Ethics Panel Proves No Man Is An Island

Tom Stewart, major moneybags and West Side GOP luminary, recently admitted trying to buy a Seattle election.

He got friends to contribute to a city initiative campaign last year, then paid them back, Stewart told a city ethics commission last week.

It’s illegal to hide the identity of campaign contributors. Stewart got caught by the commission, which levied a record $60,000 fine.

Now Stewart may face criminal penalties.

All very interesting for one of the state’s biggest donors to the GOP, who just gave the party 200 grand, its largest gift ever.

Stewart also hosts the King County GOP picnic at his Vashon Island estate every summer.

He gets a band, puts on a spread, and hires buses to shuttle hundreds of revelers to and from his estate. GOP leaders around the state come and pay tribute.

Stewart, who made his fortune in insurance and food distribution, flies an American flag in his yard so big you can hear it rustle a half mile away. Car dealerships display less Old Glory than Stewart. A little ironic for a guy who launders campaign contributions.

The Stewart scandal has been the talk of Seattle and Vashon, where misdeeds rarely rise above the level of teenagers bashing mailboxes.

Now it turns out one of the island’s richest residents launders his money, and according to the Seattle Times, sleeps with a gun under his pillow. Amazing if true.

Islanders routinely leave their doors and windows not only unlocked, but wide open. Vintage cars are left in parking lots with keys dangling in the dash. Truck farmers let wads of bills accumulate in unattended farm stands days at a time.

But apparently Stewart’s armed and ready. His estate is tightly fenced and sealed with a medievallooking black iron gate topped with a row of gold-colored spikes.

A bit much on an island with a high concentration of beater VW buses.

Stewart is best known on Vashon for his commute. Rather than get to and from the island by public ferry like everyone else, Stewart blasts around in his private helicopter.

He’s fought the City of Seattle for years to get permission to land the thing on top of his company headquarters in West Seattle. The city said no but the King County Council was more indulgent, granting Stewart special permission this year to land the helicopter in his yard.

There are two airstrips on Vashon, one less than five minutes away from Stewart’s estate. But time is money, after all, and who would want to slow down the GOP’s biggest contributor?

Dress for success

Are Sonics fans are getting a bit too much information about the team as the NBA finals march on?

Witness the full-page boast in the Seattle Weekly that Sonics coach George Karl doesn’t wear underwear.

“It’s a part of the game that’s been overlooked by the experts who tried to guess why the Sonics were successful this year,” the Weekly confides. “He exudes the confidence of a man who boldly goes where no other coach has gone: to the game without his underwear.” Less is more, after all.

Political credit

It seems everything from using a credit card to dialing long distance is a political statement these days.

Lifeline, an Oklahoma City company, offers to donate 10 percent of all long-distance charges it processes to anti-abortion and Christian causes.

The company helps support the Christian Coalition, American Family Association, and community churches and publications, including Spokane’s Inland Northwest Christian News.

Meanwhile West Side papers are advertising a Mastercard offered by the Pride Foundation, the state’s biggest gay and lesbian advocacy organization. Every use of the card generates contributions to non-profit gay causes.

“Not your typical family,” an ad for the card reads, with a picture of two grinning guys with earrings and a young smiling boy. “Not your typical credit card.”

, DataTimes