Attorney General Rob McKenna and former Congressman Jay Inslee.
OLYMPIA, May 11.—The moment this year’s legislative session ended and Attorney General Rob McKenna was allowed to raise money for his gubernatorial campaign, it looks like the Republican came roaring out of the pits. Democrat Jay Inslee still has the lead in the fund-raising race, thanks to the Washington-state “session freeze,” transfers from his congressional account, and yet another big contribution from the state party. But McKenna is catching up fast.
The latest campaign fund-raising reports, filed Thursday with the state Public Disclosure Commission, show that Inslee topped the $5 million mark during the month of April, for a total $5.36 million. McKenna has raised $4.65 million.
But in just 19 days, McKenna managed to raise $643,531 in direct contributions from individuals, while Inslee had the entire month and raised $449,997. That time-frame difference is the result of Washington’s curious session-freeze rule, which bars statewide elected officials and legislators from raising money while the Legislature is in session. Federal officeholders like former Congressman Inslee are not. In actual contributions from individuals from Washington state, McKenna has a million-dollar advantage.
That’s a key point. The purpose of political fund-raising, of course, is to have enough money in the bank to run an effective campaign in October and November. But at this stage of the campaign, with six months to go before the actual election and few beyond political circles paying attention to Washington’s hot gubernatorial contest, the attention goes to fund-raising as a measure of public enthuasiasm. Polls released by non-partisan sources show McKenna has a significant multi-point lead but with enough undecided voters to shift the race either way. And the fund-raising just goes to confirm that Washington state has one of the hottest races going. This state hasn’t put a Republican in the governor’s mansion since 1980.
Political fund-raising reports for the month of April were due at the state Public Disclosure Commission Thursday. Among other striking developments, they show that initiative promoter Tim Eyman’s effort to reimpose a two-thirds voting requirement on the state Legislature for tax increases has been winning big financial support from the state’s business community. The campaign for Initiative 1185 reports two big contributions of $100,000 apiece from Conoco/Phillips and BP Oil. That brings the total raised so far to $247,285.
But that’s just the start. The Association of Washington Business is raising money for an independent effort similar to the one that put the identical Initiative 1053 over the top in 2010. The AWB PAC so far has $187,000, though not all may be earmarked for the initiative. Biggest contributor to the AWB PAC is Tesoro, an oil refiner, with another $100,000, and Equilon, which does business as Shell, has put up $50,000. Other big contributions come from the Washington Association of Realtors and the Port Blakely Tree Companies, among others. “I think there’s a broad recognition in the business community that the only thing saving their bacon is the two-thirds requirement,” Eyman said. His campaign has until July 6 to collect 241,000 signatures to place the measure on the ballot.
‘Most Competitive Governor’s Race in Country’
Inslee’s team is celebrating the fact that the Democrat remains in the lead in the fund-raising race. In a news release issued Thursday, campaign manager Joby Shimomura said, “We’ve got the momentum in this race and we’re not stopping. We’re gearing up for the most competitive governor’s race in the country, and thanks to our growing number of supporters, we’ll be ready.”
But this race certainly is looking a bit more even than those overall numbers would indicate – and in some respects one might even score the advantage for McKenna. His hands were tied for four and a half months by Washington’s session-freeze rule. McKenna managed to raise $268,841 during a three-day gap in March between the Legislature’s regular and special sessions. The prohibition was lifted for good once the Legislature adjourned for the year on April 11, and the fund-raising race resumed in earnest. His nearly $200,000 advantage in April might partly be attributed to pent-up demand, of course.
But there is another important point about Washington fund-raising rules: Individual contributions to gubernatorial candidates are limited to $3,200, and must come from individuals or PACs with a presence in the state of Washington. So the fund-raising totals are frequently taken as a measure of public enthusiasm for a candidate. Although Inslee’s total is significantly higher – enough for an extra round or two of TV ads come fall – about a fourth of his money comes from other sources.
‘Enthusiasm Gap’
The McKenna campaign has been paying close attention to the accounting. Its figures show that Inslee has raised $3.53 million from individual sources in the state of Washington, while McKenna has raised $4.55 million. “It’s just a huge enthusiasm gap,” says McKenna campaign manager Randy Pepple.
Where does the rest of the money come from? Inslee has been getting big infusions of cash from the state Democratic Party, which so far has given the candidate $786,423. That includes another big check on the last day of April, for $75,000. Meanwhile, Inslee also has been transferring money directly from his congressional campaign account, which stood at better than $1 million at the start of the race. A significant portion of the money he had piled up over the years came from Washington state, and was eligible for transfer to the campaign for statewide office. So far the records indicate that $626,000 has been transferred to the state campaign.
McKenna, meanwhile, has transferred $98,221 from his campaign account for the attorney general’s office.
“What I think is a more telling statistic is the direct contributions and particularly the daily averages,” says McKenna campaign spokesman Charles McCray. “We’ve seen an overwhelming wave of support since the middle of last month. Jay Inslee has been at this four months now. In terms of direct contributions, we are still ahead in the race even though we couldn’t fund-raise for months. Of course, they are going to do what they can to try to distract attention away from that fact, and the state Democratic Party is going to help them do that by sending them more money at the end of the month to make it appear as though people are excited about his candidacy. But that is not the case.”
Other Developments
Reagan Dunn, the Republican candidate to replace Rob McKenna as attorney general, has a sliver-thin lead over Democrat Bob Ferguson. Dunn reported total contributions so far of $760,525, while Ferguson had $747,750.
The campaign for Initiative 502, Washington’s marijuana-legalization initiative, has raised $1.38 million so far, but New Approach Washington has spent virtually every penny, most during the signature-gathering phase. That measure, which was submitted to the Legislature, is already assured a place on the ballot. About $100,000 remains in the kitty. There’s nothing new about these numbers, but that’s the point. Nothing has changed. And no viable opposition campaign seems yet to have formed. A no-on-502 campaign has filed paperwork, but it still hasn’t raised a dime.
Preserve Marriage Washington, which is running the Referendum 74 campaign to overturn this year’s gay-marriage legislation, has raised $43,557. It has reported publicly that it is roughly at the halfway point in its signature-gathering drive. Meanwhile, the opposition campaign, Washington United for Marriage, has raised $714,000. Worth noting here is the fact that the terminology is confusing. Gay marriage opponents are pushing the referendum, but they are listed on the PDC website as against R-74, because they advocate a no vote. Meanwhile gay-marriage advocates hope to defeat the effort, but because they want a yes vote, they are listed as favoring the referendum. A second anti-gay-marriage effort, Initiative 1192, appears to be flagging in fund-raising. That campaign reports fund-raising of $6,042.
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