BIAW's Walking for Washington is back in business - to help Dino Rossi
During the last three months, NPI has received a growing number of reports from citizens and activists sharing details of their experience with hired hands gathering data on behalf of Walking for Washington, the extensive field program of the right wing Building Industry Association of Washington.
(I have previously written about Walking for Washington, see these posts from the archive for additional background):
The BIAW is employing young people to knock on doors and take surveys of Washington voters, the results of which presumably will be used in the creation of paid media (as independent expenditures) against the Governor.
And perhaps, given the tight cohesion between the BIAW and Rossi, clearly on display in 2004, the information will be quietly passed along to Dino's own team for use in crafting campaign themes and a message.
Here is how one citizen described their experience to us:
Not much about the survey was neutral in structure or tone. As one activist recounted, the questions were "pitting Gregoire against Rossi", which obviously suggests the BIAW is trying to mine potential angles of attack.
According to our reports, the BIAW's questioners have claimed that Walking for Washington as a "nonpartisan research group" when citizens have asked who is responsible for the survey. But that's really not true. Walking for Washington is a field program, not a research group, and the entity to which it belongs acts like an arm of the GOP, though it may be technically "nonpartisan" on paper.
At least some and maybe all respondents were also asked to identify themselves as "moderate", conservative, or liberal. (Because there is no "moderate" ideology and extremely few, if any, true "moderates", a self-identification question such as this yields misleading data).
Some citizens have told us they were motivated to contact us after becoming suspicious when they saw the BIAW's hired hands looking at car license plates and making apparent entries into their handhelds. Why the BIAW would want or need data from car license plates raises a flood of questions.
Walking for Washington's PDC reports list dozens of payments to individuals for "voter ID" work, which is simply the term used for this type of information gathering project. Anyone who has walked their precinct or participated in a campaign field effort is likely familiar with voter identification. It is typically used to narrow the range of persuadable or unknown voters for future get out the vote efforts. The data is helpful in making critical campaign decisions.
Walking for Washington's 2007 expenditures also show a number of payments to Sewell Consultancy of South Carolina - $4,000 per month in February, March, June, July, and August, tagged simply as "monthly consulting" with no further elaboration.
Walking for Washington also contributed $1,000 to the Clark County Republicans on February 5th, 2007 - an expenditure which stands out because it is the only transfer of money from the committee to the Republican Party itself this year.
The only contributors to Walking to Washington this year are the Building Industry Association of Washington and one of its committees (It's Time For A Change), which was created and used last year in an unsuccessful attempt to pack the Supreme Court with right wing ideologues.
Some of the contributions are listed as in kind, for a total of $35,617.82. Three regular contributions of $30,000 are listed as well, each made by the BIAW. The total number of contributions for 2007 is $125,617.82.
It's Time for A Change was a shell committee which accepted large chunks of money funneled from ChangePAC and expended those funds on electioneering.
ChangePAC was the BIAW's actual fundraising vehicle; it served as a depository for large amounts of money from wealthy conservatives who wanted a right wing takeover of the courts. Its major donors are as follows:
Certain names stand out: the BIAW at the top, with its hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations, John Stanton of Western Wireless, Michael Dumire, who bankrolls Tim Eyman, Charles Simonyi of Microsoft, Bellevue Square Managers, controlled by Bellevue developer and anti-light rail fanatic Kemper Freeman Jr., and Susan Hutchison. Part or all of Bruce McCaw's contribution, interestingly, was refunded on September 25th of last year.
Notice also how many construction and homebuilding companies there are, not just individuals. Some wealthy conservatives donated themselves and then donated additional funds through their businesses.
Much of the ChangePAC money was sent to It's Time for a Change (the BIAW's shell PAC), and some of that was sent to Walking for Washington (the BIAW's field program). The BIAW controls all of the committees - they are registered to the same address, their finances are managed through the South Sound Bank, and Elliot Swaney is the treasurer for each.
(Swaney is also the BIAW's Political Affairs Director.)
While Walking for Washington has only been funded with money from the BIAW or ChangePAC (via It's Time For A Change) so far this year, past financial support - since the program's inception in 2004 - has come directly from other organizations and businesses which are not prominent contributors to ChangePAC:
As mentioned above, the BIAW has been sending young people (high school or college age) out to collect data, dressed in Walking for Washington T-shirts and carrying Palm Pilots or a similar kind of digital handheld for recording information. That's what to be on the lookout for.
(I have previously written about Walking for Washington, see these posts from the archive for additional background):
- Part I (good introduction to the BIAW): BIAW hoping to pack State Supreme Court with handpicked candidates this fall (July 12th, 2006)
- Part II: BIAW using "Walking for Washington" program to promote its slate of candidates (July 13th, 2006)
- Part III: BIAW's "Walking for Washington" program is well funded - and extensive (July 17th, 2006)
- Part IV: BIAW's Walking for Washington flooding Eastside neighborhoods with literature (August 7th, 2006)
The BIAW is employing young people to knock on doors and take surveys of Washington voters, the results of which presumably will be used in the creation of paid media (as independent expenditures) against the Governor.
And perhaps, given the tight cohesion between the BIAW and Rossi, clearly on display in 2004, the information will be quietly passed along to Dino's own team for use in crafting campaign themes and a message.
Here is how one citizen described their experience to us:
I was given a fifteen question survey about issues like transportation, education, healthcare, etc. The final question was "if the election were held tomorrow, who would you vote for? Gregoire or Rossi?" The questioner got upset when I pointed out Dino had not declared his candidacy.Rossi has indeed said little about his plans to run in 2008. The state GOP and its allies are betting he will and are making preparations based on that assumption. Dino, however, has said he will not make his final decision until this December - which means after the November 2007 elections. (Perhaps he's waiting to see what happens with the ballot measures and the many local races).
Not much about the survey was neutral in structure or tone. As one activist recounted, the questions were "pitting Gregoire against Rossi", which obviously suggests the BIAW is trying to mine potential angles of attack.
According to our reports, the BIAW's questioners have claimed that Walking for Washington as a "nonpartisan research group" when citizens have asked who is responsible for the survey. But that's really not true. Walking for Washington is a field program, not a research group, and the entity to which it belongs acts like an arm of the GOP, though it may be technically "nonpartisan" on paper.
At least some and maybe all respondents were also asked to identify themselves as "moderate", conservative, or liberal. (Because there is no "moderate" ideology and extremely few, if any, true "moderates", a self-identification question such as this yields misleading data).
Some citizens have told us they were motivated to contact us after becoming suspicious when they saw the BIAW's hired hands looking at car license plates and making apparent entries into their handhelds. Why the BIAW would want or need data from car license plates raises a flood of questions.
Walking for Washington's PDC reports list dozens of payments to individuals for "voter ID" work, which is simply the term used for this type of information gathering project. Anyone who has walked their precinct or participated in a campaign field effort is likely familiar with voter identification. It is typically used to narrow the range of persuadable or unknown voters for future get out the vote efforts. The data is helpful in making critical campaign decisions.
Walking for Washington's 2007 expenditures also show a number of payments to Sewell Consultancy of South Carolina - $4,000 per month in February, March, June, July, and August, tagged simply as "monthly consulting" with no further elaboration.
Walking for Washington also contributed $1,000 to the Clark County Republicans on February 5th, 2007 - an expenditure which stands out because it is the only transfer of money from the committee to the Republican Party itself this year.
The only contributors to Walking to Washington this year are the Building Industry Association of Washington and one of its committees (It's Time For A Change), which was created and used last year in an unsuccessful attempt to pack the Supreme Court with right wing ideologues.
Some of the contributions are listed as in kind, for a total of $35,617.82. Three regular contributions of $30,000 are listed as well, each made by the BIAW. The total number of contributions for 2007 is $125,617.82.
It's Time for A Change was a shell committee which accepted large chunks of money funneled from ChangePAC and expended those funds on electioneering.
ChangePAC was the BIAW's actual fundraising vehicle; it served as a depository for large amounts of money from wealthy conservatives who wanted a right wing takeover of the courts. Its major donors are as follows:
BUILDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTONThis list, which includes every ChangePAC donor contributing at least $1,000 at once or more, is a Who's Who of the right wing establishment and donor community in Washington.
WA AFFORDABLE HOUSING COUNCIL
MCCAW BRUCE R
HENNESSY JOHN
NORTHWEST WALL & CEILING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION
PHOENIX DEVELOPMENT INC
RUSSELL GEORGE F JR
STANTON JOHN W
ACKERLEY GINGER
HENNESSY JOHN
AHO CONSTRUCTION INC
ALVORD RICHARD
CLARK JOE
CONNER CHARLES
CONNER WILLIAM
DUNMIRE MICHAEL
MICHAEL R. MASTRO PROPERTIES
RINDLAUB JOHN & SARAH
RINDLAUB SARAH
SIMONYI CHARLES
SUNDQUIST HOMES
SUNDQUIST LARRY
THRESHOLD GROUP
TRUE JANET
WTB FINANCIAL CORPORATION
ALTON DUANE
BELLEVUE SQUARE MANAGERS INC
CELIS PEDRO
CHENEY LAURA
CONNER HOMES COMPANY
ELLISON THOMAS
MARKS DRYWALL INC
MURRAY PACIFIC MANAGEMENT INC
OAK HARBOR FREIGHT
ODERMAT VICTOR
PACIFIC IRON AND METAL CO
POLYGON NORTHWEST COMPANY
SILVER CLOUD INNS & HOTELS
SKAGIT ISLAND BUILDERS PAC
TRUE JANET
VANDERPOL EDWARD
WA CONTRACT LOGGERS ASSN
BRC - BILL RILEY COMMUNITIES
L &P DEVELOPMENT LLC
IRON MOUNTAIN QUARRY
RENTON CONCRETE RECYCLERS
FARWEST FABRICATORS INC
GARVEY LYNN
PACIFIC RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT INC
WEATHERGUARD INC
DOYLE ELECTRIC INC
KNUDSON LUMBER INC
ACKERLEY PARTNERS LLC
CONTRACTORS EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE INC
FLUKE DAVID
FRANKLIN ROOFING ENTERPRISES INC
FRIEDLANDER JOHN
HUTCHISON SUSAN
KAHLER RICHARD
MANDERE CONSTRUCTION INC
PACIFIC AIR SYSTEMS
PORTER GREG
SKOCHDOPOLE JOHN
Certain names stand out: the BIAW at the top, with its hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations, John Stanton of Western Wireless, Michael Dumire, who bankrolls Tim Eyman, Charles Simonyi of Microsoft, Bellevue Square Managers, controlled by Bellevue developer and anti-light rail fanatic Kemper Freeman Jr., and Susan Hutchison. Part or all of Bruce McCaw's contribution, interestingly, was refunded on September 25th of last year.
Notice also how many construction and homebuilding companies there are, not just individuals. Some wealthy conservatives donated themselves and then donated additional funds through their businesses.
Much of the ChangePAC money was sent to It's Time for a Change (the BIAW's shell PAC), and some of that was sent to Walking for Washington (the BIAW's field program). The BIAW controls all of the committees - they are registered to the same address, their finances are managed through the South Sound Bank, and Elliot Swaney is the treasurer for each.
(Swaney is also the BIAW's Political Affairs Director.)
While Walking for Washington has only been funded with money from the BIAW or ChangePAC (via It's Time For A Change) so far this year, past financial support - since the program's inception in 2004 - has come directly from other organizations and businesses which are not prominent contributors to ChangePAC:
WASHINGTON RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION PACWe intend to continue keeping an eye on the activities of the BIAW and Walking for Washington. If you receive a phone call or a visit at the door from Walking for Washington, let us know about your experience in detail.
REALTORS PAC
WASHINGTON STATE FARM BUREAU PAC (was behind I-933)
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INDUSTRIAL & OFFICE PROPERTIES WA CHAPTER PAC
UNITED FOR WASHINGTON
ASSOCIATION BUILDERS & CONTRACTORS PAC
INSURANCE & FINANCIAL ADVISORS PAC
NOTHWEST MARINE TRADE ASSOCIATION PAC
PHYSICIANS INSURANCE WASHINGTON MEDICAL PAC
WASHINGTON STATE FARM BUREAU PAC
DOCTORS NURSES & PATIENTS FOR A HEALTHY WASHINGTON (Yes on I-330 committee)
HOLLAND AMERICA LINE WESTOURS
WASHINGTON CONTRACT LOGGERS ASSOCIATION INC.
As mentioned above, the BIAW has been sending young people (high school or college age) out to collect data, dressed in Walking for Washington T-shirts and carrying Palm Pilots or a similar kind of digital handheld for recording information. That's what to be on the lookout for.
