News
Campaign Fizz: Eastside Mud-Slinging Edition
Your one-stop shop for today's Eastside campaign news, gossip, and analysis.
1) As the Seattle Times reported today, the state Republican party is accusing the campaign for Democrat Richard Mitchell, challenging Eastside Republican King County Council member Jane Hague, of voter suppression for a mailer encouraging Republican voters to sit out Hague's election. The mailer, which went out to about 4,000 committed, conservative Republican voters, quoted anti-tax, anti-transit crusader Tim Eyman, who trashed Hague for voting in favor of a $20 car-tab fee to save Metro transit service.
The mailer reads, in part:
"Jane Hague does not represent your conservative values. If you’re angry - like Tim Eyman - about her flip-flop on raising your car tabs, then send Jane Hague a message this election by SKIPPING COUNTY COUNCIL SEAT 6. Skip Jane and vote for other measures and candidates that represent true conservative values.
"... NO TO TAX INCREASES. NO TO JANE HAGUE."
The state Republican Party complained to the state Public Disclosure Commission that the ad didn't make it clear who funded it and made it look as if Eyman was suggesting people sit out the Hague-Mitchell race.
"Voter suppression is telling African Americans that they can't vote before paying their parking tickets and expunging people from voter rolls because they have the same names as felons," Mitchell consultant Jason Bennett, who made the mailer, says.
Bennett was certainly trying to suppress the Hague vote, though. "In no way, shape, or form are we encouraging people not to vote. We're telling voters, you don't have to vote for Jane if you don't share the same values."
Mitchell, ironically, originally trashed Hague for not supporting the license fee, accusing her of being "scared of her own party" on transit funding. Hague ultimately voted for the fee.
2) The Mitchell campaign filed their own complaint today with the PDC alleging that Hague failed to report several contributions to the state disclosure commission, including a $12,000 mailer by the Republican Party in a timely manner. The contribution, the complaint alleges, should have been reported at the latest by October 31; instead, it wasn't reported until November 2.
The mailer refers to a 1988 crime in which then 14-year-old Barry Massey was convicted of aggravated murder in the death of Steilacoom resident Paul Wang, the youngest person in the nation ever to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Mitchell, who came to believe Massey was not guilty, argued for clemency for Massey both in his capacity as general council to Gov. Chris Gregoire and, later, as a private citizen.
The mailer consists of a letter from Wang's wife, Shirley, urging recipients "NOT to vote for Richard Mitchell."
"Richard Mitchell heartlessly twisted the truth and questioned the integrity of our judicial system, and the police and prosecutors who were so kind and caring to my family during a terrible time," the letter says. "He is the agent for a vicious murderer, and seems indifferent to my family's pain and anguish. Now, Richard Mitchell is seeking a position of trust on our King County Council --- in the very district in which I live ---and asking us to vote for him."
"Clearly, given the gross content of the ad and the facts above, the only rational conclusion is that the State Party and Jane Hague deliberately hid this expenditure from the public so that the press, the public and campaigns impacted by it wouldn't be allowed enough time to scrutinize or respond before the election next Tuesday," the complaint says.
1) As the Seattle Times reported today, the state Republican party is accusing the campaign for Democrat Richard Mitchell, challenging Eastside Republican King County Council member Jane Hague, of voter suppression for a mailer encouraging Republican voters to sit out Hague's election. The mailer, which went out to about 4,000 committed, conservative Republican voters, quoted anti-tax, anti-transit crusader Tim Eyman, who trashed Hague for voting in favor of a $20 car-tab fee to save Metro transit service.
The mailer reads, in part:
"Jane Hague does not represent your conservative values. If you’re angry - like Tim Eyman - about her flip-flop on raising your car tabs, then send Jane Hague a message this election by SKIPPING COUNTY COUNCIL SEAT 6. Skip Jane and vote for other measures and candidates that represent true conservative values.
"... NO TO TAX INCREASES. NO TO JANE HAGUE."
The state Republican Party complained to the state Public Disclosure Commission that the ad didn't make it clear who funded it and made it look as if Eyman was suggesting people sit out the Hague-Mitchell race.
"Voter suppression is telling African Americans that they can't vote before paying their parking tickets and expunging people from voter rolls because they have the same names as felons," Mitchell consultant Jason Bennett, who made the mailer, says.
Bennett was certainly trying to suppress the Hague vote, though. "In no way, shape, or form are we encouraging people not to vote. We're telling voters, you don't have to vote for Jane if you don't share the same values."
Mitchell, ironically, originally trashed Hague for not supporting the license fee, accusing her of being "scared of her own party" on transit funding. Hague ultimately voted for the fee.
2) The Mitchell campaign filed their own complaint today with the PDC alleging that Hague failed to report several contributions to the state disclosure commission, including a $12,000 mailer by the Republican Party in a timely manner. The contribution, the complaint alleges, should have been reported at the latest by October 31; instead, it wasn't reported until November 2.
The mailer refers to a 1988 crime in which then 14-year-old Barry Massey was convicted of aggravated murder in the death of Steilacoom resident Paul Wang, the youngest person in the nation ever to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Mitchell, who came to believe Massey was not guilty, argued for clemency for Massey both in his capacity as general council to Gov. Chris Gregoire and, later, as a private citizen.
The mailer consists of a letter from Wang's wife, Shirley, urging recipients "NOT to vote for Richard Mitchell."
"Richard Mitchell heartlessly twisted the truth and questioned the integrity of our judicial system, and the police and prosecutors who were so kind and caring to my family during a terrible time," the letter says. "He is the agent for a vicious murderer, and seems indifferent to my family's pain and anguish. Now, Richard Mitchell is seeking a position of trust on our King County Council --- in the very district in which I live ---and asking us to vote for him."
"Clearly, given the gross content of the ad and the facts above, the only rational conclusion is that the State Party and Jane Hague deliberately hid this expenditure from the public so that the press, the public and campaigns impacted by it wouldn't be allowed enough time to scrutinize or respond before the election next Tuesday," the complaint says.
