(The Center Square) – With the election less than three weeks away, progressives and conservatives in Spokane are raising concerns about campaign funding as donations roll in and voters cast their ballots.
A bus full of volunteers will head to the city this weekend to campaign for progressive candidates on behalf of a Seattle-based nonprofit. Spokane City Councilmember Zack Zappone is among the bunch, along with Sarah Dixit and Kate Tellis, two newcomers hoping to expand control for the progressives.
Christopher Savage, who aligns with the council’s conservative minority and is facing Zappone on Nov. 4, recently criticized his opponent for the outside influence on the election. However, records obtained by The Center Square show an out-of-state donor committed $45,000 to Savage just four days earlier.
Spokane County mailed ballots for the general election on Wednesday, with voting currently underway.
“The National Association of Realtors just spent $45,000 to support my opponent,” Zappone wrote in a statement, “and it raises real concerns about whether big money is trying to buy influence at City Hall.”
NAR is based in Illinois. The Center Square contacted the association for comment, but did not receive a response before publishing. According to an Oct. 6 filing, it committed up to $45,869 in independent expenditures to Savage’s campaign for advertising efforts conducted by a Delaware-based company.
The realtor group also donated up to $40,188 to Alejandro Barrientos, who is running against Tellis. The Center Square contacted Barrientos for comment, but did not receive a response before publishing.
“The outside influence in our local elections is very telling. While independent expenditures are clearly reported on my PDC, the progressive bus help that is coming from Seattle isn’t reported at all,” Savage told The Center Square on Thursday. “While my campaign is fully transparent, my opponent’s isn’t.”
There are a few different ways of donating to a campaign. State law requires candidates to report cash donations, in-kind contributions and independent expenditures. In-kind contributions are services that donors provide in coordination with a campaign, whereas the latter doesn’t require that coordination.
Savage and Barrientos reported the $85,000 in independent expenditures from NAR appropriately, but Savage told The Center Square he has never been in contact with the association. He claims Zappone is hiding the in-kind contributions related to the bus trip to Spokane, which the incumbent denies.
Zappone told The Center Square last week that The Washington Bus would report all the expenses tied to the trip this weekend after it returns to Seattle with all the receipts. He noted that the nonprofit had already worked on some canvassing efforts for him, totaling around $1,000, which he has reported.
Savage and Barrientos are the only candidates to whom NAR has committed independent expenditures in Spokane this election cycle. NAR also donated $69,000 in independent expenditures to Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson in July, and $200,000 to Rep. Michelle Caldier, R-Gig Harbor, last week.
“Meanwhile, my opponent has chosen to attack me for something entirely different, because about 15 young people from across the state volunteered their weekend,” Zappone pushed back. “They did not bring big checks; they brought their energy, passion, and commitment to civic engagement.”
However, the incumbent also took time to criticize local donors. Spokane Good Government Alliance, a conservative political action committee, committed $6,885 in independent expenditures to Savage last month, but the PAC has raised more than $326,000 to campaign for local candidates this election.
SGGA received most of its contributions from Alvin Wolff Jr., a member of a prominent real estate family in the area, and Larry Stone, founder of the Spokane Business Association. Stone also founded SCAFCO Steel Study Manufacturing Company, which employs Barrientos as its chief operating officer.
Zappone raised concerns about SGGA, arguing that the nonprofit bus trip is minuscule in comparison.
Savage disagrees, reiterating that SGGA donors are local while the bus trip is coming from Seattle. He said he had no say over NAR’s funding, given that it donated independent expenditures without notice.
SGGA Executive Director John Estey filed a complaint against another local PAC on Thursday, alleging that the Citizens for Liberty and Labor are violating campaign finance laws. That PAC often donates to progressives, but hasn’t reported any funding or spending to the state’s campaign database this cycle.
“The cat is out of the bag – these mailers have blanketed District 1,” Estey wrote in a press release, referring to advertisements that the progressive PAC recently mailed to voters in downtown Spokane.
Citizens for Liberty and Labor did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.
Councilmember Jonathan Bingle is one of two members of the council minority, with both representing District 1. He faces Dixit on the ballot, one of the other progressives that the volunteers will campaign for this weekend. The mailers explicitly mention being “Paid for by Citizens for Liberty and Labor.”
As mentioned above, the progressive PAC hasn’t reported any donations or spending this year, but it has received significant funding from Fuse Washington, another Seattle-based PAC. The organization creates voter guides each year, listing Zappone, Dixit and Tellis as the best “choice” this election.
SGGA has raised almost $327,000 this year, but Fuse takes the lead, having raised nearly $370,000.
About 99% of SGGA’s money originated from Spokane donors, compared to 3% for Fuse.
“Another day, more money and people from Seattle trying to influence Spokane elections,” Estey said on Thursday. “They’ll stop at nothing – even breaking disclosure laws – to sway our local races.”
