Inslee ad features Spokane

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee is attempting to make points with Spokane voters with a new television commercial that touts his ties to Eastern Washington, and features several local scenes.

Standing on the Cliff Drive overlook to downtown Spokane, Inslee tells viewers “my wife Trudi and I raised our three boys here in Eastern Washington, and as governor, I won’t forget about this side of the state.”

Viewers shouldn’t assume from thatcombination of comment and background, however, that the Inslees lived in Spokane.

In releasing the commercial, the campaign explained the Inslees raised their sons in Selah, Wash., which is just north of Yakima.

“He represented the region in both the state Legislature and Congress, where he helped open up the Japanese market to Washington apples and worked on the Yakima River Basin Enhancement Act,” the campaign said.

Inslee’s legislative district for two terms was the 14th, in and around Yakima. He also served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives for Central Washington’s 4th District, not Eastern Washington’s 5th District.

He promises to support Spokane’s growing aerospace industry and the Riverpointe Campus, where the state is building a new biomedical and health science facility, which also appears in the commercial. But campaign spokeswoman Jaime Smith said the shot of Inslee with factory workers is probably from a Seattle factory.