I've just spend some more time perusing records at the
Public Disclosure Commission. I've previously reported on the direct funding to the candidates, and since all the October reports aren't posted yet I'll hold off on the details, except to summarize by pointing out that Sax gets donations in larger amounts from business, contractors, and apparent Republican supporters. Somers gets smaller donations from people in the District, with a scattering of small donations from Democratic and progressive supporters.
The real key here is where the money is coming from to fund all of those mailings that we have been getting. I've previously discussed that briefly, but I've discovered more details and will post them here (bear in mind that all the October 12 reports aren't posted yet, so things are a little behind):
There are three money streams supporting the brochures:
Quality Communities PACThe first brochures that were send out, right after the primary, were ordered and paid for before the primary. They were sent out by the Quality Communities PAC (Political Action Committee) which spent almost $40,000 on the mailings between Sept. 11 and October 11, leaving them with a negative bank balance of $3,000 on October 11.
They got their money ($94,000 total cash plus $80,000 in kind contribution as of October 13) from and outfit called the Coalition for Quality Communities PAC, which had $13,740 in the bank as of October 11. and has raised around $113,000 since they were formed in February of 2005.
Where did they get this money? Mostly in donations from developers, contractors, and other people in the development industry. Most of their donations are in $1000 and $2500 amounts. It appears to me that they have a sliding scale for contributions based on the size of the company making the contribution. A couple of very large developers (Barclays West and their front companies) have been the major funders. The bottom line is that corporate money, which is apparently legal in Washington, is funding this stuff.
These guys are local (Snohomish mailing Address, banking in Lake Stevens).
Realtors PACThe Realtor's PAC, on the other hand, is headquartered in Olympia and has lots of assets. As of 9/12 they had $628,000 in the bank and on 9/30 they collected $1000 in interest on those funds. You can guess where they got their money from. Interestingly, they tend to behave as a real PAC and give their money directly to candidates. As of October 11, they have not reported a donation to the "Realtor's Quality of Life PAC" which is the sponsor of one of the propaganda streams.
The "Realtors QoL PAC" claims that it gets its money from the Realtors PAC, but apparently has not filed any reports since March 15 of 2005 when they reported a $52 refund from the IRS, and when they reported no assets on hand.
Furthermore, they have not filed any declaration of support for a candidate since the 2004 election.
It appears to me, unless they have actually filed reports recently, that they don't have their act together and are not complying with State Law.
Friends of Jeff Sax (GOP)This is the latest mailing, obviously put together in the last few days because it refers to some current events.
It's probably mailed by the Republican Party since it was mailed in Everett and has a number mailing permit. That can be verified. However, it has a Snohomish POB as the return address. No report has been filed at the PDC yet for the "Friends of Jeff Sax".
What this all meansThe bottom line is that the Sax campaign has a deep well of funding available to it. Technically these supporters are not supposed to coordinate with the campaign, and it may well be that they have left no paper trail, but it's pretty obvious that there is more than just coincidence here.
Dave Somers needs more money, or some support from 527's or PACs who have the big bucks. It's a bit late for that right now, so your donations need to go to the campaign. You can donate at the
Dave Somers web site.
