A loophole to drive through

By Paul Query

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — An ice-cream truck has been tooling around the 21st legislative district this election season, passing out treats and campaign brochures for Republican Rep. Joe Marine. But Marine didn’t send out the truck, and his campaign didn’t pay for it.

The truck came from the Building Industry Association of Washington, one of the most politically active business groups in the state.

Welcome to the world of independent campaign expenditures — a loophole in state law that lets interest groups spend big money outside of the limit on direct donations to candidates. Another part of the law lets political parties pour in additional thousands.

The association couldn’t have contributed the truck directly to Marine’s campaign because it cost nearly $10,000, several times the $1,200 contribution limit for this year.

"We were brainstorming and we came up with ‘Free ice cream, support Joe Marine,’ " said Elliot Swaney, the association’s political director. "This seemed to be a very positive, a very grass-rootsy, fun, small-town political endeavor."

Business groups, labor unions, environmental groups, corporations and individuals can spend as much as they like supporting or opposing candidates or ballot initiatives. The freedom stems from court decisions protecting such activities as part of the First Amendment guarantee to free speech.

And with control of the Legislature on the line, money is pouring into two Snohomish County races that could break the 49-49 tie in the state House. Marine is trying to hold the 21st District seat he was appointed to late last year against Democrat Brian Sullivan, a former Mukilteo mayor. The district includes the southwest part of the county. Both Marine and Sullivan are from Mukilteo.

In Everett and Marysville, the neighboring 38th District, appointed Democrat Jean Berkey is defending her seat against Republican Erv Hoglund. Both are Everett residents.

The four candidates have raised $750,000 themselves, with Marine leading the way. The Republican incumbent is at the $300,000 mark as of Wednesday.

The campaigns have received an additional infusion of hundreds of thousands of dollars through independent and issue spending.

Independent spenders can do most of the things a campaign does — direct mail, television advertising, billboards, even ice-cream trucks — just so long as they don’t coordinate their efforts with the candidates.

"Independent expenditures is the last legal big loophole," said Chuck Sauvage, state director of Common Cause, a citizen watchdog group that advocates campaign finance reform.

The largely unregulated spending is rising in Washington as political players chafe at the campaign contribution limit of $600 per election for legislative races, said Doug Ellis, a spokesman for the Public Disclosure Commission, Washington’s campaign watchdog agency.

While Marine enjoys the support of business groups such as the Building Industry Association of Washington, his opponent is drawing independent help from organized labor.

Both Marine and Sullivan say they don’t confer with their benefactors about the spending.

"We have no idea what they’re up to, what the state party’s up to or anybody else," Sullivan said.

Independent expenditures are also hard to track because they’re exempt from a requirement to immediately report big donations made in the last few weeks of the campaign. About two-thirds of the independent expenditures made in the 2000 election weren’t disclosed until after the election, Ellis said.

A 24-hour reporting requirement passed by the Legislature kicks in next year, but it didn’t pass early enough to take effect for this election.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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