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Democrat Rodney Tom Names Campaign Manager — and He’s a Republican

Democrat Picks Republican? This Tells Us Plenty, and Not What You Think

Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom, D-Medina.

Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom, D-Medina.

OLYMPIA, Feb. 19.–Here’s a interesting one! Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom, D-Medina, has named his campaign manager for his reelection campaign this fall — and he’s picking the guy who until Friday was spokesman for the state Republican Party. A Democrat picks a Republican? Well, this tells us plenty — and it’s not necessarily what you can expect Democratic partisans to say.

No doubt some of Tom’s fellow Democrats will take this hiring decision as proof that Tom isn’t a Democrat after all. When he decided last year to caucus with the Senate Republicans, together with state Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, Tom turned the Senate upside down and ended Democratic control of the upper chamber. The Ds had been in charge by a bare one-vote margin; now the new team had one-vote control. Tom complained his party was spending more time satisfying special interests than it was on jobs, education and the budget. The state Democratic Party returned the compliment by passing a resolution denouncing Tom, declaring he was no longer a Democrat, and doing its darndest to recruit a candidate to take him out this year. Looks like the Ds have found one, too — former Kirkland Mayor Joan McBride.

So you have to figure much will be made of the fact that Tom has hired a Republican. This presupposes that there could be found any Democrat who would work for him in the first place.  Given all the hard feelings, it is hard to imagine that any Democratic campaign consultant who worked for Tom would ever work again. This is likely to be a tough race for Tom, no matter how well he manages to sell himself back home. If the Ds manage to find someone to run as an R against him — well, this must have occurred to someone, so it’s not as if Washington State Wire is revealing a secret. A Republican facing a field of Democrats, no matter how unknown, can expect at least 25 percent of the vote.

By bringing aboard Keith Schipper, we can tell three things. First, that Tom has hired an experienced campaign operative — Schipper worked the Jan Angel race in the 26th Legislative District last fall. Second, he has hired an energetic one — at least energetic enough to keep up a steady Twitter commentary on state politics, 140 characters at a time. And third, if the GOP was planning to back someone against Tom in the race — Tom just hired someone who ought to know better.

All of which means that if — or when — a Republican candidate files in the 48th District Senate race, something we’ll probably hear about sometime around 4:59 p.m. on May 16, the final day of filing week, it won’t be the GOP’s doing.

Here’s the press release:

Washington State Sen. Rodney Tom Hires Keith Schipper as Campaign Manager

BELLEVUE, Feb. 19 – Today, Washington state Sen. Rodney Tom (D-48) announced the hiring of Keith Schipper as his 2014 re-election campaign manager.

Schipper has most recently worked as communications director for the Washington State Republican Party. Prior to that, he acted as spokesman for the Jan Angel state Senate race in 2013 – the most expensive legislative race in Washington state history.  Keith is a expert in the use of social media, which is growing exponentially since President Obama’s successful use of it in both 2008 and 2012.

“The goal in my search for a campaign manager was to find the best possible talent in Washington that can handle the task of running a tough re-election race. Keith Schipper is exactly that,” Senator Tom said. “Keith is a seasoned veteran of political campaigns, having just worked on the historic 26th District state Senate race last year, and I am excited to bring him on board to manage my bid to continue representing the 48th Legislative District,” he added.

 


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