The race to replace Norm Maleng as KC prosecutor is looking to be a tight contest between Democratic KC prosecutor Bill Sherman (a smart liberal dude who ran for Rep. Ed Murray’s open seat last year losing to Jamie Pedersen) and Republican Maleng’s longtime chief of staff Dan Satterberg.

(Also running on the D side is Keith Scully—legal staff for an enviro group that the Stranger respects and looks to for insight on local urban planning issues, Futurewise.)

Maleng, who died suddenly last month, was of course widely seen as a moderate R in the Dan Evans model. Satterberg is spinning himself in the same vein: a non-ideological, moderate R.

However, a check on both Maleng’s political contributing habits and Satterberg’s show that Maleng may have been a bit more in earnest about his moderate values.

While both men contributed to Stephen Johnson, the hand-picked and bankrolled by the BIAW, conservative ideologue in last year’s harshly partisan Washington Supreme Court race, and have also kicked in to partisan heads like Dino Rossi, Luke Esser, and Rob McKenna … Maleng clearly took his moderate-to-bi-partisan giving more seriously.

Maleng consistently donated to the Mainstream Republicans of Washington (zero from Satterberg); Maleng donated to Seattle City Council liberal Jean Godden; liberal iconoclast Bob Ferguson; Port of Seattle, liberal reformer reformer Lloyd Hara; and Maleng even kicked in to liberal ideologue Larry Gosset. Larry Gossett!

Nada from Satterberg to any of those folks.

Footnote: Maleng left behind quite a campaign war chest of his own. The question is: What’s going to become of that war chest. There’s talk that it may go to the state GOP—and then get funneled back to Satterberg. Given Maleng’s history of donating, I think it oughta go to the Mainstream Republicans of Washington, something I’m not sure Satterberg is.