OLYMPIA — The Washington Public Disclosure Commission on September 23 formally dismissed a campaign-finance complaint against Let’s Go Washington (LGW) involving commentary by political commentator Brandi Kruse, finding no evidence the committee paid her and declining to treat her on-air advocacy or event appearances as reportable in-kind contributions.
“PDC staff did not find any evidence that Let’s Go Washington purchased Ms. Kruse’s services in support of its initiatives,” the agency wrote in its letter of dismissal. “Furthermore, staff were unable to establish Ms. Kruse’s promotion of Let’s Go Washington initiatives and her participation in the organization’s events were in-kind contributions…. the PDC has dismissed this matter in accordance with RCW 29B.60.020 and WAC 390-37-060(1)(d).”
The close of Case 192919 is, for Kruse and Let’s Go Washington, a victory for a free press and leaves standing the line that state regulators will not treat independent political commentary as unreported advertising merely because it is popular, opinionated or commercially sponsored.
The complaint against LGW was filed in May by Sammamish City Councilmember Pam Stuart on behalf of Washingtonians for Ethical Government (WFEG), alleging that Let’s Go Washington failed to disclose between $345,000 and $1.25 million in political advertising tied to Kruse’s unDivided podcast and social-media channels.
According to its website, WFEG is “a nonprofit founded to serve as an open government and campaign finance watchdog for the Evergreen State.” State corporate records list Andrew Villeneuve as one of three governors of WFEG, along with Linda Rowling and Sherry Bockwinkel.
In its statement regarding the PDC dismissal of its complaint against Let’s Go Washington, WFEG Spokesperson Pam Stuart wrote that “Washington voters have a right to know who is paying to influence their votes” and called for legislative action for lawmakers to strengthen its disclosure rules.
“Influencers play a substantial role in shaping political debate,” Stuart wrote. “As a recent New York Times report on paid political creators illustrates, voters increasingly encounter political messages through voices they follow and trust. Washington’s Fair Campaign Practices Act must keep pace. California has already adopted disclosure requirements for paid influencer posts. Washington should strengthen its rules and laws so voters can keep following the money and track what influencers are active in state politics.”
Stuart doubled down, calling Kruse an “unregistered commercial advertiser.”
“PDC staff confirmed that she has charged Republican Party organizations for some speaking engagements,” Stuart wrote. “Her website also lists Brian Heywood’s Future 42 among its advertisers. PDC staff’s decision to stop investigating does not establish whether any payment connected to Future 42 supported her work on behalf of Let’s Go Washington’s initiatives. That question merits further examination.”
According to the letter of dismissal, PDC staff did acknowledge that under WAC 390-16-207, unpaid professional services can count as in-kind contributions, but then immediately wrote “that determination is complicated here by the type of professional service at issue: speech itself.”
“The evidence in this case does not establish that Ms. Kruse is typically paid for these specific types of speaking engagements, nor does PDC staff conclude that a public figure who at times sells their services for political activities necessarily converts all personal appearances, speeches, or statements on political matters to reportable in-kind contributions,” PDC staff wrote.
In layman’s terms, the PDC did not find any proof during its months-long investigation that Kruse usually gets paid for talking about initiatives, showing up at rallies, or commenting on her show. She may charge for some speaking gigs, but that does not mean she charges for any of the 159 incidents WFEG alleged in its complaint and that because Kruse, as a public figure, her personal opinions, commentary, and unpaid appearances do not by default turn into “in-kind contributions” just because on occasion she does paid political work.
Dan Brady of Dan Brady Law representing Let’s Go Washington, confirmed with PDC staff that LGW exercised no editorial control over Kruse’s content and that LGW “has not paid Brandi Kruse for any services of any kind” and no person from LGW paid Kruse to support LGW or its initiatives thereby creating an in-kind contribution.
“Ms. Kruse has never informed LGW that her time supporting LGW on her show or at any events had any value or that she expected future compensation of any kind,” Brady added.
PDC staff further confirmed that “Ms. Kruse owns her business, Undivided Media LLC, and it is not controlled by any political party, committee, or candidate, including Let’s Go Washington.”
Ashley Burman of Carney Badley Spellman representing Kruse, in a statement to PDC investigators affirmed that “no one, including Let’s Go Washington, controls what she [Kruse] says, what topics she covers, or what positions she takes.”
Burman contended to PDC staff that statements made on air, at LGW events and at rallies by Kruse are exempted from the statutory definition of political contribution, RCW 29B.10.160, which excludes “a news item, feature, commentary, or editorial in a regularly scheduled news medium that is of interest to the public, that is in a news medium controlled by a person whose business is that news medium, and that is not controlled by a candidate or a political or incidental committee.”
Therefore, PDC staff declined to treat commentary and remarks at events by Kruse as reportable in-kind contributions as WFEG alleged.
Kruse in November of 2021, after leaving her job as a political reporter at Seattle’s FOX Q13, launched [un]Divided, an independent podcast with Nicole Thompson, featuring on-air commentary, interviews, and reporting on Washington politics, crime, schools, and culture. Her podcast airs on YouTube (194,000 subscribers), X (197,000 followers), Facebook (342,000 followers) and Patreon, and is funded by both subscribers and advertisers.
Since WFEG’s filing in May against Kruse, [un]Divided’s following grew by 8,000 on YouTube, 19,000 on X and 29,000 on Facebook, making Kruse one of the biggest political commentators and media figures currently based in Washington state.
“It is the PDC’s job to investigate complaints that come to them, regardless of the political motivation behind those complaints. I am pleased they came to the correct conclusion in this case – that free speech is not something the government can regulate,” Kruse wrote in a statement. “The progressive operatives behind this complaint hoped to use media coverage to generate negative headlines about Let’s Go Washington ahead of an election. Instead, they have only motivated more Washingtonians to vote yes and fight back against a political establishment that seeks to silence dissenting voices.”
In a phone interview with the Lynnwood Times after the dismissal, Kruse said the damage was already done even though WFEG’s legal claim failed.
“The goal here was to hurt my reputation and to call into question my motivations for supporting the initiatives,” Kruse told the Lynnwood Times. “And in that sense, I mean, you can’t really undo the reputational damage that’s been done. And I also had to hire my own attorney, which of course costs money to fight something that was very clearly bogus.”
Kruse said that hopefully something can be done “to dissuade some of these blatantly political complaints from being filed because they are generally about hurting people’s reputation and costing them money.”
“You know, the process is the punishment and that’s what we saw in this case,” Kruse said.
Asked whether she would pursue legal action against WFEG’s Spokesperson and Sammamish Councilwoman Stuart, Kruse said: “I do believe that Pam Stuart walked a very thin line between accusation and defamation, and I’m still weighing my legal options in that regard.”
The same protected news commentary or editorializing exemption has been invoked in earlier Washington cases against journalists and talk-show hosts who discuss ballot measures such as in the 2007 Washington State Supreme Court decision in San Juan County v. No New Gas Tax.
In that case, KVI radio hosts John Carlson and Kirby Wilbur used their regularly scheduled programs to champion Initiative 912, a measure aimed at repealing a 3-cent gas-tax increase. They urged listeners to sign petitions, contribute money, and get involved. Local governments didn’t like that so they sued, claiming the airtime constituted a “valuable in-kind contribution” that had to be reported and limited.
The Thurston County Superior Court granted the municipalities a preliminary injunction and the trial court ruled that the No New Gas Tax campaign received contributions of free airtime for political advertising in support of I-912. However, the Washington Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s ruling in a unanimous 9-0 decision. The Court upheld that the hosts’ commentary fell within the statutory media exemption—the same exemption Kruse’s attorney cited against WFEG’s PDC complaint.
The PDC has never successfully fined any person or entity under a similar WFEG complaint. Other media-related complaints involving newspaper editorials, endorsements, or occasional mentions of commentators have almost always been reviewed by PDC staff and closed at the preliminary stage with findings of “no evidence of a violation” or “no formal investigation warranted.”
The decision by PDC staff to formally investigate LGW, and by extension, Kruse’s podcast commentary, is therefore a departure from the norm. However, the PDC in its letter did call this a “close case” and reminded LGW to ensure that “any professional services provided to LGW and either paid directly by LGW or paid or donated by another person (including the individual providing the services) to benefit LGW are reported as an expenditure or an in-kind contribution.”
WFEG’s complaint attempted to challenge the 2007 Washington State Supreme Court ruling precedent by labeling Kruse a “commercial influencer” selling “native advertising.” Because Kruse sells sponsorships and sometimes delivers promotional messages in a conversational style, WFEG argued that her initiative discussions should be treated as paid political advertising that must be reported to the PDC.
The PDC did not adopt WFEG’s “native advertising” framing. Instead, it treated the core question of the complaint as whether speech itself, when offered by a public figure who sometimes charges for other appearances, automatically becomes a campaign contribution. PDC staff concluded, it did not.
Had the PDC accepted WFEG’s theory, newspaper editorial boards that endorse candidates while the paper sells political ads could have faced similar complaints. Union newsletters and social-media posts urging members to support or oppose ballot measures might have become reportable in-kind contributions. Independent journalists and YouTubers who monetize their work would have operated under constant threat of filings.
Let’s Go Washington founder Brian Heywood, of Redmond, called the outcome of the PDC complaint long overdue.
“As we noted when Ms. Stuart brought this ridiculous claim against LGW, the first amendment protects even journalists with whom she does not agree,” Heywood wrote. “Perhaps Councilmember Stuart was bringing this case to the PDC as an attempt to distract from the fact that she harassed a signature gatherer who was simply exercising his constitutional right to gather signatures. This complaint should have never seen the light of day and we’re grateful the staff at the PDC can now return to matters that warrant their attention.”
Let’s Go Washington, which previously paid a $20,000 fine in 2024 over sub-vendor reporting, will now continue to focus on promoting support for its three November ballot initiatives: I26-638, which would limit girls’ school sports to biological females; I26-001, on protecting parental rights in schools; and I26-645, a repeal of the state’s new income tax.
The political web around WFEG
Both Heywood and Kruse cast WFEG’s complaint as political. A Lynnwood Times review of corporate filings, PDC reports and NPI’s own site found a tight set of overlapping ties.
As stated earlier, according to its website, WFEG is “a nonprofit founded to serve as an open government and campaign finance watchdog” for Washington state with officers Andrew Villeneuve, Linda Rowling, and Sherry Bockwinkel. A 2019 article written by Villeneuve describes himself as the President of WFEG.
Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI), a Redmond-based 501(c)(4) that openly calls itself a progressive strategy center.
“Metaphorically, NPI can be thought of as a Swiss Army knife for the progressive movement,” NPI states in its ‘Who we are and what we do’ section of its website. “We’re a multifaceted organization that has been built to move quickly and effectively. Ingenuity is in our DNA. We’re funded and supported by activists who want to invest in permanent infrastructure, not just win the next election. Our goal is to empower activists to become thought leaders, mastering the reframing skills needed to liberate our public discourse from right wing demagoguery.”
Villeneuve is also the founder and executive director of Northwest Progressive Foundation (NPF), a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) also based in Redmond and the sibling of NPI, to “provide civics education and activism training to people who would like to become more engaged in the politics of the Pacific Northwest and the United States.”
According to his personal website, he has been a member of the Washington State Democratic Central Committee since 2012, representing the 45th Legislative District. Villeneuve was a Democratic National Convention delegate for Barack Obama in 2012, Bernie Sanders in 2016, and Joe Biden/Kamala Harris in 2024. He is also a member of former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps.
Villeneuve began his political career as a teenager organizing against Tim Eyman-backed initiatives and in 2002, formed Permanent Defense to oppose Initiative 776 — Eyman’s $30 car tab initiative which passed with 51.47% of the vote.
WFEG board member Sherry Bockwinkel is a Tacoma-based political activist and businesswoman who pioneered the use of professional, paid signature gathering in Washington state through her firm, Camera Ready. A leading advocate for legislative term limits in the 1990s, she also successfully overturned state restrictions on pay-per-signature petitioning in federal court.
More recently, Bockwinkel in 2012 was the person who filed the PDC complaints against Eyman, accusing him of laundering and concealing donor money. The complaint led to a judge ordering Eyman to pay a $2.6 million civil penalty plus $2.9 million in state legal costs, and a lifetime ban stripping him of financial control over any political committee.
Both NPF with a social welfare focus on civics and education, and NPI, with a focus on progressive research-driven advocacy and lobbying were founded by Villeneuve who is a current governor/officer of WFEG according to state records — the nonprofit behind the PDC complaint against Let’s Go Washington alleging in-kind contributions from Kruse — and has been described by WFEG as its president. Villeneuve is also listed as the current Executive Director for both NPI and NPF.
According to annual report filings on the Secretary of State’s website, Washington Senator for the 45th Legislative District Manka Dhingra, representing the cities of Duvall, Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, and Woodinville, was listed as a board member of the Northwest Progressive Foundation (NPF) from 2018 through 2024 — the 2018 filing lists her as a founding board member.
In August 2018, Villeneuve announced that he had formed the Northwest Progressive Foundation, NPI’s 501(c)(3) sibling, “together with State Senator Manka Dhingra” to “undertake the educational projects that NPI has on its roadmap.”
“…the Foundation will initially focus on creating and sustaining a single project from NPI’s roadmap… most likely Activism Matters,” Villeneuve wrote. “Our aim with Activism Matters is to provide a hub for the teaching of skills needed to be an effective activist.”
NPF was formed 10 months following Dhingra’s 2017 election victory which flipped the Washington State Senate to a Democratic majority. Dhingra entered the 2017 Senate race following the death of Republican Senator Andy Hill from lung cancer.
NPI runs an online publication called The Cascadia Advocate. According to NPI, “The Advocate has been named one of The Washington Post’s Best State Political Blogs and is indexed by Google News, Bing News, Topix, and Newstex.” Chinook Beacon, another online publication by NPI, provides “periodic insights into the electoral and legislative landscapes of the Pacific Northwest.” NPI also provides podcasts with its PNWcurrents project.
The most recent joint project between NPI and NPF is the Washington State Supreme Court Elections Visualizer to aid voters in making a decision on who to vote for in hotly contested 2026 Supreme Court races.
Villeneuve’s Cascadia Advocate has covered Dhingra heavily and favorably since 2017, with more than a dozen named headlines on endorsements, the Senate flip, committee posts, her bills, an NPI gala she emceed, and the 2024 AG campaign. Five more mentions ran on NPI’s “In Brief” microblog. Several of those items were posted while she sat on NPF’s board.
In one article following Dhingra’s being appointed by her peers as Deputy Senate Majority Leader, Villeneuve writes: “She is also one of five current board members governing NPI’s newly formed sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. The Senate Democrats have certainly made a wise choice by elevating her to their leadership team.”
Then concluding the article with: “We look forward to working with the Senate to advance legislation that will result in a more inclusive economy and a better society for all Washingtonians.”
Dhingra has also written under her own byline for NPI — a 2020 police-reform essay titled, “Senator Manka Dhingra: Our communities need guardians on our streets, not warriors.”
Sammamish Councilwoman and WFEG Spokesperson Pam Stuart, who filed the PDC against Let’s Go Washington, has contributed $2,236.24 to Dhingra and both have endorsed each other’s campaigns.
The ties between Sen. Dhingra, Councilwoman Stuart, and Villeneuve run deep in the 45th Legislative District, with Dhingra helping found NPF with Villeneuve and serving on its board and NPI, through Villeneuve, writing articles boosting Dhingra’s political portfolio, and Stuart, being the filer and spokesperson for WFEG’s PDC complaint against Let’s Go Washington alleging unreported in-kind contributions from political commentator Brandi Kruse.
Dhingra did leave the board of NPF after a failed 2024 run for Washington State Attorney General.
In June, just weeks before the 2024 primary election in the AG’s race against Nick Brown and Pete Serrano, Kruse on her podcast unDivided reported that although Dhingra resigned from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in 2021, Dhingra was still introducing herself on her campaign website, social media, and the official video voter guide as a current King County senior deputy prosecuting attorney.
County records showed that Dhingra left full-time work there in 2017, returned only for short stints in 2019 and 2021, and sent a resignation email dated Oct. 1, 2021. KOMO News later published the emails from King County HR confirming that Dhingra was not “on a leave of absence” as she claimed but had in fact, resigned.
Dhingra ended up finishing third behind Serrano and now current Attorney General Nick Brown.
According to PDC records under the name “Andrew Villeneuve” reviewed by the Lynnwood Times, Villeneuve has received $3,505.34 from various political sources of which $2,606.32 was from the 45th District Democrats. According to PDC filings, an overwhelming portion of the $2,606.32 from the 45th District Democrats was for travel related expenses.
The Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI) also manages a Permanent Defense PAC that is registered with the PDC. According to NPI, Permanent Defense was formed in 2002 “to protect the Evergreen State from bad ballot measures proposed by the militant right wing.”
NPI has listed on the homepage of its Permanent Defense website, “We’re working to defeat three Brian Heywood backed measures in 2026” with a link to https://www.wrongforwashington.org/ that is dedicated to opposing initiatives IP26-001, IP26-638, and IP26-645 which were all proposed by Let’s Go Washington — the recipient of the PDC complaint by WFEG which Villeneuve is a governor. These are also the same initiatives named in WFEG’s complaint.
NPI and Permanent Defense, in reviewing dozens of articles of their sites, have treated Heywood as a target of opposition coverage since Let’s Go Washington’s first initiative drives in 2022. Cascadia Advocate headlines routinely call Heywood a “right wing mega-millionaire” and an “initiative factory.” A May 2026 Cascadia Advocate headline said Let’s Go Washington “apes Tim Eyman.”
Permanent Defense PAC in 2026 received $7,698.61 in contributions with $7,249.11 in expenditures of which $7,200 was listed for “Surveys, polling, research costs for a six-month period starting July 23, 2026” from Grow Progress, Inc. based in Washington, D.C.
In a PDC search on Villeneuve’s non-profit Northwest Progressive Institute, it recorded a total of $71,083.14 in payments for its services. Of this, $16,600 was from the Washington State Democratic Committee and a $6,000 from New Direction PAC.
In reviewing the recorded Washington State Democratic Committee payments to NPI, these started off at $500 per year prior to 2017 and then for 2017 and 2018, the payment doubled to $1,000 per year, and then $1,200 per year from 2019 through 2021, and then $1,500 per year from 2022 to present — all recorded as “donation” except for 2018 which was recorded as “Event Ticket/Program Ad.”
A total of $9,100 of the total payments to NPI from the Washington State Democratic Committee correspond to the years Sen. Dhingra was on the board of NPI’s sibling 501(c)(3), NPF, as NPI published articles promoting Dhingra without any disclaimer that its organization was receiving monies on an annual basis from the statewide political party.
The second item of interest recorded with the PDC by Villeneuve’s non-profit Northwest Progressive Institute, was a $6,000 payment from New Direction PAC described as a “donation.” The date it received is listed as May 11, 2026 — one full day prior to Pam Stuart filing the PDC complaint against Let’s Go Washington on behalf of WFEG of which Villeneuve is an officer.
New Direction PAC happens to be a Super PAC bankrolled by large PAC and very large unions (including the same unions opposing any one of the Let’s Go Washington initiatives) that bundle contributions to mostly be used for independent expenditures for digital adverts, mailers, and research. According to the PDC, New Direction PAC has received $33.4 million in contributions since 2014 and expended $33 million. For 2026, so far, it has received $1.2 million in contributions.
The PAC is managed by Kurt Fritts, owner of KB Fritts Consulting that specializes in “strategic consulting at state and local level,” according to its LinkedIn page. The New Direction PAC has issued $120,000 in payments to KB Fritts Consulting as of August 2026. In total, KB Fritts Consulting has received $1.67 million from various PACs and unions according to the PDC of which $1.4 million is solely from the New Direction PAC.
What stands out are two payments directly to KB Fritts Consulting: a February 10, 2026, payment from No Hate in WA State PAC in the amount of $7,500 for “Survey opposing IL26-001$3,250 and IL26-638 $3,250” and $45,000 from Defend Washington PAC for “Management and consulting services” posted in 2024. New Direction and No Hate in WA State PACs were the only two recorded payments for 2026 directly made to KB Fritts Consulting.
The Defend Washington PAC was of interest because this PAC opposed Let’s Go Washington initiatives in 2024 – see below. Now, the same PAC is opposing IP26-001 and IP26-638, two of Heywood’s initiatives.
Defend Washington PAC is co-led by Adam Glickman, Secretary and Treasurer of SEIU 775, one of the unions directly funding other PACs opposing all three Let’s Go Washington initiatives for 2026 — No Hate in WA State PAC ($50,500) opposing IP26-001 and IP26-638, Defend Washington PAC ($40,000), No on 645 PAC ($1.5 million), and Millionaire’s Tax Washington PAC ($50,000) both opposing IP26-645.
The PDC shows that Pacifica Law Group, Attorney General Nick Brown’s former firm, has received approximately $364,000 from SEIU 775, No on 645 PAC, Millionaire’s Tax Washington PAC, Defend Washington PAC and No on 2117 PAC since 2024 — again, PACs all against Let’s Go Washington initiatives.
In letters dated March 20 and April 6, 2026, obtained by The Center Square under the public-records law and posted by Clark County Today, Pacifica partners Paul Lawrence and Kai Smith wrote the Attorney General’s Office “to provide input on the ballot titles and ballot measure summaries … for initiatives that would repeal the recently passed income tax on high income earners.”
The March 20 letter urged the office to weigh fiscal effects if the tax were upended.
On April 9, SEIU 775 treasurer Adam Glickman (same person co-leading the Defend Washington PAC) forwarded a Pacifica follow-up to AGO chief of staff David Postman. The forwarded letter thanked the office “for the opportunity to provide input” on Initiatives. Glickman wrote Postman that he was attaching “the specific letters we have sent in with specific thoughts and suggestions around the recent initiatives related to SB 6346.”
State law assigns ballot titles and summaries to the attorney general. Pacifica partner Kai Smith told The Center Square the firm has given the AGO title input “for many years and on behalf of a variety of clients” and that it is “a standard part of our ballot measure practice.” AGO spokesman Mike Faulk said the office “accept[s] input on ballot titles from anyone who wishes to submit it” and “make[s] the final decision.”
The Lynnwood Times emailed Washingtonians for Ethical Government, Andrew Villeneuve, Sen. Manka Dhingra, Councilmember Pam Stuart, SEIU 775 and Kurt Fritts seeking comment for this article last week. None had replied by publication time.
As of September 27, 2026, the significant PACs opposing Let’s Go Washington’s three ballot initiatives for the 2026 midterm elections have garnered a total of $12.11 million of which $11.54 million is unspent.
- No on 645: 9.58 million
- No Hate in WA State: $1.85 million
- Defend Washington: $0.301 million
- Millionaire’s Tax Washington PAC: $0.244 million
- Snohomish County Democratic Party: $0.135 million
The PACs supporting Let’s Go Washington initiatives have collected $5.072 million of which $1.19 million is available.
- Let’s Go Washington (Sponsored by Brian Heywood): $3.737 million
- Vote Yes Repeal the Income Tax: $1.335 million
Heywood and Dhingra will share a stage before Election Day
The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce has booked them for a main-stage debate, “Tax the Rich?,” at the Eastside Leadership Conference on Thursday, Oct. 8, at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. Check-in starts at 7:30 a.m.; the entire conference runs 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Senate deputy majority leader Sen. Dhingra, and Heywood, founder of Let’s Go Washington, are listed as the lunch-session pair to debate the pros and cons of implementing an income tax in Washington state.
Author: Mario Lotmore
One Response
Great article! Thanks for bringing to light the progressive machines that are opposed to the LGW initiatives.