Bats, balls and lots of bucks in guv’s race

Published 6:13 pm Monday, July 7, 2008

Tonight, the Everett AquaSox are hosting the Yakima Bears.

Before the game, Republican Dino Rossi, a part-owner of the AquaSox, will be pitching to donors in the stadium’s bullpen barbecue area.

His campaign said about 130 people made advance reservations for the $100 a person event that includes tickets to the game. ($200 for a family of up to four people with tickets included). He should pick up at least $13,000 for his ever swelling campaign warchest.

In June, both he and Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire padded their fundraising totals pretty well.

Gregoire raised $752,875 and Rossi took in $721,800, according to the campaigns.

The governor’s sum includes a $200,000 check from the state party June 30.

Back to the ballpark, some of those attending learned of the event after the campaign misused a private AquaSox e-mail list to contact them. Here’s that story.

Once that news came out, the state Democratic Party pulled an audio rabbit out of their hat.

It’s a tape recording from a past Rossi fundraiser in which Tom Hoban, Rossi’s finance chairman in Snohomish County and another part-owner of the team, mentions the potential value the 2,500-seat stadium for the campaign.

Take a listen to the attached MP3 and decide if it is as incriminating as the Dems believe it is.