Bill Grant (D-Walla Walla) served the Washington 16th Legislative District, which encompasses Walla Walla and Columbia counties, and Pasco and part of Kennewick in the Tri-Cities, for 22 years before passing away earlier this year from lung cancer.  As the token Democrat in Olympia from rural Eastern Washington, Grant was rewarded with the coveted position of House Majority Caucus Chairman.  After his death, Grant's daughter, Democrat Laura Grant-Herriot (now just Laura Grant) was appointed to serve out his term.

Grant, of Walla Walla, is currently facing Republican Terry Nealey, Washington State University alum and Dayton attorney, in a special election that is widely regarded as a bellwether for next year's legislative races, when Republicans are hoping to pick up some seats in the House and chip away at the Democratic supermajority.  Nealey is currently ahead of Grant in fundraising by $162,033 to $147,150. The fact that over a third of a million dollars has been dropped on one legislative race demonstrates the importance both parties place on it.

Another indication of how desperately the Democrats want to hold on their tiny foothold in rural Eastern Washington is the hit pieces on Terry Nealey that have been showing up in 16th District mailboxes.  Ostensibly from "People for Responsible Government," the mailers are actually 100% funded by the Harry Truman Fund, the campaign war chest of House Speaker Frank Chopp and his House Democratic Caucus.  The Harry Truman Fund has over $340,000 cash on hand, much of it derived from $250,000 in donations from west side tribal casinos made last year and labor unions such as the SEIU.

This kind of "soft money" is common in Washington, as candidates have strict limits on how much can be contributed by individuals and groups.  Fictional groups such as "People for Responsible Government" skirt this by "independently" attacking a candidate's opponent without directly supporting the candidate.

Of more interest to Seattle/King County residents, the "People for Responsible Government" treasurer is Shakti Hawkins.  Hawkins is a principal in Argo Strategies, the Seattle political consulting firm that has been involved in a  Public Disclosure Commission complaint against Dow Constantine (click here for the actual complaint,) the Democrat who is running for King County Executive. Red County's Angie Vogt has detailed the connections between Jason Bennett, treasurer of Dow Constantine's campaign, and Jason Bennett, treasurer of "Citizens to Uphold the Constitution," an astroturf group that attacked Constantine's opponent, Susan Hutchison.  And the treasurer of the Harry Truman Fund?  You guessed it: the very same Jason Bennett, the owner of Argo Strategies. 

And the connections to Laura Grant get even more damning.  According to PDC reports, Grant's campaign has spent a staggering $60,000 on ads and consulting services with Northwest Passage Consulting in Seattle.  This firm was also the subject of a King County Executive race PDC complaint for possible illegal collusion. Northwest Passage is involved with Dow Constantine's campaign and shares office space and management with Moxie Media, the company that mailed "independent" attack ads against Susan Hutchison on behalf of Democratic political action committee FAIRPAC, which, as you probably have already determined, HAS JASON BENNETT AS ITS TREASURER.

Argo Strategies' public/private revolving door blurs the legal and ethical boundaries and perfectly epitomizes the Seattle Democratic machine, which has its dirty fingers in every political pie in the state.  According to the Seattle Weekly, Bennett has a major role in Joe Mallahan's Seattle mayoral campaign and

...also works for the campaigns of council candidates Jordon Royer and David Ginsberg. Bennett's firm has in the past been employed by, among many others, Mayor Nickels. Bennett raised funds for Nickels in 2005 and headed up the mayor's pro-tunnel anti-viaduct campaign in 2007. The failed campaign was later found in an ethics violation after two checks worth $27,500 in contributions were reported as somehow received by the campaign several days before they were even written.

Bennett was also involved in ethics complaints during Tim Burgess' Seattle City Council campaign in 2007 and with Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' anti-Alaskan Way Viaduct video in 2006.  He also serves as chair of the 36th Legislative District Democrats, works at grooming future "progressive" leaders as Executive Director of the Institute for a Democratic Future, and blogs at Publicola as "OMG!Obama."   That's one busy guy.

The first mailer (below) accused Nealey of using campaign cash to make over $8,000 in payments to himself. Nealey's campaign treasurer, Debora Zalaznik, stated this couldn’t be further from the truth.  Any payments made to Nealey were reimbursements of campaign expenses he paid personally. All of Nealey's financial records are open to the public and can be reviewed by anyone who would like to see them.  Zalaznik has receipts for all expenses. To date, she has received no requests to view the records.

How can an organization mail 16th District voters a flyer making such a serious and unsubstantiated accusation against Terry Nealey without looking at any of the records that are open to public inspection.  Because that's how the Democrats do things in Seattle.  Voters in Eastern Washington are just now getting a taste of it.

The latest mailer (below) is even more reprehensible.  It accuses Nealey of being against mammograms and other cancer screenings. 

Apparently the fat cat Seattle Democratic machine forgot to check that Jan, Terry's wife, is a breast cancer survivor.  An outraged Jan Nealey responded to this latest accusation:

In November, 2005 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery in December, 2005.  I had radiation the first part of 2006.  The breast cancer was found through a mammogram.  They caught the cancer very early. The radiology oncologist was Dr. Michael Brown.

On a mailer sent out by the Harry Truman Fund of Seattle  and received by some district voters today, October 26, it was stated that Terry Nealey, my husband, was against insurance coverage for cancer screenings.  Because my cancer was found through a mammogram this accusation is rather absurd.  We have a good relationship through 40 years of marriage and he would not want me dead.

When Terry decided to run for the legislature we knew that it could get rough but we accepted that as a possibility.  This blatant lie by the organization from Seattle is a personal attack that makes politics bad for everyone.  There is no credibility through trying to smear a good man.

So Jan Nealey beats cancer, but now she has to put up with being vicitimized by the Democrats. Grant herself is a conservative Democrat (the 16th District trends Republican) and the position on health care listed on her website is rather vague, stating that she will "partner with leaders on the local and national level to come up with new strategies to increase coverage and make it affordable."  In fact, in an interview with the editorial board of the Tri-City Herald, Grant stated that "[Governor] Gregoire scares me. She wants to be ahead of the nation on just about every issue," in reference to cap-and-trade and health care.

This kind of slime is nothing new for the Harry Truman Fund.  In a 2006 House race in the 24th District, they sent out a mailer accusing Republican state representative Jim Buck of missing over 100 votes, when in actuality he was fighting a respiratory infection. 

The Tri-City Herald endorsed Grant because, in their words, "Eastern Washington needs a Democrat in Olympia -- but a Democrat who is sympathetic to Eastern Washington values."  But ethics violations, shady money, lies, and attacks on sick people are NOT Eastern Washington values.

Laura Grant is a 5th grade teacher and strikes me as a decent woman.  She should repudiate these tactics, apologize to Terry Nealey and his wife Jan, and refuse any further ads on her behalf by the big money, sleazeball Seattle Democratic machine.    And 16th District voters need to ask themselves if having a little influence in Democrat-controlled Olympia is worth it when it means having to sell your soul to Frank Chopp and his hate machine.