Morning Fizz
Nearly 20 Independent Expenditures Supporting GOP Candidates
1. The now-infamous Koch Industries
, which the New Yorker exposed as the sugar daddy for the Tea Party front group, Americans for Prosperity, showed up as a contributor in Washington state on Monday—doing independent expenditures for GOP state legislative candidates
.
In this instance, Koch is disclosing its spending. (Washington state campaign finance law does not allow funders to shield their identity like the Federal Election Commission allows on the national level—witness the nearly $3 million in undisclosed spending against Patty Murray .)
Koch Industries made nearly 20 independent expenditures supporting GOP candidates like state house GOP minority leader Richard DeBolt and Moses Lake GOP state Sen. Jenea Holmquist . Oddly, though, each expenditure was for the amount of $32.16.
Also odd: A couple of Democratic candidates got the $32.16 from Koch as well—including incumbent Democrat Rep. Brian Blake and green D candidate Jake Fey.
All of Koch's money isn't kosher, though. As we reported last week , a complaint has been filed against Americans for Prosperity Washington, AFP's local chapter, for doing an independent spend against Democratic state Sen. Eric Oemig (D-45) while not disclosing where they got their money.
2. Meanwhile, a Democratic political committee called Strong Economy PAC, which is funded solely by $135,000 from a political committee called the Roosevelt Fund (including a $75,000 contribution last week ), spent over $50,000 on independent expenditures supporting Democratic state legislative candidates yesterday.
The Roosevelt Fund gets its money mostly from the state Democratic Party and Democratic interest groups like Native American tribes.
They spent $2500 each on Democrats such as state Reps. Hans Dunshee, Roger Goodman, Tami Green, Ross Hunter and Democratic state senators Rodney Tom, Randy Gordon, Eric Oemig, and Claudia Kauffman.
Their biggest spend—$12,589—was in support of state supreme court candidate Charlie Wiggins, who's running against Libertarian incumbent Richard Sanders.
3. Following up on yesterday's Fizz, re: city council members' positions on this year's ballot measures, we got in touch with three of the city council members we'd heard were leaning against adopting a resolution opposing two state liquor privatization initiatives . (The council has adopted resolutions supporting school funding, supporting energy-efficiency bonds for schools, and opposing a repeal of the temporary taxes on soda, candy, and bottled water.)
Council member Jean Godden had raised the idea of passing one opposing the liquor privatization initiatives. But it didn't have full council support.
Council member Tim Burgess told Fizz he initially "was conflicted" about the liquor initiatives, and told Godden's office as much; once he got into the details, though, he decided that "both measures are too sweeping with little attention to the reality of such a new world." Bruce Harrell's office says he opposes the initiatives but didn't want to vote on a resolution unless the vote would be unanimous. Sally Clark's office says she opposes the initiatives but wanted the vote to be unanimous.
The privatization supporter: Sally Bagshaw:
4. Mayor Mike McGinn sent out a letter yesterday urging constituents to contact city council members to ask them to keep his proposed increase to the commercial parking tax in the city budget. McGinn has proposed increasing the commercial parking tax five percent to pay for projects that promote walking, biking, and transit.
The letter reads, in part:
5. Just hours after the announcement that Transportation Choices policy director Bill LaBorde is leaving to work for city council member Tom Rasmussen, TCC announced the search for his replacement. Check out the job description and qualifications here.
In this instance, Koch is disclosing its spending. (Washington state campaign finance law does not allow funders to shield their identity like the Federal Election Commission allows on the national level—witness the nearly $3 million in undisclosed spending against Patty Murray .)
Koch Industries made nearly 20 independent expenditures supporting GOP candidates like state house GOP minority leader Richard DeBolt and Moses Lake GOP state Sen. Jenea Holmquist . Oddly, though, each expenditure was for the amount of $32.16.
Also odd: A couple of Democratic candidates got the $32.16 from Koch as well—including incumbent Democrat Rep. Brian Blake and green D candidate Jake Fey.
All of Koch's money isn't kosher, though. As we reported last week , a complaint has been filed against Americans for Prosperity Washington, AFP's local chapter, for doing an independent spend against Democratic state Sen. Eric Oemig (D-45) while not disclosing where they got their money.
2. Meanwhile, a Democratic political committee called Strong Economy PAC, which is funded solely by $135,000 from a political committee called the Roosevelt Fund (including a $75,000 contribution last week ), spent over $50,000 on independent expenditures supporting Democratic state legislative candidates yesterday.
The Roosevelt Fund gets its money mostly from the state Democratic Party and Democratic interest groups like Native American tribes.
They spent $2500 each on Democrats such as state Reps. Hans Dunshee, Roger Goodman, Tami Green, Ross Hunter and Democratic state senators Rodney Tom, Randy Gordon, Eric Oemig, and Claudia Kauffman.
Their biggest spend—$12,589—was in support of state supreme court candidate Charlie Wiggins, who's running against Libertarian incumbent Richard Sanders.
3. Following up on yesterday's Fizz, re: city council members' positions on this year's ballot measures, we got in touch with three of the city council members we'd heard were leaning against adopting a resolution opposing two state liquor privatization initiatives . (The council has adopted resolutions supporting school funding, supporting energy-efficiency bonds for schools, and opposing a repeal of the temporary taxes on soda, candy, and bottled water.)
Council member Jean Godden had raised the idea of passing one opposing the liquor privatization initiatives. But it didn't have full council support.
Council member Tim Burgess told Fizz he initially "was conflicted" about the liquor initiatives, and told Godden's office as much; once he got into the details, though, he decided that "both measures are too sweeping with little attention to the reality of such a new world." Bruce Harrell's office says he opposes the initiatives but didn't want to vote on a resolution unless the vote would be unanimous. Sally Clark's office says she opposes the initiatives but wanted the vote to be unanimous.
The privatization supporter: Sally Bagshaw:
"I know that the expectation is that the city's revenues will be diminished. But that's short term, and I have a personal opinion that our current regulatory framework is a holdover from prohibition. Deregulation is in the people's best interest. In the long term, the legislature should increase liquor taxes to make up for [the] revenue shortfall."
4. Mayor Mike McGinn sent out a letter yesterday urging constituents to contact city council members to ask them to keep his proposed increase to the commercial parking tax in the city budget. McGinn has proposed increasing the commercial parking tax five percent to pay for projects that promote walking, biking, and transit.
The letter reads, in part:
Currently, the City Council is poised to strip out a core piece of the Department of Transportation’s budget. We need your help.
There are very few sources of revenue that will allow us to cover the budget hole and make investments in Seattle’s neighborhoods. Without an increase in the Commercial Parking Tax (CPT--which is a tax on commercial pay parking lots), we will lose out on support for walking, biking, and transit. Core services will also go unfunded. With an increase in the CPT, pay lot owners can choose to pass the increase on directly to consumers or absorb it within their prices. Given the competitive market for parking, it is more likely it will be absorbed as a cost. If it is passed on and you choose to use private parking, the increase is only fifty cents on a ten dollar fee.
Fifty cents gets us a considerable amount of community benefit.
5. Just hours after the announcement that Transportation Choices policy director Bill LaBorde is leaving to work for city council member Tom Rasmussen, TCC announced the search for his replacement. Check out the job description and qualifications here.
