Inslee makes ad touting connections to East Side

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee is attempting to make points with Spokane voters with a new television commercial that touts his ties to Eastern Washington and features several local scenes.

Standing on the Cliff Drive overlook to downtown Spokane, Inslee tells viewers “my wife Trudi and I raised our three boys here in Eastern Washington, and as governor, I won’t forget about this side of the Cascades.”

Viewers shouldn’t assume from that juxtaposition of comment and background, however, that the Inslees lived in Spokane.

In releasing the commercial, the campaign said the Inslees raised their sons in Selah, Wash., which is just north of Yakima.

“He represented the region in both the state Legislature and Congress, where he helped open up the Japanese market to Washington apples and worked on the Yakima River Basin Enhancement Act,” the campaign said.

Inslee’s legislative district for two terms was the 14th, in and around Yakima. He also served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives for Central Washington’s 4th District.

In the commercial, Inslee promises to support Spokane’s growing aerospace industry and the Riverpoint Campus, where the state is developing a new biomedical and health sciences facility that also appears in the commercial.

Jaime Smith, campaign spokeswoman, said she believed the shot of Inslee with factory workers is from his visit to a Seattle factory.