The Olympic Herald · Public records

Sources & coverage

These six tools make public records easier to explore. They combine live queries with saved, dated collections. Each result should be read with its source, capture date, and coverage limits. If a record here differs from the responsible agency’s current record, check the original and let us know.

Live queries and saved records

Enforcement and the main influence and weekly-digest panels query Washington Public Disclosure Commission datasets on data.wa.gov when opened. “Live” describes the query, not a guarantee that a filing has been processed or that a dataset is up to date. Filings, classifications, and reported balances can be amended.

Legislative votes, election results, local council votes and minutes, congressional context, and the optional federal lobbying and contract-award panels use saved snapshots. Their capture dates remain visible. A new software build does not refresh those records. Saved records may omit later activity or corrections; votes should still be checked against the current official record.

PDC Enforcement

Cases, reported outcomes, penalties and payment balances come from the PDC. A complaint is an accusation, not a finding. The tool groups some statuses for filtering while preserving the agency’s original status on each row.

A query loads up to 400 cases and displays the total matching count separately. Phones initially display 10 loaded cases; wider screens display 25. “Load more” reveals further loaded rows. CSV export includes the loaded set, which may be smaller than the full matching count. Use the search and filters to narrow the collection.

Washington Financial Disclosures

The PDC’s F-1 statements report officials’ and candidates’ financial interests. Filing is an obligation of public service, not evidence of wrongdoing. Names are searched as filed; similar names are not proof of identity.

The financial-disclosures directory is a dated statewide index, grouped by PDC person ID. Statement details, full individual histories and organization searches are retrieved from the PDC when opened. County filters cover county-named governments and courts; cities, districts and state agencies are available through the jurisdiction filter. Name and jurisdiction results can be browsed and exported without the former 120-statement limit. Organization searches scan additional batches on request and exports identify whether the search is complete.

Comparisons show changes between reporting periods in the displayed fields. The source retains only the latest submission for each period, so this is not amendment tracking. Missing structured sections are marked unavailable rather than treated as no entries.

The tool shows reported ranges rather than inventing exact amounts. It omits street addresses, precise property locations, and family members’ names, using relationship labels where appropriate. Consult the original statement for the full record.

Washington Influence

Organization-name searches bring together appearances in lobbying, contributions, campaign payments, financial disclosures, and available enforcement records. There is no shared organization identifier across those systems. A text match can include unrelated organizations with similar names; inspect the matched variants and original filings before combining or attributing figures.

Optional federal contract and lobbying context comes from dated captures of USAspending and federal lobbying disclosures. These sources cover different transactions under different rules. Their amounts are not added to state totals.

Washington Votes

Captured final-passage floor votes come from the Washington Legislature. The page shows the biennium, capture date, and number of captured bills compared with the source’s passed-bill list. Committee votes, procedural motions, and appointment confirmations are outside the main comparison.

Campaign links match legislators by chamber, district, and surname, with any curated matches noted in the source. A campaign link is a research aid, not proof that money caused a vote. Check the bill, full roll call, and campaign identity.

Who Represents Me?

Address lookup uses geographic services to identify districts. County selection is broader: counties can cross legislative and congressional boundaries, so confirm or choose the applicable district.

Saved election results identify recorded winners, not a maintained current-officeholder roster. Later appointments, vacancies, changes in district boundaries, or subsequent elections may change who serves. Confirm current membership with the relevant government body.

Local votes and minutes cover only the captured jurisdictions and documents. Actual record dates are shown where available, with possible gaps between those dates. Missing records do not establish that a council does not publish votes. A mover, seconder, or recorded outcome must not be treated as a complete individual roll call.

What Moved This Week

The 7- and 30-day views use each section’s stated date, including contribution receipt, report filing, expenditure, case and roll-call dates. Comparisons use the immediately preceding period of equal length. Current records can include later corrections. County filters apply only where a source contains a county field; other panels remain labeled statewide. Pledges, receipts, independent spending, and lobbying payments are distinct measures and should not be added together.

Donor-history comparisons use the same reported name and can be affected by spelling variants. A first appearance is a research lead, not a finding. Failed queries are marked unavailable and must not be read as zero activity. Legislative context comes from a dated capture even when the money panels were just queried.

Recorded enforcement changes compare successive captures of case status and financial fields. The first capture establishes a baseline; earlier changes cannot be reconstructed. Observation dates identify when a difference was captured, not necessarily when the underlying event occurred. Complete CSV exports include all matching source rows, with overlapping sections kept separate.

What stays in your browser

The tools request public records from their sources and may retain recent views or followed filers in this browser’s local storage. Downloads contain the selected public records. Address lookup sends the entered address to the geographic service used for that lookup. Saved data files are included with the website; this is not a no-storage service.

Federal Money & Votes is not included in this release. The existing Campaign Finance and Lobbying tools remain available separately with their own coverage notes.