The chair of King County Democrats, Susan Sheary, lobbed a flashbomb at Susan Hutchison’s campaign Tuesday when a complaint was filed with the State Public Disclosure Commission alleging an array of infractions of disclosure laws by the campaign to elect Hutchison as King County executive. The claim of greatest substance in the nine page document is the accusation that the Hutchison campaign has been using a home in the Laurelhurst neighborhood without reporting any rental payments on expense filings to the PDC. Questions about the complaint dominated Hutchison’s scheduled press conference this afternoon, crowding out the original agenda to unveil the candidate’s proposal to move King County jail management into the hands of the sheriff’s office.

Jordan McCarren, Hutchison’s campaign manager, has stated that he has been renting the Laurelhurst home, and that information has been communicated to the PDC. Our investigation determined that the property is owned by South Cove Ventures LLC and managed by the Pistol Creek Financial Company, a firm connected to Bruce McCaw, co-founder of early cellular telephone giant McCaw Cellular. McCaw has given $1,600 to Hutchison’s campaign this year ($800 during the primary season, and $800 during the general – all perfectly legal).

In a brief phone interview, McCarren also told Red County that the use of the home was discussed with an attorney who assured the campaign that the arrangement would comply with the law. He also suggested that the complaint filing by the Democratic party machine was a desperate attempt by the supporters of Dow Constantine (Hutchison’s opponent) to distract voters from the real issues of the campaign and from their recent drop in the polls.

The Democrat’s protest comes after the PDC announced last week that it would investigate a complaint against the Constantine campaign regarding possible illegal coordination between that campaign and a political action committee that paid for anti-Hutchison attack ads. The Constantine campaign has denied that any coordination took place and the PDC has publicly stated that it does not anticipate concluding its investigation prior to Election Day. The PDC has not issued a statement regarding the attention it will give the complaint against Hutchison’s campaign.

The other claims made in the King County Dem’s complaint (one that should have received a thorough proofreading before it was sent to the PDC, much less made public) are stuffing, filler to increase the overall number of violations alleged for maximum effect when the story hit the Seattle media echo chamber. Although it appears that the Hutchison campaign did fail to deposit some of its many contributions within the time period prescribed by campaign law, the tardy deposits were nonetheless made within the same reporting period in which they were received. Disclosure was made in a timely manner, and disclosure is, after all, the PDC’s middle name.

Other thin claims about expense and debt/obligation disclosure violations seem to add credibility to the notion that Democrats don’t have heads for finance. In one representative example of the Democrat’s case, it is suggested that a payment of $729 made June 4 to Dresner Wickers Associates by the Hutchison campaign for a “communications commission” is proof positive of a failure to report the amount as a debt on the campaign’s May disclosures. Sheary concludes that “it’s reasonable to assume this obligation accrued during the month of May since it’s [sic] payment is so close to the beginning of the month.” In the universe of reasonable explanations, isn’t it also reasonable to assume that Dresner Wickers’ invoices may have been paid promptly when received?

In the end, the PDC’s investigation will reveal any truth or deception in the actions and statements of both campaigns. For voters, post-election findings are of no use. What is needed now is a robust debate about the issues of emergency preparedness, massive budget deficits, a draconian regional planning scheme that has driven up the cost of living, and so many other front burner topics that county residents deserve to hear about from the candidates for the County executive seat. Today’s political gamesmanship, however, too often is less concerned with opening minds than with closing them to see only a pinhole reality to absorb attention and divert interest away from issues of genuine importance.

An opportunity to steer the campaign back toward issues will come Thursday when Constantine and Hutchison square off in their first televised debate, scheduled to be broadcast live at 7 p.m. on KCTS-9.

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