Democrat Jay Inslee learned today he may not be able to shift all of the unspent money from his congressional campaign into his 2012 race for governor.
State Public Disclosure Commission officials told him the leftover money cannot be considered surplus for the state race — reversing what they told him a few weeks back.
“We believe the answer we gave him before is wrong,” said PDC spokeswoman Lori Anderson.
She said the commission’s counsel recently found a 1998 memo dealing with the same questions. The commission is following the same guidelines in order to be consistent, she said.
Basically, Inslee won’t be prohibited from shifting a chunk of the funds but it’s going to require a bit of paperwork and math on his part.
First, he’s got to figure out whose funds make up the surplus. Those donors must then give permission for their donation to be put into the governor’s race.
In some cases, Inslee won’t be able to move over all of a person’s donation. That’s because you can donate up to $4,200 in a federal race but only $3,200 in a state race.
So if you’re an Inslee donor who maxed out last year, you might be done giving to him for governor.
Stay tuned for reaction from Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna.
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