Pacific County District 3 PUD commissioner Dick Anderson was fined $1,500 for campaign violations at a Public Disclosure Commission hearing Tuesday morning.

The charges stemmed from advertisements placed in the Willapa Harbor Herald during his 2016 campaign. His campaign treasurer, Pat Myers, was then the publisher of that publication and his case was also heard during the hearing.

The commission wrote in its decision that Anderson violated the cap on contributions allowed and failed to disclose contribution and expenditure activities. Of the $1,500 fine, $500 is suspended on the condition Anderson has no further campaign violations for four years.

As for Myers, the commission found that he violated two sections of the Revised Code of Washington “by filing false campaign finance reports disclosing the newspaper advertisements as independent expenditures and electioneering communications made in support of Richard Anderson, when the advertisements were in fact in-kind contributions made in support of Mr. Anderson’s campaign.” In-kind contributions are those that do not involve money but goods and services, the value of which must be reported to the commission.

Myers received the same penalty as Anderson, $1,500 with $500 suspended providing he has no more violations for the next four years.