(The Center Square) – With less than two weeks left until election day, one Spokane County commissioner held a Wednesday press conference to address what he called “blatant lies” from a “failing campaign.”
Republican incumbent Al French, who sits on the Board of County Commissioners, used the opportunity to lay out allegations against his Democrat challenger, Molly Marshall; French beat her by 736 votes in the Primary Election but faces tough competition in his final reelection bid.
If Marshall manages to take French’s seat in the county, it would flip the Republican majority to Democrat, falling in line with the city of Spokane and the state’s 3rd Legislative District.
“These are desperate tactics for my opponent’s allies, willing to lie and defame me to try and resuscitate a failing campaign,” French said. “I call on Molly Marshall to publicly disavow the ads and the lies they are spreading.”
French was alluding to a series of ads that Marshall’s campaign is running against him in local media to sway voters’ support. The ads center on electing responsible leadership, integrity, wildfire management, her former military experience and allegations against French.
One ad peddled claims, which French has continually denied, regarding a crisis in the West Plains that’s left many residents without clean drinking water. The ad pointed blame at him for covering up the crisis and interfering with state aid, which French has also denied.
The Spokane County Superior Court threw out a recall attempt against French last month. The Clean Water Accountability Coalition filed the petition, backed by the Seattle-based progressive group Fuse Washington, but the court determined that the effort was legally and factually insufficient.
However, the judge did order the coalition to disclose who covered its legal fees.
Mark Lamb, a Seattle-based attorney representing French, said Fuse Washington illegally funded the recall attempt and the “dishonest ads” against French. He claimed that Fuse Washington and all the other groups involved in the recall exceeded the $1,400 limit to support the recall election.
According to the Spokesman-Review, the Clean Water Accountability Coalition asked the state to waive the limit but withdrew the request before it was denied due to connections to Marshall.
“These ads go well beyond those allegations that were thrown out of court and try to assert that somehow Commissioner French was responsible for the contamination,” Lamb said. “There is no factual basis for that because that is, quite simply, a lie.”
Lamb said they are filing a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission about the “dishonesty of the ads” and the illegal funding behind the recall effort. He noted that three political action committees that funded the recall are based in Seattle, not Spokane.
He added that about 82% of the donations came from outside Spokane, with 68% originating from Seattle and Washington D.C. Lamb said that the PDC needs to take swift action to address this before the Nov. 5 General Election.
“I’ve seen a number of cases of egregious campaign finance violations, but I have to tell you,” Lamb said, “this is one of the worst examples of campaign finance violations that I have ever seen in my 26 years of practicing law, and it is something that our state will have to take action on immediately.”
