With Democrats and Republicans swapping claims that each side is resorting to dirty tricks as the days tick down to Nov. 4, allegations are flying through some of the most hotly contested Senate districts.
Here’s a roundup of some of the major developments on Thursday:
28th District – Republican Sen. Steve O’Ban vs. Democrat Tami Green
The News Tribune of Tacoma reported today that Green’s husband, Don, was behind mailers that went out to voters in the Pierce County-centered district, and quotes from a News Tribune editorial on “laughably misleading claims” contained in a Good Government Leadership Council fliers attacking Green. The Good Government Leadership Council has received funding from the conservative Leadership Council, a business-backed group supporting Republican Senate candidates.
The Senate Republican Campaign Committee quickly issued a statement alleging the Green mailer violated state election laws requiring disclosure of which group or person paid for it. That has to be on the mailer, but wasn’t included in the Green mailer. Green fired back in an email to the News Tribune.
“Steve O’Ban’s party has used sleazy tactics by placing my head on other people’s bodies and portraying me as a witch,” she wrote in an email to the News Tribune. “It is difficult for my family members to watch negative attacks on their loved ones that only have a kernel of truth or are simply untrue. My husband reproduced the News Tribune Opinion article and sent it out to voters in an attempt to set the record straight.”
The full story from reporter Melissa Santos is here.
UPDATE 9:30 p.m.: The News Tribune editorial board has weighed in on the brouhaha, calling Green’s mailer “one of the most dishonest mailers we’ve ever seen.” The editorial board took particular issue with Don Green excising a portion of their editorial that condoned O’Ban’s advertisements, but retained the portion criticizing the Good Government Leadership Council mailers.
They also were miffed the Green mailer failed to mention that the editorial board endorsed O’Ban. The editorial is here. Any guess as to how long it will take for quotes from this editorial to appear in campaign materials hitting Green over the weekend? Are the printers already rolling?
45th District – Republican Sen. Andy Hill vs. Democrat Matt Isenhower
In Seattle’s Eastside suburbs and in one of the most closely watched Senate races in Washington, an ad targeting Hill, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, was taken off the air due to “misleading and defamatory” claims, the SRCC said in a news release Thursday.
The ad was from the Eastside Integrity PAC, and Republicans are contending the source of its funding has been Tom Steyer, the billionaire Californian and environmental activist who’s contributed millions of dollars to Democratic candidates at the national level. Eastside Integrity PAC lists donors that include groups who’ve taken Steyer’s money this election cycle, including the Washington Conservation Voters and the Kennedy Fund.
“Billionaire Tom Steyer is spending millions of dollars to defame and falsely attack our candidates this year in an attempt to win control of the state Senate,” SRCC Executive Director Brent Ludeman said in the news release.
Thursday’s development followed earlier complaints from each camp this week, including one from Democrats that Hill didn’t report SRCC polling work he benefited from to the PDC, Publicola reported Tuesday. They’ve filed complaints with the PDC. Publicola has more here.
35th District – Democratic Sen. Tim Sheldon vs. Democrat Irene Bowling
Mailers from a national Democratic group, American Values First, brought howls of protest from Republicans earlier this week. The mailers took bipartisan votes Sheldon made on the 2013 state budget and funding for financial aid for the children of undocumented immigrants, and used them to portray him as someone who supports federal health care reform, funding for Planned Parenthood and pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Republicans alleged it was an attempt to suppress turnout of conservative voters, a key voting bloc for Sheldon, who two years ago joined Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, and 24 Republican Senators to form the Majority Coalition Caucus. That could swing the election to Bowling, although Democrats have responded by saying Sheldon should be upfront with voters on his positions on those issues.
The SRCC and American Values First have argued back and forth, mostly through news media coverage, on the legality of the mailers, and whether American Values First has to identify its donors and registered as a political committee in Washington state. The group contends it doesn’t because its so-called “primary purpose” is for social welfare, not political influence.
Whether the PDC buys that line of logic remains to be seen. A complaint with the PDC has been filed, and Washington Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman Alison Dempsey-Hall was checking to see if companion complaints had been filed with her office.
UPDATE 9:30 p.m.: Dempsey-Hall said a complaint letter was indeed sent to the Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday, and it is now under review. No further comment beyond that.
Our coverage of the spat can be found here.
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