Nice story in today's Moscow-Pullman Daily News by Sarah Mason on campaign finance in the Pullman City Council races:

The four Pullman City Council candidates with opposed seats raised a combined $8,903.24 to date for their political campaigns this year. With four days until ballots are due, each candidate is required by law to open up their ledgers to the public.

Candidate Dave Gibney, running for the Ward 3 seat, raised the most money with $4,182.69 in contributions.

"A little over a thousand is my own," Gibney said. "(Fundraising) wasn't difficult. People who supported me offered me money."

Many benefactors were local community members along with Pullman International Association of Fire Fighters. The contributions to the campaign from Gibney's wallet were personal loans Gibney said he would forgive.

Like the other City Council candidates, Gibney's expenditures mostly included sign and door-hanger printing fees and radio ad costs.

Other expenses stood out, including $60 of laundry and some $20 haircut fees.

"People who know me in town know that I haven't always been the best dresser," Gibney said. "I honestly don't know how to iron a shirt."

Though Gibney wasn't required to, he filed all his expenditure and contribution reports with the Public Disclosure Commission. His financial papers can be viewed online.

Jeff Williams, running for Ward 1, raised the second most with $2,903.14 in contributions - which he called "doing it on the cheap."

"In a better economic climate, it would've been easier to raise funds," Williams said. "(But) it was pretty much right in line with what we anticipated."

Many of Williams' contributions came from friends, family and members of the Palouse 9.12 Project. Williams ponied up some cash initially for campaign signs - which he said he still has a surplus of - but used contributions to pay himself back.

"My wife and I had a deal going into (my candidacy)," Williams said. "She said it was OK provided I didn't use family funds."

Williams' expenditures consisted of image printing for signs and other handouts and radio advertisements. Williams said he paid for costs such as gas and stamps with his own cash, which he said he expects to get back.

Jeff Hawbaker, Gibney's competition for the Ward 3 seat, raised $1,322.41. Hawbaker said he didn't have to request contributions, they came from supporters once he announced his candidacy.

Hawbaker's supporters were mostly coworkers and community members, with legislative candidate Susan Fagan and Pullman City Council member Ann Heath - who is vacating the seat Hawbaker is campaigning for - as donors.

"My approach wasn't to spend a lot of money," Hawbaker said. "My approach was to get out and talk to people, and that didn't cost me anything."

Like the other candidates, Hawbaker dropped cash at printers for signs, envelopes and flyers.

Hawbaker's financial reports are also available at the Public Disclosure Commission's Web site.

Williams' opponent, Bill Paul, is the only candidate in the red for this election. Paul raised about $495 and is to date short $450, which he will have to shoulder with is own money, he said.

Paul said this is the most money he raised for a City Council campaign.

"This year's been more involved," Paul said. "Previously I've been unopposed or there's been no serious candidates."

Paul said he didn't want to raise too much money and figured it was about equal to two months of City Council salary. Paul earns $276 a month after taxes for his current position on the council.

Paul's funds came from friends and supporters who donated money without being called to do so.

"I just simply left it to volunteers and people that want to support me," Paul said. "I didn't go ask for funds, I just let people know that I appreciate their support."

To view Gibney and Hawbaker's financial documents, visit www.pdc.wa.gov. To view Williams' and Paul's finances, make an appointment before Nov. 2 with the candidates.

Hey, at least Bill Paul admits indirectly that Jeff Williams is a "serious candidate."

Another suprising development was the endorsement of Dave Gibney by Pullman City Councilman Keith Bloom in a letter to the editor published yesterday in the Daily News:

The city of Pullman is fortunate to have a qualified group of candidates for the upcoming local election. Local politics, contrary to belief, is not partisan. It can't be. The people of Pullman come before the dysfunction of party division.

For many years one individual has been present in almost every City Council meeting, volunteering to be there as one committed to the well-being of the city he lives in. Dave Gibney is informed, intelligent and capable. He is ready to serve and will properly represent all the residents of Pullman.

As someone else recently wrote, behind the beard is a sharp, committed individual. Please join with me in supporting Dave Gibney for Pullman City Council on Nov. 3.

I have to take exception to Keith's characterization of the Ward 3 council race at least as being "not partisan."  Earlier this year, Whitman County Democrats chairwoman Crystal Ainardi stated the party would be "focusing on local council seats" this election.   Indeed, Gibney's campaign manager is former Washington State Democrats Vice-Chair Eileen Macoll and a glance at Dave Gibney's campaign donor list on the PDC website reveals the vast majority are members of the Whitman County Democrats:

Joan Harris $340
Matthew Root $200
Don Orlich $90
Judy Krueger $70
Pat O'Neil $50
Cynthia Hosick $50
Jane Guido $50

And as pointed above, much of Jeff Hawbaker's support has come from two prominent Pullman Republicans.

Bloom's endorsement is all the more inexplicable, as he is one of the more conservative city council members and was a strong supporter of the Pullman Walmart Supercenter.  Gibney's donor list includes some of the most prominent members of the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development (including Ann Heath's 2005 opponent Judy Krueger,) the group that opposed Walmart for over four years.  But, this has been the year for through-the-looking-glass endorsements in Pullman City Council races.

As I pointed out earlier, it continues to amaze me how local liberals running for office in Pullman and Moscow and their supporters continue to shy away from using the "W" word.  PARD's utter failure and the Greater Moscow Alliance housecleaning in the 2007 Moscow City Council election seems to have, at least for now, forced the anti-growthers and NIMBYs to abandon Walmart as a substantive issue and revert back to old code words like "smart growth," "sprawl," "car culture," and  "better neighborhoods."

Finally, tiresome Moscow-Pullman Daily News left-wing shill Lenna Harding provided a reminder yesterday of how liberals think we voters are stupid:

Most important is the fact the initiative process is the worst way to deal with fiscal issues. There is no good way to properly explain and educate the voters so they can fully understand what the pros and cons of a tax initiative are so they can vote intelligently.

That's right.  We can figure out a mortgage application, a 1040, and how to program our VCRs, but we somehow can't understand why the government needs to increasingly reach into our wallets.

Hey Lenna, Boeing already voted with its feet against Washington's leftist tax-and-spend regime.