This Washington
State Senate Leaders Disagree on Seating Dem Senator Elect Harper
Earlier this week, state senate minority leader Sen. Mike Hewitt (R-16) sent a letter to state senate majority leader Sen. Lisa Brown (D-3) asking her not to seat Harper, the progressive Democrat who won the November election, until the courts make a decision on the whole Nick Harper mess
. Well, today, Brown responded, writing on her blog that Harper should be seated.
The mess in question: Incumbent Democratic state Sen. Jean Berkey (D-38, Everett), whom Harper beat after an ethically dubious campaign ploy by an anti-Berkey independent expenditure set up by Democratic consultant Moxie Media, wants to overturn November's result. Republican State Attorney General Rob McKenna is reviewing the matter after the Public Disclosure Commission found the independent expenditure scheme alarming enough to send his way.
Hewitt wrote:
Brown agrees with Hewitt that the courts should take up the matter (Brown, by the way, was furious at Moxie Media for going after Berkey with duplicitous ads), but in her blog post on the senate Democrats' web site, she reaches a different conclusion:
And Brown's post goes on to address the larger problem—campaign finance. She says senate Democrats are working on legislation that will address a problem that dogged this year's election: The lack of campaign finance disclosure requirements. The legislation will include stiffer penalties and ramped-up deadlines for reporting. (In addition to the Moxie scandal, in which Moxie hid contributors with overlapping layers of political committees, fake political committees, and with its own checkbook, spending the money itself with pledges of later payment from unnamed donors, election 2010 also got hit by the fallout from the Citizens United ruling. In that case, 501(c)4 political organizations, which don't have to disclose their contributors on the federal level, spent money in Washington State—where disclosure is required—and didn't disclose.
In the upcoming session, the Democrats are slated to have a 27-22 advantage.
The mess in question: Incumbent Democratic state Sen. Jean Berkey (D-38, Everett), whom Harper beat after an ethically dubious campaign ploy by an anti-Berkey independent expenditure set up by Democratic consultant Moxie Media, wants to overturn November's result. Republican State Attorney General Rob McKenna is reviewing the matter after the Public Disclosure Commission found the independent expenditure scheme alarming enough to send his way.
Hewitt wrote:
I believe that legitimate legal issues and questions of fundamental fairness have been raised by the specific events relating to the primary election (and, by extension, the general election) for senator in the 38th District. I cannot say how the results might have been different but for the improper actions of Moxie Media, but it is not hard to see how their activities had a profound impact on this Senate race and public perception of the election process in general.
The PDC has already deemed the matter sufficiently troubling that they have referred it to the Attorney General for prosecution, and I am confident that our court system will sort out the various arguments and come to a reasonable solution. Unfortunately, I am less certain that this will happen quickly or at least in time for us to have a resolution by opening day of the 2011 legislative session on January 10.
With this in mind, I believe that the Senate should act to preserve the status quo and give the courts time to act without sanctioning any improper electioneering.
Brown agrees with Hewitt that the courts should take up the matter (Brown, by the way, was furious at Moxie Media for going after Berkey with duplicitous ads), but in her blog post on the senate Democrats' web site, she reaches a different conclusion:
Some – including the Senate minority leader – have suggested that the voters in one particular district were duped. They have suggested that voters in the 38th legislative district didn’t know who they were really voting for when they made Nick Harper their first choice in the primary and gave him 60 percent of the vote in the general election.
They have even suggested that, because of the actions of a PAC that didn’t obey state campaign finance disclosure laws, the Senate should move not to seat Nick Harper as state senator – even though Nick Harper knew nothing of this PAC’s activities.
These suggestions are wrong, and I don’t support them. This wouldn’t be fair to Harper – who was given a clear mandate by the voters – and wouldn’t be fair to the voters of the 38th district, who would be denied representation in the Senate for some unspecified period of time.
It’s not the job of legislators to determine the legality of an election. Nor is it the job of legislators to decide what the remedy should be for an election that did violate the law. That’s the job of the courts.
The courts are currently in the process of addressing this issue, and legislators should defer to this process.
And Brown's post goes on to address the larger problem—campaign finance. She says senate Democrats are working on legislation that will address a problem that dogged this year's election: The lack of campaign finance disclosure requirements. The legislation will include stiffer penalties and ramped-up deadlines for reporting. (In addition to the Moxie scandal, in which Moxie hid contributors with overlapping layers of political committees, fake political committees, and with its own checkbook, spending the money itself with pledges of later payment from unnamed donors, election 2010 also got hit by the fallout from the Citizens United ruling. In that case, 501(c)4 political organizations, which don't have to disclose their contributors on the federal level, spent money in Washington State—where disclosure is required—and didn't disclose.
In the upcoming session, the Democrats are slated to have a 27-22 advantage.
