Ex-aide charged in theft of thousands in campaign funds

A former campaign aide to Metropolitan King County Councilwoman Jane Hague was charged with theft Tuesday, after prosecutors said she admitted stealing $144,877 in campaign funds.

Jennifer Rene Hildebrand, who at various times acted as treasurer and campaign manager, embezzled the money between 1997 and 2004 from two of Hague's successful County Council re-election campaigns and from her aborted 2004 run for Congress, King County prosecutors said.

Hildebrand, the daughter of longtime family friends of Hague's, admitted to the councilwoman early last year that she had taken an unspecified amount of money from campaign accounts, according to a sworn certification of probable cause signed last month by Scott A. Peterson, senior deputy prosecuting attorney.

Hildebrand, 36, of Sammamish has paid $190,606 in restitution, prosecutors say. The payments cover all the known losses and a portion of the $121,000 Hague has spent on a financial audit and on legal fees for an internal inquiry and negotiations for the restitution.

Hildebrand on Tuesday referred a call to her attorney, Scott A. Hughes, who declined to comment on the charge. However, Hughes said, "Not all the facts alleged in the probable cause statement are correct."

Hague, R-Bellevue, said she became aware of the alleged thefts in January 2005 and said she wasn't sure all of the problems have been detected. Some records haven't been found, she said.

Within days after Hildebrand allegedly told Hague that she took the money, Hague's attorney began notifying authorities, said her campaign spokesman, Brett Bader. County prosecutors didn't file charges until Hague completed her own investigation and negotiated a restitution agreement with Hildebrand.

State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) Executive Director Vicki Rippie said Tuesday she wasn't aware of any previous case of campaign embezzlement in Washington state.

Hague said Tuesday she became concerned about campaign finances after she dropped out of the 1st Congressional District race in February 2004, and told Hildebrand to write refund checks to large contributors.

According to Hague, Hildebrand told her she had mailed those checks, but donors kept telling Hague they hadn't received them. Hague said she asked Hildebrand to bring financial records to her house last January.

Hague said Hildebrand showed up without the records, and told her she had taken funds from the two County Council campaigns she had worked on — campaigns in which Hague said she hadn't suspected any improprieties.

Hague said Hildebrand sometimes seemed "scattered" and inattentive to details, but, "There was no reason to believe that there was the level of deceit and fraud that was going on. ... It was astounding, the extent and level of deceit and misdirection."

Hague spoke by telephone from Washington, D.C., where she is lobbying the state's congressional delegation on behalf of the county.

Hague spokesman Bader, of Madison Communications, where Hildebrand once worked, said Hildebrand sometimes overstated the amount of a payment to a vendor and wrote checks to herself for the difference between the reported payments to the vendor and the actual amounts paid. Bader is familiar with Hague's inquiry.

Hague has submitted a report to the PDC that claims Hildebrand also wrote checks from Hague campaign accounts to her credit-card company, Capital One, her cellphone provider, Voicestream, and to her children's day-care provider.

PDC chief Rippie, asked if her agency might take enforcement action against Hildebrand or the Hague campaign, said, "It sounds as though it is in the appropriate place [the prosecutor's office] with respect to resolving this particular issue."

Hague said she is contacting about 50 donors in line for refund checks from the congressional campaign "and advising them that finally the checks will be in the mail."

Hague said the thefts won't deter her from running for re-election to the council in 2007. "I plan on it," she said. "I've already had my first kickoff and did quite well."

Staff reporter Sara Jean Green contributed to this report. Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com