Pedophile postcard angers Democrats

OLYMPIA – Democratic lawmakers were livid Tuesday over a Republican-backed ad campaign blasting them as being soft on sex predators.

The latest salvo in the $75,000 radio, TV, phone and mail campaign by The Speaker’s Roundtable has been a wave of postcards that blanketed five legislative districts over the weekend. Republicans, who are outnumbered by Democrats in the statehouse, say the ads are their way of pushing for tougher sex-offender laws.

“When you want to have a voice as a minority, you’ve got to scream loud,” said House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt. But he denied any direct involvement in the political action committee’s campaign.

Marked “SEX OFFENDER NOTIFICATION,” the cards picture a real child rapist. “This violent predator lives in your community,” the cards say. They also list the names of local Democratic lawmakers and urge people to call and tell them to “protect children and not violent sex offenders.” At least seven Democrats in five legislative districts have been targeted in the mailings.

As it turns out, the 57-year-old man pictured in the photo actually lives in Pierce County’s Gig Harbor, not in Vancouver, Walla Walla or most of the other cities where the postcards were received. But people had no way of knowing that. Several Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday that they’ve fielded calls from scared and angry residents.

“For people to play political games and to terrorize our citizens by sending out phony postcards – the world’s already a scary-enough place,” said Rep. Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver. She called the mailings “reprehensible.”

“I think it’s really a shameful example of people who will do anything,” said Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington.

Democrats called the campaign despicable, disgusting, bomb-throwing, fear-mongering, a cheap shot, a new low, a smear campaign and lies.

“This goes beyond the pale,” said Simpson.

Several of the Democrats blamed DeBolt, R-Chehalis, who helps raise money for The Speaker’s Roundtable. In a letter Tuesday, they demanded an apology.

“Sometimes, I guess, Rep. DeBolt thinks he’s having fun, kind of a junior-high mentality,” said Rep. Bill Grant, D-Walla Walla.

DeBolt – who said he has no plans to apologize – says he has nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the political action committee.

“What they do, they do,” he said.

“They” are Kevin Carns, who works for The Speaker’s Roundtable and is political director of another Republican group, the House Republican Organizing Committee.

Carns, who said the campaign was his work and not House Republicans’, called the Democrats’ complaints “sniveling.”

“It’s asinine,” he said. “What they are doing is a political smoke screen.”

What matters, he said, is that Democrats are ignoring a Republican-backed bill toughening penalties for sex offenders. Among the changes: more protection for vulnerable adults and automatic life in prison for raping a child. Democrats – backed by some victims advocates and the state prosecutors association – are pushing more modest changes that they say will result in more convictions.

The risk of sex offenders in people’s neighborhoods is real, Carns said, even if that risk doesn’t happen to be the guy pictured on the postcard.

“People should be scared,” he said. The group – which blacked out the man’s eyes and name on the postcard – didn’t want to use actual local offenders for fear of being sued, he said. “We thought we were doing the responsible thing,” he said.

Rep. John Serben, R-Spokane, said Tuesday that he sees nothing wrong with the postcards.

“All we’re asking for is a vote on a strong, tough bill,” he said. “The reality is that these people (sex offenders) are evil. They’re pure evil. They’re preying on the most innocent people in society.”

DeBolt said he’s convinced that the campaign will help push Democrats into adopting some of the provisions that Republicans want. Despite the fracas, he predicted that the two sides will continue to work together.

“There’s a saying about Olympia: You can go home angry, but you’ve got to come back the next day and do your work,” he said. “Time, I guess, takes care of things.”