‘Closer’ look at McMorris, Barbieri
“Closer,” a 30-second TV commercial by Don Barbieri, criticizes Cathy McMorris for sending jobs overseas, raising taxes and voting against raising the minimum wage.
Meanwhile, “Don Barbieri is against a state income tax. He grew our local economy and created 5,000 American jobs with good wages and real benefits,” the ad says.
The ad ends: “Cathy McMorris. Career politician. Voted against us.”
McMorris’ stance The endorsements and awards McMorris has received, from health care, anti-tax, business, law enforcement and other organizations, speak to the good she has done for the community and for Washington state, spokesman Dan Brady said. She’s against minimum-wage increases because Washington has the highest wage in the country, and it’s hurting businesses’ ability to compete, he said. As for outsourcing, McMorris hasn’t “sent jobs overseas,” as the ad says. She voted against a bill that would have prohibited state money from funding overseas jobs, because “there’s no question it would have hurt our foreign trade offices,” Brady said. “It was a dumb piece of legislation. The right vote was the one Cathy took. That’s why there’s been no (similar) legislation since.” | Barbieri’s stance “She had an opportunity to take an active part in keeping our jobs on shore” – and she didn’t, said Barbieri’s spokesman, Stephen Barbieri. While McMorris has voted for a gas-tax hike and opposed a bill that would have prohibited state agencies from sending jobs overseas, Barbieri has been working to create stable jobs through his business and making the Spokane area better by serving on community boards. McMorris “voted against us” because she voted against a campaign to raise awareness of child safety in cars and against funding for a Fairchild Air Force Base elementary school, among other things. The Fairchild vote is key because the base will need to show the community supports it as the military considers which bases to close and which to keep in the coming years. |
The bottom line Saying McMorris “sent jobs overseas” is an overstatement. The ad doesn’t spell out how McMorris “voted against us,” but the campaign’s documentation for the ad raises some votes worth examining. In one case, McMorris was one of 10 state senators to oppose a bill that gave unemployment insurance benefits to domestic-violence victims if they leave their jobs to protect their safety. Eighty-eight senators thought it was worthwhile legislation. On Thursday, Brady couldn’t immediately say why she voted down the bill. The ad’s statement that McMorris is willing to raise taxes refers to her vote for a 5-cent gas-tax increase last year. That’s a jab back at McMorris, who has an ad that criticizes what she interpreted as Barbieri’s support of a 9-cent gas-tax hike in 2002. The Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce endorsed a referendum for the increase while Barbieri was board chairman. A previous Ad Watch said the board votes as a whole on endorsements, so Barbieri isn’t directly on the record for backing it. Regardless, the business community – which both candidates want behind them – supported both gas-tax hikes, so for either side to “expose” the other’s support for it is silly. On taxes in general, McMorris has said she won’t raise them. Barbieri has said he would eliminate the Bush tax breaks for the top 2 percent of taxpayers. Barbieri says in this ad, and repeatedly on the campaign trail, that he’s created 5,000 jobs. His company, WestCoast Hospitality Corp., does employ 5,000, but some of those positions were acquired when the company took over other businesses. Some jobs already existed. Stephen Barbieri couldn’t break down the number of acquired jobs versus new ones Thursday afternoon. But many are new because as WestCoast acquires companies, it bolsters its corporate staff to provide those positions with personnel, accounting and other services. Plus, the 5,000 figure doesn’t account for the number of construction and other jobs created when WestCoast remodels, erects a new building, buys supplies or expands in other ways. | |
| Ad Watch is a regular feature during election season analyzing campaign advertising. | Megan Cooley can be reached at (509) 927-2165 or meganc@spokesman.com. |