Morning Fizz
"I Understand This is Important."
1. Back on August 12, PubliCola published a story titled "Liberal Consultant Does Mailing for Right Wing Candidate
."
This was the beginning of a series of articles—the Everett Herald's excellent reporter Jerry Cornfield went with a story on August 14 titled "Unions Use Tricky Tactics Against Berkey in Top-Two Primary"—that tracked what has turned out to be one of the sketchiest tales of this election season. Yesterday, Erik Smith at the Washington Wire published the most comprehensive account of the messy story to date.
Let's start at the beginning. The initial story back in August was this: Lisa MacLean's Democratic political consulting firm, Moxie Media, was doing an independent expenditure for a group called Cut Taxes PAC and a group called Conservative PAC to support a Republican candidate, Rod Rieger.
Why was a Democratic firm supporting a conservative? Simple. Moxie had also done independent expenditures—paid for by lefty groups through a political committee called Stand Up for Citizens—to support a progressive candidate, Nick Harper, in the same race. The goal was to knock out moderate incumbent state Sen. Jean Berkey (D-38, Everett).
The independent expenditure for Rieger was the other half of a clever political squeeze play. It worked. Berkey lost the August 17 primary—Harper and Rieger went through to the general. The 38th is Democratic turf. With Berkey out of the way, Harper is set up to win the general.
However, as we also reported at the time, Moxie wasn't saying who paid for the Cut Taxes PAC ads. Evidently, liberal groups didn't want to fess up to participating in the cynical ploy. (During the legislative session, labor had pushed Berkey to vote to raise taxes—which she did—and here were Moxie's Cut Taxes PAC postcards criticizing Berkey for just that.)
Still, we suspected that the same lefty folks behind Stand Up For Citizens who had paid for the pro-Harper ads were funding the pro Rieger ads.
But they told us they knew nothing about it. Here's what we reported in that August 12 article:
It appears that Kathy Cummings was not straight with us. As noted in yesterday's Fizz, Public Disclosure Commission staff, prompted by a complaint form Sen. Berkey about the murky funding, did an investigation (a must read for political nerds). Their report says DIME PAC was in fact one of three funders behind MacLean's scheme. (The PDC will review the staff report on Thursday to agree on a final finding with the parties.) The investigation says Cummings herself gave direct authorization on August 4.
"Lisa, move $2500 out of the ... fund from DIME [PAC] and then see who will put the rest in for this effort in the 38th. I understand this is important," Cummings emailed MacLean in response to MacLean's request for money to do the Cut Taxes PAC ad.
The PDC staff investigation also identifies the other funders: The Washington State Association of Justice (the trial lawyers political committee) and the Washington Federation of State Employees—the same groups behind the pro-Harper expenditures from Stand Up for Citizens.
In one of our several follow up stories during August, MacLean told us there were no secret funders. We wrote:
And in the same story, another spokesperson from the Washington State Labor Council (the labor group behind DIME PAC) told us they were not involved in the expenditure.
We have messages out to MacLean and the WSLC.
2. In a long post over at his blog Unfined & Unfiltered, local wine writer Paul Gregutt comes out against the liquor privatization initiatives, 1-1100 & I-1105.
The main reasoning (and mostly focusing on the "lawless" I-1100—that's the Costco-backed measure that gets rid of volume discounts and smashes the wall between distributors and retailers): Monopolies over shelving space will push aside small wineries.
3. Voters in the 31st Legislative District (Auburn, Enumclaw, Sumner) who are freaked out by their choices for state senator—controversial Republican Sen. Pam Roach (who was booted from the GOP caucus last session and barred from the caucus room because of her hot temper) vs. Republican Sumner City Council Member Matt Richardson (recently charged with reckless driving and also caught using the city email system to send suggestive emails to a campaign volunteer)—have another choice.
Brian L. Gunn, a proponent of the high-earners' income tax and public financing of elections, paid the $421 fee yesterday to be an official write-in candidate. Meanwhile, the PI is pushing another write-in candidate, the Democrat who lost in the primary, police vet Raymond Bunk.
4. PubliCola has published the most comprehensive endorsements in the state—over 60 picks for Nov. 2, including the 32 No Brainers we published during the first week of October.
This was the beginning of a series of articles—the Everett Herald's excellent reporter Jerry Cornfield went with a story on August 14 titled "Unions Use Tricky Tactics Against Berkey in Top-Two Primary"—that tracked what has turned out to be one of the sketchiest tales of this election season. Yesterday, Erik Smith at the Washington Wire published the most comprehensive account of the messy story to date.
Let's start at the beginning. The initial story back in August was this: Lisa MacLean's Democratic political consulting firm, Moxie Media, was doing an independent expenditure for a group called Cut Taxes PAC and a group called Conservative PAC to support a Republican candidate, Rod Rieger.
Why was a Democratic firm supporting a conservative? Simple. Moxie had also done independent expenditures—paid for by lefty groups through a political committee called Stand Up for Citizens—to support a progressive candidate, Nick Harper, in the same race. The goal was to knock out moderate incumbent state Sen. Jean Berkey (D-38, Everett).
The independent expenditure for Rieger was the other half of a clever political squeeze play. It worked. Berkey lost the August 17 primary—Harper and Rieger went through to the general. The 38th is Democratic turf. With Berkey out of the way, Harper is set up to win the general.
However, as we also reported at the time, Moxie wasn't saying who paid for the Cut Taxes PAC ads. Evidently, liberal groups didn't want to fess up to participating in the cynical ploy. (During the legislative session, labor had pushed Berkey to vote to raise taxes—which she did—and here were Moxie's Cut Taxes PAC postcards criticizing Berkey for just that.)
Still, we suspected that the same lefty folks behind Stand Up For Citizens who had paid for the pro-Harper ads were funding the pro Rieger ads.
But they told us they knew nothing about it. Here's what we reported in that August 12 article:
The Public Disclosure Commission has not reported the contributors behind Cut Taxes PAC yet, but sources close to the Berkey campaign believe it’s being funded by labor unions—specifically, the Washington State Labor Council’s Don’t Invest in More Excuses PAC, the main funder behind the Harper independent expenditures that Moxie has done.
Labor council spokeswoman Kathy Cummings said she was “not familiar with that one” when asked about Cut Taxes PAC and referred us to Moxie. (Moxie has not returned our call or email.)
It appears that Kathy Cummings was not straight with us. As noted in yesterday's Fizz, Public Disclosure Commission staff, prompted by a complaint form Sen. Berkey about the murky funding, did an investigation (a must read for political nerds). Their report says DIME PAC was in fact one of three funders behind MacLean's scheme. (The PDC will review the staff report on Thursday to agree on a final finding with the parties.) The investigation says Cummings herself gave direct authorization on August 4.
"Lisa, move $2500 out of the ... fund from DIME [PAC] and then see who will put the rest in for this effort in the 38th. I understand this is important," Cummings emailed MacLean in response to MacLean's request for money to do the Cut Taxes PAC ad.
The PDC staff investigation also identifies the other funders: The Washington State Association of Justice (the trial lawyers political committee) and the Washington Federation of State Employees—the same groups behind the pro-Harper expenditures from Stand Up for Citizens.
In one of our several follow up stories during August, MacLean told us there were no secret funders. We wrote:
Asked who funded the independent expenditure for Cut Taxes PAC, Moxie Media owner Lisa MacLean says that she “authorized and paid for the it. Nobody has sponsored this ad but Moxie. And that’s how it’s accounted for at the PDC. This complaint is baseless. There are no funders to hide because there are no other funders.”
And in the same story, another spokesperson from the Washington State Labor Council (the labor group behind DIME PAC) told us they were not involved in the expenditure.
Washington State Labor Council Political Director Benjamin Lawver says, “WSLC did not approve any expenditure to Cut Taxes PAC or Conservative PAC [the other committee named in Berkey's complaint. Their name appears on the mailer].”
We have messages out to MacLean and the WSLC.
2. In a long post over at his blog Unfined & Unfiltered, local wine writer Paul Gregutt comes out against the liquor privatization initiatives, 1-1100 & I-1105.
The main reasoning (and mostly focusing on the "lawless" I-1100—that's the Costco-backed measure that gets rid of volume discounts and smashes the wall between distributors and retailers): Monopolies over shelving space will push aside small wineries.
3. Voters in the 31st Legislative District (Auburn, Enumclaw, Sumner) who are freaked out by their choices for state senator—controversial Republican Sen. Pam Roach (who was booted from the GOP caucus last session and barred from the caucus room because of her hot temper) vs. Republican Sumner City Council Member Matt Richardson (recently charged with reckless driving and also caught using the city email system to send suggestive emails to a campaign volunteer)—have another choice.
Brian L. Gunn, a proponent of the high-earners' income tax and public financing of elections, paid the $421 fee yesterday to be an official write-in candidate. Meanwhile, the PI is pushing another write-in candidate, the Democrat who lost in the primary, police vet Raymond Bunk.
4. PubliCola has published the most comprehensive endorsements in the state—over 60 picks for Nov. 2, including the 32 No Brainers we published during the first week of October.
