Politics 36th District Race Sends Money Across State Lines
posted by on September 9 at 15:09 PM
Out-of-state money has become a big factor in the race for state Rep. from Seattle’s 36th District, which encompasses parts of Magnolia, Ballard, and Queen Anne—a somewhat surprising development, given that such races are generally decided by a few thousand votes, and considering state legislators make less than $42,000 a year.
Nonetheless, the race between Reuven Carlyle and John Burbank, two Democrats who are seekingr the seat, has sent tens of thousands of dollars across state lines. Carlyle has taken nearly $43,000 in out-of-state donations, or about 21 percent of his total contributions—much of that from California, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Burbank, meanwhile, brought in about $32,000 from out of state, or about 20 percent of his contributions, much of that from California, Oregon, New York, and Massachusetts.
Burbank, unlike Carlyle, also spent a large amount of money out of state—a fact his opponents will likely point to when rebutting claims that Carlyle is a business-backed outsider, while Burbank is a solid, longtime member of the 36th District community. About $32,000, or 42 percent of his spending so far, went to an Oregon consulting firm called Winning Mark, which Burbank says he chose because “they work primarily on environmental and progressive issues, and I wanted to keep my [campaign] work in the [Pacific Northwest] region.”
Burbank says all this fundraising and spending wouldn’t have been necessary if Carlyle had agreed to a $100,000 spending limit Burbank proposed early in the campaign. But the top-two primary, which requires candidates in single-party-dominated districts like the 36th to start raising and spending money far earlier than in previous years, seems like a likelier culprit. So far, Carlyle has raised around $208,000 (a huge amount for a relatively minor race) to Burbank’s $159,000. The
Wonder how long until a Carlyle supporter shows up here to put the words "Obama" and "Carlyle" in the same post?
The?
Why don't you spell it out for us stupidheads, Erica? What do contributions from out of state and spending money with out of state firms have to do with anything?
@1 - obama. carlyle. Answer: 39 minutes.
@3
stupidhead ivan,
spending out of state means that you aren't supporting the local economy. it may also mean that he wasn't able to find a single union printer in the whole district or state.
duh.
BFD. Means nothing. Happens all the time. EOM.
You know what I would rather see than the usual wonk political blogs always make over the giant political pissing contest of fundraising numbers?
Where all this money goes. Itemized. Every fucking dollar. Darcy Burner raises $10 million. Dave Reichert raises $9 million. We see occasional mentions of how it's spent, but never a complete breakdown of where it all goes. I'd like to know and I'm sure a lot of other readers would like to know.
I want to know what they do with it. All of it. And Burner/Reichert are just one example. You could do this for city council races, legislative races, Gregoire/Rossi, shit, anybody.
There's a political piece worth writing, Stranger scribes. Why should I care if so and so raised more than such and such? What does it matter? You wonks seem so concerned about who's out-fundraising who, but I don't even think YOU know what it means. Where is all this shit-ton of money going? People in the streets are starving. People can't afford to pay their bills. Meanwhile, Obama's raking in $50 million a month. What the fuck is he doing all that money? What is Carlyle doing here with that $208K?
They give most of it to print shops and the Post Office, Gomez. Seriously: just because you have no clue what happens in the world doesn't mean it's all a huge mystery.
That hanging "The" is still there.
The plodding cows who think the whole party belongs to them are going to be so pissy when Burbank loses.
The.
Elenchos @ 10:
The party belongs to the voters, you insufferable prat.
@7 "What is Carlyle doing here with that $208K?"
Damn, I slid past the Washington Public Disclosure Commission but was busted by slog.
Ok, here it is:
$200 to tune up my motorcycle;
$100 to pay bloggers to post "Obama and Carlyle" everywhere;
$30 scalped Bumbershoot day pass;
$207,670 for wine, women and song.
Or something like that.
Sure, ivan. You have nothing to worry about.
In more ways than you can imagine, boyo.
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