spent. The Cuba trip is being paid for by the lawmakers who attend. When lawmakers foot their own bill they aren’t required to report a trade mission, which can make it difficult to determine the agenda or who accompanied them.
For example, Seattle businessman Ron Chow, who owns Seattle Pacific Trading, a consulting company, has organized several trips with Washington lawmakers to China. He disputes the label of “trade mission” and said lawmakers find it helpful that he’s familiar with how to navigate the country. Some of the lawmakers who have attended referred to them as trade missions.
“I have lots of friends, we have lots of fun and that’s how it is. They just want to go with me,” Chow said. “Tell me what I get from them? I have no business in front of them. I have no hearings.”
Libowitz, with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, pointed out that when there’s a gray area, disclosure becomes even more crucial.
“It’s important that people know about actions taken in an official capacity,” he said. “Those are actions taken to represent Washingtonians because they are doing it as part of their job. They work for the public; the public should know what they are doing.”
Besides the questions about transparency once a legislator makes the trip, there also is murkiness about the definition of a trade mission and whether it’s a justifiable trip.
In 2013, Sen. Pam Roach, R-Sumner, came under fire for a trip she took to Turkey and Azerbaijan. Roach dismissed the scrutiny as a political hit. According to media reports at the time, the journey was an all-expense-paid trip.
But after the Roach trip, the legislative ethics board created a new litmus test for lawmakers who are trying to evaluate whether to travel: Does it have an objectively reasonable nexus with a legislator’s duties?
Roach said she has traveled to 51 countries. She also travels with her church.
“There is no one more well-traveled than me. I like to travel. I learn a lot. Most of it is something I’m paying for,” she said.
Roach — who has a clinic named after her in Honduras — led a fact-finding mission through the Panama Canal in April of this year, she said.
“It’s something I put together. It was my effort, legislators can do that. It’s not the first time I led an out-of-country trip. I’ve taken legislators to China … to learn Chinese. I don’t think we learn enough foreign languages.”
Since 2007, Roach has disclosed a trip to China in 2007, travels to Canada in 2011 and a trip to Panama in 2015 to the state’s disclosure commission.
Benton to Cambodia
Longtime Southwest Washington Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, led a trade mission to Cambodia in 2014 to promote agriculture and architecture.
Benton paid for the trip himself, he said at the time, and therefore was not required disclose the trip.
Legislators can also use campaign surplus funds to pay for travel. Benton declined to share who went on the trade mission. But since he used the Tacoma World Trade Center’s website as a portal for people to enter their payment information, The Columbian was able to track down a list of attendees.
They included a former Republican lawmaker; a business owner from Vancouver; and the two co-owners of Chi-Chack, a foreign language services business in Tacoma.
Juli Norris, with Chi-Chack, said the trip was helpful and said Benton was instrumental in setting up meetings with officials, such as the Cambodian secretary of education.
“We made good contacts,” Norris said.
Ken Camp, the chief of staff to the lieutenant governor, said he wouldn’t speculate as to why a lawmaker wouldn’t simply take a vacation if they are paying their own way for a trade mission. But he added, “I (would) think that legislators’ using personal resources to find positive solutions to complex public policy issues on behalf of the people of the state of Washington is commendable.”
Benton, who is not seeking re-election, appeared excited about going on another trade mission. When he first heard of the Cuba trip, leaving this weekend, he expressed immediate interest.
“Sign me up. Right away!” Benton emailed his legislative aide.
However, one day after The Columbian requested information from all state lawmakers about whether they have been on trade missions, Benton reversed course. He contacted the lieutenant governor’s office and backed out of the trip.
