Mayor Greg Nickels scored a minor coup today when we reported that local environmental star Cary Moon was supporting him. (Check out the angry comments threads below.)

Moon is listed as a host at Nickels' June 3 fundraiser. 

However, here's the bad news about the fundraiser for Nickels. The fundraiser is being held at the home of two other hosts, Michael and Deanna Butler—GOP contributors. The pair donated $8,400 to the Republicans' 2006 candidate for U.S. Senate, Michael McGavick. McGavick lost to Sen. Maria Cantwell.  (Micheal Butler is the chairman of local boutique investment firm Cascadia Capital.)



I'm waiting for a response from Team Nickels to the charge of consorting with Republicans (a No No in Seattle).

UPDATE: Here's the response from Team Nickels (or more precisely, from Nickels' campaign spokesman, Sandeep Kaushik, who—full disclosure— is in and out of the PubliCola offices all day. He is my colleague in this PubliCola endeavor.)

Kaushik says: "Butler supports Nickels because his firm, Cascadia Capital, invests in 'clean technologies,' and they like the Mayor's environmental record."  

And Kaushik adds: "If there's any confusion about where the Mayor's allegiances lie, he was an early endorser of Barack Obama."