Kevin Carns, with the Reagan Fund, said there’s a simple explanation: The first sponsored advertisements were bought for $200 on Aug. 15 and will be reported in September. There were also advertisements bought 120 days before the election that were not considered electioneering and therefore did not need to be disclosed, he said.
Stonier also accused the page of being full of misleading information. First, the name has a hint of irony since she missed two votes out of 1,211 from Jan. 2013 to Aug. 2014, which is corroborated by WashingtonVotes.org.
Stonier accused the opposing party of playing politics.
“If they care about the issues, they would report the truth,” Stonier said, adding that the site claims she supports an income tax, “which I’ve been openly against since 2010.”
The page actually states: “Monica Stonier’s friends support a state income tax” and has a picture of Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee.
Carns said Stonier’s party protects her from having to cast unpopular votes.
“But her friends and colleagues vote against the district; there’s a bit of hypocrisy there, and we’re more than happy to point it out,” Carns said.
Although social media has long been crucial in congressional and statewide races, Carns said it’s being relied upon more in this campaign cycle for legislative races than it has previously.
“I think you’ll see it is starting to become a more important way to reach out to people,” he said.
Lori Anderson, a spokeswoman with the Public Disclosure Commission, said eventually that could present some gray areas.
She noted the “laws we’re operating under today didn’t entertain the idea” of tracing advertising through Facebook and other digital sites.