Gregoire Breaks the Law to Help Denny Heck

Photo courtesy of the AP.

State PDC regulators are crying foul and again Washington’s 3rd Congressional District is in the national news. It turns out Governor Gregoire isn’t just anointing a candidate to replace the Democrat Brian Baird.  Nope, she is apparently also willing to break state campaign finance law, yet again, in a deliberate attempt to gather all the money she can for the State Democrat establishment’s darling, Denny Heck.

Washington State has a pesky little law that prohibits elected officials from raising money for most candidates while the Legislature is in session. Gregoire played her lawyerly self, speaking through a spokesperson and lambasting the long established rules of the game as “ambiguous.” Funny talk coming from the former Attorney General, who should obviously know better. What’s truly ambiguous is whether Chris Gregoire herself is running for re-election; it was a “campaign spokesperson” who she trotted out to mount a half-hearted response.

Heck is a long time Olympia insider who knows better than to pull something like this. He is either not minding the shop or simply willing to defy the law in his quest to be Congressman. I am not surprised Governor Gregoire also wrangled Washington State Insurance Commish Mike Kreidler to sign the fundraising email—afterall, friends are scarce for the Guv in Olympia these days.

What this all boils down to is our Governor and Insurance Commissioner appear willing to sidestep campaign finance laws. That is sure to encourage more confidence and trust in government. But hey, if you’re on your way up or out, why not bend or break the rules, right?

For those keeping track, Gregoire is a repeat offender when it comes to campaign finance law; just Google “Gregoire+PDC.”

DNC Ad Boosting “Jay Inslee for Governor”?

That’s the speculation over at Red County.  Blogger Tom Forbes connects the dots on the Democratic National Committee buying up Puget Sound region ad time for Rep. Jay Inslee:

In fact, Josh Kraushaar of Politico is reporting that the Democratic National Committee is providing “political cover” for select House Dems, including Inslee, by running radio ads praising them for their support of Obama’s stimulus package.

Continue Reading

Doubts About Effectiveness of NW Stimulus $

The writing for workers in Oregon is on the wall: jobs are becoming scarcer as pink slips increase.  The state is currently experiencing 12.4 percent unemployment.  That’s nearly 3 points higher than the national average.

Continue Reading

Discontent Brews with Murray As Ferry Godmother

While the opinion pages of the Seattle Times continue to shrink in stature and size, one of my favorite reads continues to be the letters to the editor section.

Last week, our state’s senior Senator, Patty Murray, recently attracted attention from readers who cried “pork” over Murray’s role in a last minute deal arranging millions more in pork barrel bucks for our problem-ridden ferry system–after first being snubbed by the Obama Administration.

Continue Reading

Gregoire Charting Careful Social Media Course

In our continuing series on Northwest politicos and technology, we received a reply from Governor Gregoire’s Office today.  The reply and our analysis follows after the jump.

Continue Reading