Article by Erik Smith. Published on Monday, December 12, 2011 EST.

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Holds Fund-Raiser in Olympia Saturday – Calls Attention to Rule That Prevents Republican From Doing Same

Jay Inslee speaks Saturday at a fund-raiser practically in the shadow of the Capitol Dome, at Olympia’s Mercato Ristorante.

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Dec. 12.—Down by Olympia’s farmer’s market Saturday afternoon, Jay Inslee was talking to a standing-room-only crowd of Thurston County Democrats – albeit in a restaurant meeting room so small you might have wondered if there was enough oxygen for everyone.

            He told the throng of 100 or so about the new green-technology economy that he’ll bring to reality, about K-12 excellence, and his vow to cut corporate tax loopholes. “We are a candidate who can compete for every single vote outside of the shadow of the Space Needle,” he said.

            But really, those weren’t the most important remarks of the day. Those came later. The important part came when Jay Manning, a former Department of Ecology director and chief of staff for Gov. Christine Gregoire, did “the ask.” Manning explained that Inslee was the candidate of “optimism, hope, opportunity,” and that Republicans are the party of “fear, greed and power.”

            Said Manning, “I know all of you are already giving, and what I am going to do is to ask you to give again.”

            Many had already paid at the door, of course. Tickets ran anywhere from $100 to $1,000 for the two-hour event.

            You couldn’t have asked for a better illustration of one of the biggest beefs in Olympia these days. A loophole in a 20-year-old campaign finance law allows Democrat Inslee to raise money for his campaign while the Legislature is in session, while his Republican opponent, Rob McKenna, cannot. Until last month the two campaigns were running about even in fund-raising, with roughly $2.5 million apiece, and a slight advantage to McKenna. But the Republican campaign scrambled last month to beat the deadline, and announced Saturday that it had raised a whopping $1.1 million in the 27 days before the session started, bringing its total to $3.7 million. Inslee raised a half-million for the month of November, bringing his total to $2.98 million.  

But ultimately the session-freeze advantage is certain to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to Inslee, if not millions.

Everyone has known about the disparity since the beginning of the gubernatorial campaign, of course – but for Inslee to hold a fund-raiser less than a mile from the Capitol, during the middle of a legislative session, shows Inslee has no shame, says state Rep. Bill Hinkle.

            Rubbing Their Noses in It

            “It is unbelievable,” says the Cle Elum Republican. “They’re calling me a hypocrite? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.” 

            Hinkle has sponsored a bill this session that he says would level the playing field, by extending the “session freeze” to federal officeholders – people like Jay Inslee, for instance, a congressman from Bainbridge Island. Right now, sitting legislators and state elected officials are prohibited from raising money while the Legislature is in session, the result of a campaign-finance reform initiative passed by voters in 1992. The measure was written by Republicans in 1991 to tamp down on fund-raising practices common at the time that tended to favor the other team.

Among them was the remarkable spate of fund-raisers held primarily by Democrats during legislative sessions, at which they collected big checks from special interest groups while their bills awaited votes. So Initiative 134 nixed fund-raising during sessions by incumbent state officeholders and by legislative party caucuses.

            The thing is, the measure didn’t say a thing about incumbent federal officeholders who run for state positions, a rare enough occurrence that apparently it didn’t cross the minds of the Republicans. And that is precisely what happened this year.

            So while Attorney General McKenna is prohibited from raising money while the Legislature meets in Olympia, Inslee is free to raise as much money as he can. It’s perfectly legal. But it stinks, Hinkle says.

            Taking Advantage of Advantage

Hinkle says his measure, House Bill 2136, really shouldn’t be seen as partisan business. By the time any such legislation is likely to pass, if it gets that far, the legislative session is likely to be near adjournment. In other words, it won’t make a difference to Inslee. “They should know that unless they are not smart enough to know that,” he said. “So what we are getting at is something that will probably affect Republicans running from Congress [for a statewide position] before it will affect another Democrat.”

            It should be noted that the measure contains an “emergency clause” – meaning that it takes effect immediately if it gets to the governor’s desk before the end of the session and the governor signs it. So conceivably Hinkle’s bill could affect Inslee. But the chance of that provision surviving in a Democrat-controlled Legislature is dim indeed.

Meantime, it appears that Inslee is taking full advantage of his advantage. Since the session started in Olympia, Inslee has held five fund-raisers.

            That advantage will hold until the end of the Legislature’s regular session, scheduled to end in March, but just as likely later.

            “Jay is following the law,” says Inslee campaign spokeswoman Jaime Smith.

            True enough.

            No Apologies

The Inslee campaign put out a broadside the first week of session calling the Hinkle bill “a hyprocritical move,” because McKenna raised money for his first attorney general run during the 2004 session. At that point the rules didn’t apply to him – he was a King County councilman, arguably a rather different level than a state officeholder. The Inslee broadside makes another curious argument. It says, “Such a bill is a slap in the face to Washingtonians who are looking to their leaders to work together to solve the state’s dire fiscal and economic problems. Instead of focusing on helping the middle class, McKenna is clearly counting on his Republican friends to focus on political maneuvers and partisan ploys.”

Lest anyone think it is a slap in the face to Washingtonians any time a candidate does anything other than solve the state’s dire fiscal and economic problems – raising money, for example – the Inslee campaign now offers a somewhat meatier charge. Smith says the McKenna campaign seems to be skirting the intent of the freeze law.
            Last week the McKenna campaign held a campaign event, its annual Christmas party for grass-roots campaign supporters, and it sold tickets in advance. Because tickets were sold before the current special session started, there was no question about its propriety, at least from a legal perspective.

            Says Smith, “If they are arguing that this about the spirit and intent of the law, well, from the public’s point of view, how does it look to be a candidate who is supposedly subject to a fund-raising freeze still hosting fund-raising events after that freeze goes into effect?”

            There’s another way of looking at it, though. The Inslee camp is arguing that its advantage should have been even greater.

            The Best Defense

            If the best defense is a good offense, the Inslee campaign is being pretty offensive, all right, says McKenna campaign manager Randy Pepple. The Inslee campaign is trying to deflect attention from the fact that it is playing its advantage for all that it is worth, he says.

            “Rob McKenna is following Washington-state rules. Congressman Inslee is following Washington, D.C. rules. The congressman is just trying to change the story, perhaps because he is embarrassed that he is not following the will of the voters of Washington state.”

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