Rossi camp apologizes for report
OLYMPIA – Dino Rossi’s campaign apologized Monday for a misleading fundraising report that implied the Republican candidate for governor raised more than $570,000 in the nine days after kicking off his 2008 campaign.
In reality, Rossi had been collecting campaign donations for nearly two weeks before he formally announced his second run against Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, who has a multimillion-dollar fundraising lead.
On Nov. 8, Rossi’s campaign said the former state senator had collected more than $463,300 in October. The statement noted that Rossi announced his candidacy Oct. 25. It also said Rossi raised more than $110,000 in the first two days of November.
In that fundraising statement, spokeswoman Jill Strait bragged about Rossi raising nearly $500,000 “in roughly one week.” The campaign refused to offer any supporting documentation.
Based on Strait’s statement and interviews, the Associated Press and other news organizations reported that Rossi’s initial fundraising burst began with his Oct. 25 campaign announcement.
The campaign never raised any issues of accuracy about those reports. But campaign officials knew, and never clarified, that Rossi had been collecting campaign donations for about two weeks by the time he officially announced his gubernatorial bid.
According to campaign finance reports filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission, Rossi actually collected his first checks on Oct. 12, the day after the former state senator says he decided to launch a 2008 campaign.
That means the roughly $463,000 Rossi raised in October actually stretched over nearly three weeks. He collected $11,200 on that first day – maximum contributions of $2,800 from four people.
On Monday, Strait acknowledged the campaign’s statements gave a skewed view of the speed of Rossi’s fundraising.
“I apologize to you if you feel like you were misled,” Strait told the AP. “I agree that we could have clarified that the first check came in on the 12th.”
The problems with Rossi’s Nov. 8 fundraising statement were first raised in a Monday report by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.