There are some big bucks being thrown around this election season, both by candidates, their parties, and those who oppose them. Statewide, more than $151 million dollars has been spent on elections in 2012 alone.
Local elections are no exception. Cyrus Oskoui, owner of Columbia Fitness including the Pine Lake Club, has donated more than $45,000 of his personal funds to his “Common Sense Sammamish” committee, which opposes the proposed Sammamish Community & Aquatic Center. Two other donors have contributed a total of $290.
Meanwhile, the “Yes! Sammamish Community Center” campaign says it has a self-imposed $5,000 budget limit and allows no single donation over $500.
We've pulled data on candidates in the 5th, 41st, and 45th districts, along with the King County Sheriff and Governor's races. To see individual donations and how the candidates are spending their money, click on the "view" link to the left of a name to go directly to that candidate's PDC reports. If you click on the candidate's name in the table below, it will take you to their candidate profile on Patch if they submitted one.
The independent support and opposition columns indicate the amount that outside groups not directly involved with the campaigns have spent to support or oppose the candidates, such as Political Action Committees.
Name Position Raised Spent Debt Ind. Support Ind. Opposition view Strachan Steven D King Co. Sheriff $32,387 $22,680 $6,939 $0.00 $0.00 view Urquhart John W King Co. Sheriff $181,495 $111,592 $23,192 $64 $0.00
view Inslee Jay R (D) Gov. $10,705,990 $9,342,213 $81,878 $627,668 $6,655,851 view Mckenna Robert M (R) Gov. $12,488,377 $9,810,165 $1,792,272 $613,871 $8,218,425
45th District
view Goodman Roger E (D) Rep. Pos. 1 $229,798 $142,056 $0.00 $25,241 $19,150 view Hussey Joel R (R) Rep. Pos. 1 $164,573 $119,674 $0.00 $19,150 $0.00 view Springer Lawrence S (D) Rep. Pos. 2 $179,103 $98,613 $23,865 $115 $0.00 view Thatcher Jim E (R) Rep. Pos. 2 $23,345 $12,725 $6,167 $0.00 $0.00
41st District
view Judge Maureen A (D) State Sen. $137,044 $125,642 $7,911 $9,130 $15,793 view Litzow Stephen R (R) State Sen. $472,376 $289,673 $62,000 $34,496 $58,500 view Eaves Timothy M (R) Rep. Pos. 1 $30,900 $24,440 $3,000 $0.00 $0.00 view Maxwell Marcie E (D) Rep. Pos. 1 $109,970 $83,652 $609 $9,210 $0.00 view Clibborn Judith R (D) Rep. Pos. 2 $114,236 $65,879 $1,346 $204 $0.00
5th District
view Mullet Mark D (D) State Sen. $255,397 $245,045 $27,491 $30,461 $140,737 view Toft Bradley M (R) State Sen. $257,310 $239,218 $0.00 $11,310 $129,773 view Rodne Jay R (R) Rep. Pos. 1 $58,925 $32,823 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 view Magendanz Chad L (R) Rep. Pos. 2 $86,744 $41,777 $0.00 $32 $0.00 view Spring David (D) Rep. Pos. 2 $1,400 $1,184 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Everyone knows it's always more difficult for a challenger to take out an incumbent. During this election, it seems Strachan has called press conferences for the most trivial things. Before Strachan, when was the last time you saw a sitting Sheriff mugging for tv cameras for home invasion robberies or attempted kidnappings? It's obvious he's doing it only because there's an election and he wants more exposure. And don't even get me started on the fact that he was caught campaigning in uniform at the King County Republican Picnic, at least the Ombudsman was brave enough to make a finding that he broke the ethics code. If you look at the records, Urquhart has actually raised more money from outside donors than Strachan has, the difference is Urquhart is putting his money where his mouth is. Strachan makes $170,000 per year as Sheriff. He hasn't donated one penny to his own campaign, and he has only loaned his campaign a few thousand dollars, obviously hoping to make it up after the election.