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State Sen. Jean Berkey Files Complaint Against Democratic Political Consultant for “Shell Game.”

2010 Election, This Washington   August 27, 2010 at 11:06 am Josh Feit

As we noted in this morning’s morning Fizz, State Sen. Jean Berkey (D-38, Everett) filed a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission today against Moxie Media.

Moxie Media, the lefty political firm that did ads for a union-backed political committee called Stand Up for Citizens, which attacked Berkey from the left, also did ads for a mysterious political committee, Cut Taxes PAC, hitting Berkey from the right.

Cut Taxes PAC has not disclosed its funding, reporting only that it owes Moxie Media about $5,000 for the anti-Berkey mailers. The Washington State Labor Council, which was behind Stand Up for Citizens, referred us to Moxie Media when we first reported the odd expenditure, but Moxie Media refuses to discuss the matter. It would be ironic if the unions turn out to be behind Cut Taxes PAC because the unions pushed legislators like Berkey to vote for tax increases—which Berkey did.

Berkey’s complaint calls the set up “a shell game that Moxie Media issuing to hide their efforts to unseat me on behalf of the groups behind Stand Up for Citizens.”

Berkey is currently trailing both her Democratic challenger, Nick Harper, and the Republican, Rodney Rieger, in the top-two primary and faces an insurmountable vote gap.

UPDATE: Asked who funded the independent expenditure for Cut Taxes PAC, Moxie Media owner Lisa MacLean says that she “authorized and paid for the it. Nobody has sponsored this ad but Moxie. And that’s how it’s accounted for at the PDC. This complaint is baseless. There are no funders to hide because there are no other funders.”

However, asked if the unions who worked with her on the other anti-Berkey ads might step up and pay, she added, “if that changes, it will be updated at the PDC.”

So, is MacLean saying that the unions behind the anti-Berkey campaign were not involved in Cut Taxes PAC? That she decided to go into debt to fund the ad on her own? “It’s free speech,” MacLean said. “I can do an ad if I decide to.”

Cut Taxes PAC’s chair and treasurer are both colleagues of Moxie Media. We called them too in our earlier reporting on this story, but they did not return our calls.

UPDATE 2: Washington State Labor Council Political Director Benjamin Lawver says, “WSLC did not approve any expenditure to Cut Taxes PAC or Conservative PAC [the other committee named in Berkey's complaint. Their name appears on the mailer].”




  • Jakers

    What are the potential consequences? Fines? A redo? Slap and the wrist? Nothing?

  • Jakers

    And, what is Nick Harper really saying about it? I’m mean in the secret places where politicians talk, not the generic, ‘I had nothing to do with an independent group, blah, blah, blah.” Does Nick feel comfortable taking office knowing that the unions he supports so blindly won it for him by cheating??

  • http://43rddemocrats.org Michael M.

    Once the Cut Taxes PAC funders are finally disclosed, and assuming they are tied with the groups that wanted to oust Sen. Berkey, Harper should call bullshit on the tactics used. IMO.

  • http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/ Mr Baker

    Publicity for Moxie.

    Am I close?

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/6SAQ6R2ZBGQQNNBXVJZG66K6KY Mickymse

    It may not be the most ethical business practice… but does it violate a PDC rule to play both sides of the fence?

  • Miss Ruby

    Why in the world would Moxie spend their own money to do an ad against Jean Berkey? Makes no sense. Ms. MacLean is being disingenuous at best.

  • Franz

    It does not violate a PDC rule to play both sides of the fence. It does, however, violate a PDC rule to hide where the money is coming from to pay for an add. Cut Taxes’ PAC lists on their C6s (one for phones, one for direct mail) that they paid for the ad/services on 8/9/10 and 8/12/10, yet list the mailer as a debt (on the C4 filed 8/9/10).

    I’d like to see a copy of the mailer, i.e. who did the Cut Taxes PAC list as their top five contributors in the Advertising Sponsor disclaimer? Clearly they had no contributors at that point, as their C4 lists no contributions as of the date the mailer was paid for… but perhaps they did list Ms. MacLean or Moxie Media as a contributor. There’s an easy way to figure this out, anyone from the 38th save the mailer, or perhaps Moxie Media would like to provide one of the “overs” to Publicola?

    In any case, I certainly wouldn’t do business with Moxie, this is at best misleading the public, and at worst, downright illegal. Certainly not the type of business I would want my campaign affiliated with.

  • DJ Wilson

    Ms. MacLean is as high integrity as they come in politics. Calling her “disingenuous” is a bit much.

    Ms. MacLean cares about the kinds of candidates we elect to office. I’ve known her to pour a tremendous amount of energy into campaigns, well beyond what people would expect. This appears to be another instance where she’s gone out of her way to make sure good folks get elected – and less stellar folks are retired.

  • George

    The unions didn’t cheat. They just sold out their members by sending out those pieces. Nothing more, nothing less.

  • George

    According to the Everett Herald it was paid for by Conservative PAC.

  • George

    According to the Everett Herald it was paid for by Conservative PAC.

  • JH

    The Cut Taxes PAC mailers list their sole contributor on the mailer as “Conservative PAC,” which also has no contributors and no expenditures.

  • http://43rddemocrats.org Michael M.

    The problem, DJ, is that progressives pushed hard for more revenue. A lot of good State Senators are losing their office because of those votes.

    Using that vote that was lobbied for against someone is wrong, regardless of your opinion of that individual. It would be like lobbying hard for a Republican to support gay rights legislation, and then paying to use that vote against him to get a weaker, right wing GOP as the nominee against a good Democrat.

  • Anonymous

    So her client wanted them out.

    So The Union group pays her 20k to oust Berkey, she then takes that money and spends 5k of it to run an ads for a fake right wing PAC she set up.

    If the unions knew about this then it seems they are just trying to do an end run around disclosure rules.

  • DJ Wilson

    I understand your basic point, Michael, but I’m not sure it’s a perfect fit in this case.

    Ms. MacLean says she did the ad. If she’s doing the work in-kind out of her shop, then the hard costs are pretty minimal. She can drop a couple of pieces to a small universe for very little out-of-pocket dollars.

    To your point, I don’t know that she lobbied Sen. Berkey one way or another on any item. I’d guess she didn’t as I don’t believe she does lobbies much, if at all.

    So, she can’t be blamed for the positions of others – even those with which she has a professional relationship. If she didn’t lobby on that position, then the analogy you draw isn’t an exact fit.

    Just sayin’.

  • Miss Ruby

    I believe Michael is making the assumption, fairly, that MacLean did this squeeze play to make sure her client work against Berkey was successful, not out of any passion for the issues – and that MacLean’s clients used Berkey’s votes against her unfairly.

  • http://43rddemocrats.org Michael M.

    At this point you’re just splitting hairs. Sure, Moxie and MacLean didn’t specifically lobby, to my knowledge, the State Senate on revenue vs. cuts. However, their big client in this race – labor – did just that. And as Giffy pointed out below, she did anything to knock Jean out in the primary.

    It is especially terrible considering that her, by and through her firm, sent mailers attacking Jean for not voting for more revenue increases and voting for furloughs, and at the same time sent out mailers attacking her for voting for revenue increases.

    I love bare-knuckle, drag-down politics. It’s entertaining and it’s fun. But what MacLean did was morally reprehensible. I can’t speak to the ethics of her industry, but if this is considered an ethical way of doing business, then that is very sad.

    Further, her excuse, her “defense” of herself, makes her sound all that much worse.

    So yes, she can’t be blamed for the position of others. But she can be blamed for taking money from those people, and then doing what she did.

  • tpn

    “It would be ironic if the unions turn out to be behind Cut Taxes PAC because the unions pushed legislators like Berkey to vote for tax increases—which Berkey did.”

    It would be ironic if this rumor was traced back to your facebook post last week, Josh.

  • Jakers

    Nick, it’s time for you to take a stand on this issue!

  • Jakers

    DJ, do you have, or have you had, any ties to Moxie or Lisa MacLean (that you and other defenders all refer to as Ms. Maclean for some reason) in your campaigns or otherwise?

    The fact that someone can get repaid for a campaign long after it is over to avoid disclosures seems very dishonest and most likely done strategically.

  • Jakers

    Also, why your at it, what ties do you have to Nick Harper?

  • Dow

    Anybody ask Christian Sindermann about it?

    http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/08/political_merger

  • RonK, Seattle

    This is going to sell incredible amounts of popcorn.

  • Anonymous

    Ms. MacLean says she did the ad. If she’s doing the work in-kind out of her shop, then the hard costs are pretty minimal. She can drop a couple of pieces to a small universe for very little out-of-pocket dollars.

    Which sort of underlies the problem here.Unlike a PAC reporting its contributors she is not required to name her customers. So a person could give her money and then she could run off and set up a bunch of PACs to attack the candidate and the public will never now where the money came from.

    Thats making a mockery of campaign finance laws, something that as consultant that works for progressives should not be doing. I would hope that some of her perspective customers take note.

    Is it legal, possibly, but it sure as hell is not ethical.

  • DJ spin..

    typical b.s. answer, “she’s a good person, I know her, so I am going to ignore the substance of the charges against her, and the facts at issue. Oh, also, she’s really liberal, so go away, and I mean that in all sincerity.”

  • Jakers
  • Gen

    She’s just mad we caught her trying to run as a Democrat!