Casino backer goes after Mielke

For the second time in four years, would-be casino developer David Barnett is dropping tens of thousands of last-minute dollars to stop Tom Mielke from becoming a Clark County commissioner.

On Wednesday, a Seattle-based company owned by Barnett bought $59,000 in mailers opposing Mielke, state records show.

Mielke’s opponent says she didn’t want Barnett’s help. But he gave it anyway.

Barnett is the son of the late Cowlitz Tribe chairman. He has a deal to help develop the tribe’s proposed casino near La Center and get a share of its estimated $23 million annual net revenue.

Neither Mielke, a Republican, nor his Democratic opponent, Pam Brokaw, opposes the Cowlitz casino plan. Both say they want the county to sign a new, stronger deal with the tribe in case the federal government approves a casino.

“Once again, they’re interfering with the operation of Clark County and not being upward and forward about it,” Mielke said Friday.

In 2005, a PAC funded in part by Barnett spent $86,000 opposing Mielke in a race he lost to Commissioner Steve Stuart.

Both Brokaw and a Cowlitz Tribe spokesman said Friday that they knew nothing about Barnett’s activity.

Brokaw said Barnett had approached her “about a week ago” to offer his direct support, but she turned him down.

“I have stayed neutral on this and haven’t taken money from any gambling interest, tribes or anything,” Brokaw said. “This is something that folks have the right to do, but it’s not something that I have anything to do with at all.”

Cowlitz spokesman Phil Harju said Friday that “the tribe is not involved.”

“The tribe’s longtime position is that we do not get involved in the local races in Clark County,” he said. “I’m not a spokesman for Dave Barnett, and I’m unaware of any of the details of this flier.”

Barnett, his lawyer and his marketing firm did not return calls for comment Friday.

Barnett’s independent spending dwarfs any other single expenditure in the race, which had already been the county’s most expensive this year.

It also comes at a time when about half the county’s eligible voters have already turned in their ballots.

All told, Brokaw has directly raised $108,000, Mielke $53,000.

Last week, the county Republican Party, boosted by a big donation from the local Building Industry Association, dropped $41,800 in a sharp anti-Brokaw mailing and TV campaign.

Mielke’s direct donations include $7,500 from La Center’s four existing casinos, which have long opposed a larger tribal operation nearby.

Mielke has often criticized the Cowlitz casino proposal in public debates. But he said Friday that he would support the plan if the tribe agrees to pay fully for the new roads, sewers and schools that would be needed if the casino is built.

“The people of Clark County shouldn’t be subsidizing the Cowlitz Tribe,” he said.

Brokaw said Friday that she was surprised Mielke would support the casino under those circumstances, and that her impression from campaign events was that he simply opposed a casino.

She said she’s not taking a yes or no position on the casino, but that to get her signature, a new deal with the tribe would need the provisions Mielke mentioned, plus unspecified provisions on the environment, lost revenues, public safety, housing and social services.

Michael Andersen: 360-735-4508 ormichael.andersen@columbian.com.