Donors disavow GOP flier about meth lab discovery

The Associated Press

SEATTLE — Some of those who paid for a flier that assailed a King County Council candidate over the discovery of a methamphetamine lab on property she owned but rented out have disavowed the mailing.

The flier, produced by the newly formed King County Taxpayers Association, began: "Why is Julia Patterson so soft on illegal drugs and drug pushers? Does it have anything to do with the fact that they found a meth lab on her property?"

Issaquah developer Skip Rowley, whose name appears on the mailing and who pledged $5,000 to the association, denounced the accusation Thursday as "crap."

Rowley said he was told his contribution would be used to help Patterson’s rival, state Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, and was shocked when he saw the mailing Wednesday.

"I think they accuse Julia Patterson of running a meth lab, and that’s (nonsense)," he said. "I do not like negative campaigning."

Leaders of the Washington Trucking Association, which kicked in $2,000, also denounced it, as did Tom Bernard, a developer who contributed $500.

"It’s shadowy," Bernard said. "It seems to imply that (Patterson) is a drug supporter. I wouldn’t guess that she’s a drug supporter at all."

Tom McCabe, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, which gave $25,000, said he had not seen the mailing and could not comment.

Patterson, a Democratic state representative from SeaTac, said the flier exploited the crime and made her feel like a victim all over again. She said she first learned of the lab when police found it by accident, and she promptly had it cleaned it up.

Roach called The News Tribune of Tacoma to spread word of the mailing. She said she and her campaign had no role in drafting or distributing it but asserted that the meth lab discovery "kind of destroys her credibility."

"She’s been saying in all her mailings she knows her district, and she didn’t even know she had a meth lab on her own property," Roach said.

Roach’s staff faxed reporters a sheriff’s incident report that listed items found under a truck canopy on Patterson’s property, including two chemistry books, chemicals and other meth lab items.

The detectives wrote that they were trying to track down an informant in a burglary case when they stumbled onto an abandoned trailer and a "strong odor of ether."

The mailer said it "typically costs thousands of dollars" to clean up a meth lab. "The King County Taxpayers Association wants to know if Julia Patterson is going to pay the costs of cleaning up her land or is she going to leave it to the taxpayers to foot the bill?"

Spokesman James Apa at Seattle-King County Public Health said inspectors found nothing to warrant a cleanup order. They deemed the property "habitable," recommended further steps Patterson might take and closed the case, he said.