Kittitas County Republican Party Chairman Matt Manweller sent out an e-mail to supporters asking them to send in checks so he could “bundle them” and give the money to the Rossi campaign—along with the $7300 max donation from the Kittitas GOP itself.

How brazen can you get? “Bundling” money that way—that is collecting money from individuals and then giving them to a candidate in one lump sum—is illegal.

“The Party cannot bundle,” Public Disclosure spokeswoman Lori Anderson just told me.

Check out Manweller’s e-mail:

The primary reason for this email is to rally help for Dino. As some of you may know, while Dino was a private citizen—but not a candidate, he was not allowed to raise money for his campaign. In contrast, using the Governor’s office, Christine Gregoire was able to raise about $3,000,000 for her campaign. Obviously, Dino needs to catch up. At our last Kittitas GOP meeting in Cle Elum, we voted to give Dino the maximum amount of money the law will allow. That check has been written for $7,300—the single largest donation our party has ever made. I think we can, and need to do more. Although the party is limited to $7,300, indivduals can give up to $1,400. We plan to deliver our check to Dino in early January. But, I think it would be FANTASTIC if we could ALSO deliver a envelope full of other checks from the citizens of Kittias County. That is the purpose of this email. I am asking everyone to write one check to “Dino Rossi for Governor” for whatever amount they can and send it to me (KCRP, 2405 N. Lilac Way, Ellensburg, WA, 98926). Any amount is worth it. We need to show a bredth and depth of support for Dino. The party is going to bundle them all together and make one HUGE donation to Dino. Thanks for all your help, Matt Manweller Kittitas County Republican Party, Chairman

And check out state rules. The law says: “A person, other than an individual, may not be an intermediary or an agent for a contribution.”

And the PDC’s Anderson pointed me to this explanation on the PDC website:

Bundling Only an individual is permitted to collect contributions from others and transmit them to the intended recipient. Political committees, businesses, unions, and organizations (or people representing them) are prohibited from collecting contributions from various sources (commonly known as bundling) and delivering or transmitting those bundled contributions to a candidate or political committee.

Anderson told me the PDC contacted Manweller about his e-mail and told him he was flouting the rules.

I’ve got an e-mail into Manweller to find out how he’s dealing with this.