Ads attacking Senn under scrutiny

OLYMPIA – State elections officials will investigate whether a political group has broken campaign finance laws by running attack ads against a candidate for attorney general.

The “Voters Education Committee,” a group with links to Washington businesses, has spent $585,000 on TV ads criticizing Democrat Deborah Senn, according to sales receipts from the stations.

“It’s Washington’s version of the Swift boat ads,” said Karen Besserman, Senn’s campaign spokeswoman. “It’s scurrilous.”

The Voters Education Committee is a “527,” registered with the IRS as a political group under Section 527 of the IRS tax code. These soft-money groups have made a huge splash in the presidential campaign, with the “Swift Boat Veterans For Truth” attacking John Kerry’s record of service in Vietnam and liberal groups such as MoveOn assailing George Bush.

The Voters Education Committee’s address is in Seattle and the two people listed on the brief registration form are Bruce Boram and Valerie Huntsberry. Boram is executive director and Huntsberry is associate director of United For Washington, a statewide political action committee representing Washington businesses.

“Boy, are they scared of Deborah Senn,” Besserman said. “Deborah is a consumer advocate who’s going to fight on behalf of Washington citizens, and that’s what they’re trying to stop.”

Boram is also the campaign manager for Dave Reichert, a Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in the 8th District. Boram did not return phone messages left at Reichert’s campaign headquarters and United for Washington’s office.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer first reported on the ad campaign against Senn on Friday.

Senn, formerly the state insurance commissioner, will face Mark Sidran in the Democratic primary on Sept. 14. The Republican candidates are Mike Vaska and Rob McKenna. There’s no indication that any of Senn’s opponents are involved with the negative ads.

“We’re trying to run a straight-ahead, positive campaign,” said Sidran spokesman Kenan Block, who was trying to figure out the ads’ source on Friday. “We’re as curious as everyone else.”

Block noted that both Sidran and Senn, locked in a close battle for the Democratic nomination for attorney general, have made media buys of about $250,000. The outside group’s $585,000 expenditure dwarfs the two campaigns’ ad budgets. Besserman said the Senn campaign has heard the group plans to spend more than $1 million total on ads in the 10 days before the primary.

The TV ad says, in part: “Who is Deborah Senn looking out for? As insurance commissioner, Senn suspended most of a $700,000 fine against an insurance company in exchange for the company’s agreement to pay for four new staff members in Senn’s office. Senn even tried to cover up the deal from state legislators.”

The ad refers to a 1997 settlement with Prudential Insurance, which was forced to pay $1 billion in restitution nationally for misleading sales practices. Senn fined Prudential $700,000, but suspended $600,000 of the fine in exchange for the company’s agreement to spend up to $600,000 on hiring four staff members who would help regulate the insurance industry.

Republican lawmakers criticized the deal, but Senn defended her decision and said the additional staffers would help protect Washington insurance consumers.

The Voters Education Committee has not filed with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission, which oversees campaign finance reporting. Senn’s campaign says that’s a violation of state law. Groups spending that much money on campaign ads this close to the election are required to report it to the PDC within three days or 24 hours, depending on the type of organization, said PDC compliance director Phil Stutzman.

Stutzman said the Voters Education Committee’s attorney told the PDC the group was not explicitly advocating for or against a candidate in the election and thus – according to this attorney’s opinion – was not required to report its spending to the PDC.

Besserman scoffed at that explanation.

“They claim they’re not doing a political ad,” she said. “Looks kinda political to me!”

Stutzman said the PDC will investigate whether the committee has broken any campaign finance laws – but not until Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday.