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. 