When a Sylvester Cann flyer came our way claiming a NARAL endorsement he didn't have, at first I just thought it was a one-off. But when we were sent the Jessyn Farrell flyer above playing the same game of listing NARAL's "100% Pro-Choice" rating in the endorsement box (NARAL Pro-Choice Washington did not endorse a candidate in that 46th LD race), it started to look like a pattern.

And since both campaigns also share the same consultant, Christian Sinderman, I thought I'd better ask him for an explanation.

"It's an innocent mistake," Sinderman told me, while acknowledging that "it's been done in the past." In fact, in followup email, Sinderman says that he's found "a stack of pieces" with NARAL listed under endorsements.

"Checking to see if they were ratings or endorsements," Sinderman emailed, "but the point is that it has NEVER been raised as an issue in the past, even in nasty primaries, and our communication with NARAL seems to indicate that they don’t see this as a particularly newsworthy matter."

Sinderman described the listing as "shorthand" rather than a purposeful intent to mislead.

Maybe. But there is a difference between a rating and endorsement (Farrell's flyer lists the Muni League's "Very Good" rating outside the endorsement box), especially with organizations like NARAL that do both ratings and endorsements. So it wouldn't be a surprise if some voters were misled.