Click the graphic to access the May 10, 2018 Noisy Waters Northwest post “Republican Senator Doug Ericksen traveled to Cambodia this month”

September 21, 2018  Dena Jensen

27 in a row of Doug’s Got to Go posts and today we start to talk about Republican State Senator Doug Ericksen’s trips to Cambodia. These multiple supposed trade missions, as the Senator has referred to at least one of them on a Schedule A to C-4 report filed with the PDC for his “Douglas J. Ericksen (Committee to Elect Doug Ericksen Surplus Account)” might offer us reasons 28 and 29, as well, for why we need to #FireDoug. 

In Sandy Robson’s 05/10/18 Facebook post she talks not only about Senator Ericksen’s visit to Cambodia a few days earlier that month and his corresponding use of surplus campaign funds to pay for parts of it but also another of the Senator’s trips to that country back in 2016:

“In true Ericksen form, his most recent Schedule A to C-4 report filed with the PDC for his ‘Douglas J. Ericksen (Committee to Elect Doug Ericksen Surplus Account)’ shows the senator used $1,398.82 in surplus fund monies on 4/16/18 for travel to Cambodia. On the C-4 report, the expenditure is described as being for a ‘Trade Mission to Cambodia.’

“When I saw that Senator Ericksen was in Cambodia this month, it reminded me about something I had discovered when I was gathering information earlier this year for my March 6, 2018 PDC complaint regarding Ericksen potentially having used surplus funds for expenses related to obtaining and/or maintaining personal employment with the EPA.

“Back at that time, I saw a Schedule A to C-4 report filed with the PDC in June 2016, for Senator Ericksen’s ‘Douglas J. Ericksen (Committee to Elect Doug Ericksen Surplus Account)’ that showed he used $1,236.33 in surplus fund monies on June 26, 2016, for a trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. On the C-4 report, the expenditure is described as ‘Travel.'”

From a July 27, 2018 article by Chelsea Garbel in The Diplomat, where she talks about the third, and most controversial, of Senator Ericksen’s trips to Cambodia she explains:

“President Pro Tempore of the Washington State Senate Karen Keiser, who recently traveled to Cuba on a healthcare-oriented mission with other legislators, was surprised to hear about the nature of the Cambodia trip. ‘I don’t know how it even works just to do that. Trips that I’ve been aware of have been led by the Governor who does trade and economic trips, or the Lt. Governor and a delegation of legislators, private and public folks. As far as I know those are the only official kinds of trips.'” 

Here’s the link to Chelsea’s article, “Why Are Washington State Legislators Covering for Cambodia’s Sham Elections?”: https://thediplomat.com/2018/07/why-are-washington-state-legislators-covering-for-cambodias-sham-elections/