GOP: Carrier got ‘illegal contributions’; he calls charge ‘a complete lie’

David Carrier Democrat running for state Senate

Senate Republicans Thursday accused Democrat David Carrier of violating state campaign finance laws by receiving $40,000 more from the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee over the past two weeks than the law allows his campaign to accept.

But Carrier, who is running to unseat Republican Sen. Don Benton, denied the charge, calling it “a complete lie.”

“What they’re trying to do is create the appearance of inappropriate activity that isn’t there,” he said.

The accusations come as the Carrier campaign rides a wave of contributions from Democratic Party organizations that have helped it bridge a huge funding gap with the incumbent.

As of Thursday, Carrier, an economics instructor at Washington State University Vancouver, had raised about $131,000 to $297,000 for Benton.

In addition, between Oct. 13 and Oct. 21, a Seattle-based group called Better Future for Washington contributed more than $100,000 in independent expenditures to defeat Benton, one of the Legislature’s top fundraisers.

Brent Ludeman, executive director of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, said Carrier has received $40,000 in “illegal contributions” from the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee. Each committee contributes money to elect members of its party to the state Senate.

Under campaign finance laws, Carrier may not receive more than $50,633.60 from the committee. The figure is based on the number of voters who supported a Democratic candidate in the last Senate election.

But Ludeman said Carrier had received a total of $90,605 in cash and in-kind contributions.

He also accused the Carrier campaign of breaking state law by accepting contributions of more than $5,000 in the last three weeks before the election.

Ludeman has filed a formal request with the Public Disclosure Commission asking for an investigation.

Chris Gregorich, executive director of the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, said the committee’s contributions remain well within the limit.

As of Thursday, he said, the Carrier campaign reported $31,070 in in-kind contributions and $14,000 in cash from the committee, for a total of $45,070.

Gregorich said the committee wrote a $30,000 check to the Carrier campaign on Oct. 12 that would have put the campaign over the legal limit. But he said the check was written in error by the committee’s treasurer and later destroyed.

“We tore up the check,” Gregorich said. For that reason, Carrier never reported it, he said.

The committee did report the $30,000 as a contribution, but Gregorich said the committee has since filed an amended report with the state Public Disclosure Commission that deletes the contribution.

As of Thursday afternoon, the PDC had not received the amended report, said PDC spokeswoman Lori Anderson.

Gregorich also denied that the committee made any contribution exceeding $5,000 after the Oct. 14 cutoff. PDC reports confirm it.

The Benton-Carrier race, initially viewed by many as a David-and-Goliath contest, has heated up considerably in recent weeks, as Democrats have funneled cash and in-kind contributions into the Carrier campaign.

PDC reports show that besides receiving $45,000 from the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, Carrier has received about $46,000 in in-kind contributions from the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, $13,000 from the Clark County Democratic Central Committee, and $5,350 from the 17th District Democratic Central Committee.

Carrier has pledged to accept no special interest money. The Benton campaign has challenged that assertion.

Gregorich said the Benton-Carrier race is one of three statewide Senate races his committee has chosen to invest in this year because it believes Benton could be vulnerable. For one thing, likely Democratic voters in the 17th District are returning their ballots at a higher rate than likely Republican voters, he said.

“Hopefully, we can get David across in the Democratic tide.”

Most of the committee’s contributions have gone to produce and distribute campaign fliers, Gregorich said.

“I’m getting negative fliers every day,” Benton complained. “Over $100,000 has been spent against me.”

For a first-time candidate like Carrier, Gregorich said, “There’s no way for voters to find out who you are except for knocking on doors face to face or getting your message out there to voters.”