Republican 1st CD congressional wannabe John Koster has hired Valerie Huntsberry, an operative with a long history of dirty politics, to head the King County portion of his campaign. A sign of things to come?

Back in 2004, Huntsberry was one of the operatives behind a shadowy $1.5 million smear campaign that arguably helped cost Deborah Senn the attorney general's race, launching Rob McKenna on his current path toward the governor's mansion. Huntsberry and her "Voter Education Committee" repeatedly refused to comply with Public Disclosure Commission demands that they disclose their contributors, leading the PDC to find her in violation of state disclosure laws for:

· failing to register and report as a political committee;
· failing to file detailed reports of their contributions received and expenditures made;
· concealing the amount and identity of the source(s) of their contributions and the amount and recipients of their expenditures.

The state Supreme Court eventually upheld both the PDC finding and a trial court ruling forcing Huntsberry and her committee to reveal their sole contributor: the US Chamber Commerce.

So, yeah, that's the sort of expertise that Koster is bringing to his campaign.