The Washington State Democrats recently announced that they filed a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission against Republican state representative candidate Teri Hickel for using a photo of her with Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell in her political advertising.

The photo depicts Hickel accepting the Key to the City from Ferrell, a gesture the mayor made in March to recognize Hickel for her part in the local organization Advancing Leadership.

But because Ferrell has endorsed her opponent Rep. Carol Gregory, a Democrat who was appointed to the 30th Legislative District’s Position 2 after late Rep. Roger Freeman passed away, her party is alleging the advertising is intentionally misleading.

“This is the kind of deceptive politics that should not be any part of this race,” said Gregory’s campaign manager Hope Bixby in a news release. “Using photos of people in your campaign literature that are endorsing your opponent is just plain wrong and is a disservice to voters.”

The Mirror reached out to Gregory for comment but has yet to receive a reply.

“I think it’s politics,” said Hickel when asked what she thinks about the allegations. “I clearly spent my entire career here as an independent leader making the city a better place and I received the Key to the City by the mayor and I’m really proud of that.”

Hickel has used the photo in a doorbell flyer, on a TV video advertisement and on her social media.

“This is about the voters, the voters deserve to know who is supporting whom and that’s why the Public Disclosure Commission is reviewing the complaint,” said Jamal Raad with the Washington State Democrats.

The House Democrat Campaign Committee’s complaint alleges Hickel’s campaign directly violates the Public Disclosure Commission’s political advertising rules, which state in part: “It is illegal to sponsor a political ad with actual malice that contains a statement constituting libel or defamation per se if the statement: Directly or indirectly implies a candidate has the support or endorsement of any person or organization when the candidate does not.”

“We used a picture that was ran in your paper,” said Keith Schipper, Hickel’s campaign manager in a phone interview. “It’s not like we took the picture, it’s a public photo. It’s not like we’ve been trying to get Mayor Jim Ferrell’s endorsement.”

Ferrell, a Democrat, declined to comment on the matter.

Schipper said the complaint is “frivolous” and from a fledgling campaign.

Public Disclosure Commission spokeswoman Lori Anderson confirmed commission staff received the complaint in July, and will review it, but will not determine whether or not to launch an investigation to the claims until after they’ve reviewed Hickel’s campaign’s response.

Schipper said they sent their response on Aug. 14.

The response points out that Hickel received the Key to the City prior to becoming a candidate and receiving the key “is a critical biography point in the Hickel campaign, it highlights her years of service to the community” and “nowhere does the literature piece imply endorsement, rather it states ‘Received the Key to the City for outstanding volunteer and leadership.’”

The complaint also alleges Hickel’s advertising has made false statements when they claim Gregory is “heavily supported by a California billionaire who has an extreme agenda for Washington state.”

“The claim is a complete fabrication and a false statement of material fact defaming Representative Gregory,” the complaint states. “No evidence of these statements is provided and nowhere in Representatives Gregory’s contribution history does this alleged support exist.”

But Schipper said that statement is linked to Tom Steyer, who has been “funding Democrats’ campaigns for the last two years now.”

According to Hickel’s campaign’s response, Steyer funds the Next Gen PAC (Political Action Committee), which gave $200,000 to the Harry Truman Fund last fall and has been the largest contributor to the fund in the last 18 months.

Because the Truman Fund contributed $175,000 to the New Direction PAC in July, and the New Direction PAC has supported Gregory to the tune of $105,720, the Republicans claim there’s no reason to believe the “carry forward funds were not co-mingled with funds from Next Gen.”

“The carry forward money cannot be segregated out for 2015 expenditures,” the response states. “Therefore, some of Tom Steyer’s Next Gen PAC funds were used supporting Carol Gregory via New Direction PAC.”

Anderson said if commission staff decides to investigate the complaint against Hickel — a decision they will make sometime in the next couple of weeks — they will go into “fact finding mode.”

“If there is evidence provided with the complaint, they’ll make sure it’s good evidence and staff will then decide whether to file charges,” Anderson said.

If charges are filed, the commission will hold a hearing where the staff and the respondent will present their cases.

If the Public Disclosure Commission accepts there was a violation, they will impose a penalty in the form of a fine.

Anderson said, while uncommon, the commission’s penalty authority goes up to fining $10,000.

A photo of Teri Hickel’s campaign flyer that uses a photo of Mayor Jim Ferrell presenting Hickel the Key to the City. Courtesy of the Washington State Democrats

A receipt of Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell’s endorsement for Rep. Carol Gregory. Courtesy of the Washington State Democrats