News
Afternoon Fizz: Jason Bennett Pulls One Over on PubliCola
Burn on us.
Political consultant Jason Bennett's reported departure for Washington, D.C., much like the Mallahan campaign he ran last year, was a joke. (Sorry, Jason. But you asked for it.)
Jason Bennett—a longtime local political fixture who served as treasurer for now-King County Executive Dow Constantine—confirms that he's "likely" taking a position in Washington, D.C. doing government affairs for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), an international humanitarian group.
Bennett, whose firm, Argo Strategies, used to focus exclusively on providing campaign treasury services, more recently branched out into general campaign consulting—working as the chief strategist, for example, for unsuccessful mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan. (Check out our recap of PubliCola's post-election consultant forum, where a thoughtful Bennett faced off against McGinn strategist Bill Broadhead, here).
Seattle's campaign consulting world is a relatively small one—besides Argo, there are only a handful of companies, including Northwest Passage (Christian Sinderman), Moxie Media (Lisa MacLean), WinPower Strategies (John Wyble), and Connections Group (Cathy Allen), that work on local campaign.
Last year, Bennett was the subject of a complaint—since dismissed—that, as Constantine's campaign treasurer, he had coordinated illegally with an independent group that took out ads against Constantine opponent Susan Hutchison.
Bennett says his firm will probably be taken over by his two partners, Shakti Hawkins and Rory Steele.
Political consultant Jason Bennett's reported departure for Washington, D.C., much like the Mallahan campaign he ran last year, was a joke. (Sorry, Jason. But you asked for it.)
Jason Bennett—a longtime local political fixture who served as treasurer for now-King County Executive Dow Constantine—confirms that he's "likely" taking a position in Washington, D.C. doing government affairs for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), an international humanitarian group.
Bennett, whose firm, Argo Strategies, used to focus exclusively on providing campaign treasury services, more recently branched out into general campaign consulting—working as the chief strategist, for example, for unsuccessful mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan. (Check out our recap of PubliCola's post-election consultant forum, where a thoughtful Bennett faced off against McGinn strategist Bill Broadhead, here).
Seattle's campaign consulting world is a relatively small one—besides Argo, there are only a handful of companies, including Northwest Passage (Christian Sinderman), Moxie Media (Lisa MacLean), WinPower Strategies (John Wyble), and Connections Group (Cathy Allen), that work on local campaign.
Last year, Bennett was the subject of a complaint—since dismissed—that, as Constantine's campaign treasurer, he had coordinated illegally with an independent group that took out ads against Constantine opponent Susan Hutchison.
Bennett says his firm will probably be taken over by his two partners, Shakti Hawkins and Rory Steele.
