Spending Record On Stadium Issue Allen Spent $6.25 Million In 7 Weeks To Win Vote For New Home For Seahawks

It’s official: Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen’s seven-week campaign for public assistance in building a new football stadium was a record breaker.

Campaign finance reports submitted this week show Allen spent $6.25 million on the stadium campaign, far surpassing the previous record held by U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, who spent $5.1 million on his re-election campaign in 1994.

Gov. Gary Locke’s $2.4 million campaign last year isn’t even in the same ballpark, so to speak.

Two anti-stadium campaigns spent less than $200,000 combined.

Allen signed papers to buy the team after voters last month narrowly approved the $425 million financing package for a stadium and exhibition center that will replace the Kingdome. The vote was 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent.

In a related development, a Locke aide who was instrumental in shepherding the plan through a skeptical Legislature is leaving his $75,000-a-year government post to go work for Allen.

Jim Kelley, an attorney and policy analyst in the governor’s office, will begin work Monday as a vice president of Allen’s Football Northwest and a yet-to-be-named company that will oversee construction and operation of the stadium complex.

Prior to his brief work in the governor’s office, Kelley was deputy director of the Kingdome and was director of the Seahawks-Kingdome Renovation Task Force while Locke was county executive. He also represented King County in lease negotiations with the Seahawks and Mariners.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for me,” said Kelley, 36. “My last three years of experiences have really been leading up to this.”

A state lawmaker who’s one of the most vocal critics of the stadium plan, Democratic Rep. Tim Sheldon of Hoodsport, told The News Tribune of Tacoma that he’s concerned that someone so closely involved in the stadium legislation is now going to work for the team’s owner.

But another lawmaker who helped write the ethics law said he doesn’t believe Kelley’s case presents a conflict. “If his background suggests that he has the qualifications for the job, where’s the argument?” said Sen. Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane.

The governor’s press secretary, Marylou Flynn, said Kelley and the governor’s staff checked state law to see if there was anything improper or unethical.

They found that state law on post-government employment doesn’t specifically cover Kelley’s circumstance. It prohibits a state worker from taking jobs with companies that have state contracts negotiated by the worker. It also bans employees from taking jobs that were intended to reward the employee or influence their public decisions.

“What we’re dealing with is the perception issue,” Flynn said. “There’s nothing illegal. At all times, Jim was acting at the direction of the governor to save the Seahawks.”

Football Northwest declined to disclose Kelley’s salary.