Chamber defends ads against Senn

SEATTLE — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $1.5 million attacking a Democratic candidate in the primary race for attorney general because of concerns about her record as state insurance commissioner.

The issue with Deborah Senn was “things that were antibusiness. A number of our members expressed concerns to us about her record,” said Stan Anderson, the chamber’s chief legal counsel, in a telephone interview Monday from Washington, D.C.

“We didn’t challenge this woman’s integrity,” Anderson said. “We talked about her record. We think we have the right to do that and we’re going to pursue our rights in litigation.”

The ads, broadcast since late August, were pulled Friday. The state primary election is today.

The source of the money – actually the chamber’s political arm, the Institute for Legal Reform – was disclosed Sunday after a heated battle between the state and the Seattle-based Voters Education Committee, which used the money for its anti-Senn campaign. The state and the committee are suing each other over the issue.

Anderson and the committee challenge the state’s contention that the committee was required to register as a political group and disclose its contributors. They say the ads are exempt from campaign-disclosure law because they do not advocate voting for or against Senn, but simply offer information about her record.

“We haven’t broken the law,” Anderson said. “If we thought we were going to break the law we wouldn’t have done it.”

He characterized the dispute as a First Amendment free-speech issue.

The Institute for Legal Reform contributes to voter education in court and attorney general races around the country – about 25 contests this year, he said.

The $1.5 million given to the Voters Education Committee here “is not the most nor is it the least,” he said, declining to provide a range. The contribution would have been disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service in October, he said.

The chamber’s political efforts are backed by its 100,000 members, Anderson said. Asked if money was channeled to this race by the insurance industry, he said, “Absolutely not.”

Senn spokeswoman Karen Besserman said the “scurrilous, negative campaign … has clearly been funded by out-of-state special-interest money. These people know Deborah was the people’s insurance commissioner and she’ll be the people’s attorney general when she’s elected.”

The ads were carried on television stations in the Seattle area and in Spokane and Yakima.

The Voters Education Committee refused to meet a Sept. 7 deadline to register with the state Public Disclosure Commission and disclose its backers and financial information.

On Friday, after the state attorney general’s office went to court over the issue, the committee registered and agreed to post financial information Sunday on the PDC Web site.

The posting identified the chamber as the sole contributor and said $1.4 million had been spent on the ad campaign.

The ads were voluntarily withdrawn Friday.

“This has been a game of delay, delay, delay, while these untruthful lies and distortions in these ads have been playing on the TV,” Senn told the Associated Press on Sunday.