Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s campaign and an independent PAC supporting his bid for governor outspent Republican Dave Reichert and supporting PACs 10-1 from Sept. 1 through mid-October.
Candidates and committees involved in the November election owed a key filing to the Public Disclosure Commission this week. There’s lots of interesting stuff in these disclosures, but the bottom-line numbers in the governor’s race are particularly telling.
If you’ve been watching TV lately, you’ve likely seen a lot of ads hyping Ferguson, the Democratic candidate for governor, and attacking Reichert, the Republican and former congressman. Here’s why: Ferguson’s campaign spent more than $3 million over the last six weeks, compared to less than $1 million for the former King County Sheriff. Overall, Ferguson has raised more than $12 million, compared to $6 million for Reichert.
The last time the governor’s office was genuinely up for grabs, then-Attorney General Rob McKenna tapped Republican-leaning donors for $13.7 million and actually beat then-Congressman Jay Inslee in the money race before losing the actual race. Independent spending in that race was basically even. The closed GOP wallets in this race speak volumes about the party’s diminished brand and slim chances in 2024.
This year, Evergreen Values, a PAC supporting Ferguson that has been running a relentless attack campaign against Reichert on the abortion issue, spent $6 million on the race in just the last six weeks. The overwhelming majority of the money comes from the Democratic Governors Association, a dark-money super-PAC devoted to installing Democrats in sweet suites in statehouses around the country. Evergreen Values also got substantial support from public-sector labor unions and Justice For All, the political arm of the politically powerful plaintiff’s bar.
The two PACs supporting Reichert—mostly by attacking Ferguson—are tiny by comparison. The obscure group, Bob For Bob, and Washington 24 spent a combined $150,000 in the past six weeks. There has thus far been no help from the Republican Governors Association.
This article first appears in the author’s website, The Washington Observer.
One-party rule, one-party government is antithetical to democracy and bad for governance. The Chronicle Editorial Board, link below, believes “that, after four decades (of Democrat governors), voters should support a new direction for Washington and elect Reichert as governor.” — and that in my view is the only way to stem the current sclerosis.
http://www.chronline.com/stories/our-views-after-40-years-of-democrat-governors-its-time-for-a-change,363477
Um, majority rules under a small “d” democracy, and provided you aren’t being unfairly gerrymandered out of a local representative (you know, like Republicans do pretty much everywhere they are in power?) you’re outta luck, sister.
One can argue that it’s bad for governance and I might even agree, but spare us the drama about it being “antithetical to democracy.”
My guess is that you are probably all on board with the Electoral College (and how it overrepresents smaller states and has a winner-takes-all system) and each state getting two US Senators regardless of how many people they represent, so cry us a river.
The answer to this problem is simple: nominate candidates for state office that could win a popular vote. That obviously means not the Culp/Bird/Kent crowd, but it also excludes Reagan style Republicans (and it isn’t just because “R” – look at what Mullet got, a Reagan Republican running as “D”.) It excludes culture warriors. (Watch Reykdal get re-elected despite lackluster results.)
The last elected in Washington? Spellman, I believe. Evans before that. Look them up. That’s what you need.