GOP plays hardball for Mielke

Pam Brokaw says GOP attack ad isn’t correct

Party praises Tom Mielke's stand on casino

Clark County Republicans are doubling down on county commissioner hopeful Tom Mielke, paying $28,800 for mailers praising Mielke for standing up to casino interests and another $13,000 for television commercials trashing his Democratic opponent.

The negative commercial, a rarity in local elections, mocks Democrat Pat Brokaw as “Broke All” for backing the Cowlitz casino and tolls on a replacement Interstate 5 bridge. Brokaw said the ad misrepresents her position on both issues.

Ryan Hart, Clark County GOP chairman, said the party decided to mount an advertising campaign because of negative mailers that hammered Mielke’s commissioner campaign three years ago.

The Progressive Majority spent more than $86,500 to defeat the Battle Ground Republican in the waning days of his 2005 campaign against Commissioner Steve Stuart. Subsequent campaign filings revealed that Cowlitz casino developer David Barnett, his then-wife and two of his companies contributed $100,000 to the political action committee.

Both Barnett and Progressive Majority’s state political director said the donations came with no strings attached, but local Republicans have charged that Barnett used the group as a surrogate to tear down Mielke’s campaign.

“We felt this had to be done,” Hart said about the advertising campaign, “because of the enormous amount of special interest money that was involved in this campaign and hit pieces against Tom Mielke back in 2005. We felt we have to be prepared for that.”

Hart also mentioned Washington Bus, which sent about 50 young activists to Clark County last month to doorbell on Brokaw’s behalf, and said that type of outside influence “really raised some red flags.”

Hart wasn’t so eager to discuss how much money the county GOP intends to spend on Mielke’s behalf.

“I’m not going to give you a budget figure,” he said, adding that party officials did not consult Mielke before producing the television commercial.

According to reports filed with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission, county Republicans last week paid $13,000 to Run Spot Sun Media of Sherwood, Ore., for cable advertising, as well as $7,600 to ASK Advertising of Vancouver for design and printing of a mailer and $21,200 to AKA Direct of Tualatin, Ore., for postage.

Clark County Republicans have raised more than $90,000 for the 2008 election. The Building Industry Association of Clark County provided the biggest contribution, $25,000, on Oct. 10.

Brokaw said the GOP’s commercial misrepresents her views on the Cowlitz casino.

“This is a decision that the federal government will make,” she said. “I have advocated having an agreement in place with the tribe in case the federal government approves the proposal.”

But Brokaw would not say if she believes the casino would be good or bad for the community.

“I have mixed emotions about it,” she said. “But my responsibility is to find ways to mitigate the impact.”

As for tolling, Brokaw said she would consider tolls as part of a financial package for a new Columbia River bridge, but she disputed the commercial’s assertion that she supports tolls that could cost commuters $1,000 annually.

“I see that as a possible funding component down the road,” she said. “But I have not agreed to tolls. I have not agreed to an amount.”

Hart defended the commercial’s content and message.

“The commercial says that Pam Brokaw has not ruled out tolls for the bridge project, and that is an accurate statement,” he said.

Hart also said the federal government would have difficulty approving the Cowlitz casino if Mielke is elected to the three-member board of commissioners because the former state representative won’t agree to negotiating a new county-tribe agreement to replace the one a state hearings board struck down in June 2007.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs appears to have accepted the tribe’s alternative, an ordinance that contains the same provisions as the 2004 memorandum of understanding, along with a limited waiver of tribal sovereignty that allows the county to sue if the Cowlitz fail to comply with those provisions.

The Interior Department has yet to act on the tribe’s request to designate the 152-acre site near La Center as its initial reservation, a decision that would open the door for Las Vegas-style gambling.

“The county commissioners can stop them,” the mailer reads. “So the casino developers must keep Tom Mielke off the board of county commissioners and elect his opponent.”

The first assertion is arguably false. Earlier this year, Paula Hart, acting director of the Interior Department’s Office of Indian Gaming, sent a letter to county commissioners saying that “while failure to achieve an MOU will weigh more heavily against an application … it alone may not be a determinative factor for denying an application.”

Brokaw said she has tried to focus her campaign on issues and moving the community forward.

“I think we should be talking about the issues and not doing name-calling,” she said. “I have doorbelled a lot of houses during the campaign, and people are tired of the negative campaigning.”

Jeffrey Mize: 360-735-4542 or jeff.mize@columbian.com.