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In the Hall

The Race for the 46th Is Just Getting Started

by Erica C. Barnett

Of all the irksome aspects of our state's new "top-two" primary—the intentional confusion sown by Republicans running under made-up party labels like Cut Taxes G.O.P. Party, the parties' internal struggles over "official" nominations that are essentially meaningless insider endorsements—perhaps the most irritating is that we're just getting started. There are still four more months of internecine warfare, interparty mudslinging, and petty, down-the-rabbit-hole Democrat-on-Democrat sniping before the longest general-election campaign in state history finally wraps up in November.

In that last category, we have the race for state legislature from the 46th District, where two candidates, Scott White and Gerry Pollet, have been engaged in an increasingly ugly contest since the campaign began in earnest this May. First there was the battle over the district's "official" nomination, which both candidates initially claimed. (Pollet won that battle.) Then there was the matter of White's attempted withdrawal and later change of heart, which resulted in an unsuccessful lawsuit by Pollet's supporters.

Now there's a new dustup over a donation to White's campaign. In an interview last week, White told The Stranger's editorial board that, upon receiving a $500 donation from M. J. Durkan, a lobbyist for Maury Island strip-mining company Glacier Northwest, he had "turned right around" and written a check for the same amount to an environmental group. The trouble—as revealed by Pollet's seemingly incessant sleuthing—was that there was no record of the donation in state records.

As it turns out, White did make the donation—at least according to Washington Conservation Voters executive director Kurt Fritts, who sent White an e-mail acknowledging as much this week. White says he made the donation near the end of March—a little more than a month after Durkan made his contribution—and Fritts backs this up. "It isn't at all unlikely that there was a lag" between White's donation and when the group processed it, Fritts says.

On the one hand, stuff like this makes Pollet seem like a niggling loony. On the other, waiting a month before making a donation is hardly "turning right around"—something Pollet is sure to seize on as the battle for the 46th drags on into August, then November. And the fact that White took the money in the first place has given Pollet political fodder. "The right thing, of course, would have been to refuse" the money, Pollet says. "Taking it and making a contribution to an environmental group is like allowing a polluter to make a contribution as part of the penalty for polluting."

Pollet lags far behind White in fundraising, with about $34,000 to White's $63,000. However, White will have to answer for certain contributions that could prove controversial in his more-liberal-than-thou district, including $800 from Weyerhaeuser, $700 from Eli Lilly, and $500 from a fireworks lobby group.

barnett@thestranger.com