State agency reviewing campaign cash complaint against Maycumber

Congressional candidate and state Rep. Jacquelin Maycumber, R-Republic, faces a complaint alleging an illegal use of state campaign funds to support her congressional campaign.

The complaint, filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission by legal intern Jake Espeland, relies on reporting by The Spokesman-Review, which found Maycumber appeared to have worked with state GOP leadership to circumvent federal election law.

On March 26, Maycumber’s state campaign fund, which she had used to run for re-election to the state Legislature, donated $5,500 to the Washington state Republican Party. Two days later, the state GOP donated $5,000 to Maycumber’s federal campaign fund, meant to support her efforts to run for Congress.

A direct transfer from Maycumber’s state campaign to her federal campaign would have been a clear violation of state and federal election law, but the state GOP, acting as a pass -through, allowed the campaign to circumvent that rule.

Texts show that Jim Walsh, chair of the state Republican Party, offered to help party loyalists running for federal office, using the party to “move financial support to their campaigns.”

“If Rep. Maycumber can donate state funds to the WSRP in return for a federal election donation, the campaign fund regulations become effectively meaningless,” Espeland wrote in his complaint.

Maycumber and Walsh have both denied wrongdoing, saying that the funds were not an illegal transfer. They have not otherwise explained the timing and communications leading up to the transfer.

Espeland believes their denial was suspect.

“That’s just like saying, ‘no, we didn’t do it!,’ ” he said. “There’s no evidence they’re providing.”

The complaint, which is still being reviewed by disclosure commission staff, also alleges a number of other missteps that amount to using her state campaign funds to boost her congressional run.

Espeland filed a separate complaint against state Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, for directly donating $1,000 from his state campaign surplus account to Maycumber’s congressional campaign, alleging a violation of two state laws. In a response letter to the PDC, Kretz acknowledged that he had misunderstood the relevant laws and requested a refund from the Maycumber campaign.

Espeland said in an interview that he was not prompted by any other candidate to file his complaint.