With less than two weeks before the general election, Eric LaBrant, candidate for the District 2 seat on the Port of Vancouver Board of Commissioners, has received a significant financial leg up on his opponent: about $100,000 in in-kind donations from a statewide conservation group.
Seattle-based Washington Conservation Voters, which opposes new oil and coal projects in the region, gave LaBrant $98,140.14 in mailers, digital ads and donated staff time to support his campaign.
LaBrant is a vocal opponent of a proposal by Tesoro Corp., a petroleum refiner, and Savage Companies, a transportation company, to build the nation’s largest rail-to-marine oil transfer terminal at the port. His opponent, candidate Lisa Ross, supports the controversial project.
“What’s unique about this race is it’s about electing a port commissioner who will have a voice that can help stop the terminal,” said Shannon Murphy, president of Washington Conservation Voters. “It’s also a race that is a symbol referendum on the public opinion about the terminal.”
But the donation prompted outrage by some local conservatives, fueled in part by a filing error that made it appear on the Public Disclosure Commission’s website that the Seattle-based political consulting firm Moxie Media also gave LaBrant about $100,000. However, Murphy said, Washington Conservation Voters contracts with Moxie Media to develop advertising. Moxie did not give the LaBrant campaign any free advertising.
“It looks like a crazy amount of money,” Murphy said. “(But) there’s a glitch in the system.”
Moxie Media faced $290,000 in state fines in 2011 — which, according to a Seattle Times story, was one of the largest settlements of its kind in Washington — for illegal campaign tactics that helped oust a Democratic state senator from Everett. Despite massive blowback from the scheme, Moxie’s business doubled in 2012 over 2010, according to the Seattle Times.
The PDC confirmed that it is working with the LaBrant campaign and Washington Conservation Voters to correct the error.
But even without the reporting error, Washington Conservation Voters’ contribution gives LaBrant a significant financial edge over Ross in a race in which he once appeared to be a financial underdog.
“I knew we couldn’t fight oil single-handedly, so I went and asked for help,” LaBrant said. “And I got it.”
LaBrant has received $22,900 in cash contributions from 91 different donors, about half of it from James Johnson, who lives in Vancouver but is CEO of Portland-based software company Tripwire. The in-kind donations bring his total contributions to about $126,760.
Ross, meanwhile, is reporting $51,691.25 in cash donations from 56 different donors, including $13,500 from Republican Clark County Councilor David Madore, $8,500 from Tesoro and $2,500 from Savage. Ross has about $55,000 in total contributions.
There are no contribution limits in the Port of Vancouver race.
Ross said she fears the increased turnout that could result from LaBrant’s advertising may cost her votes, and that she’s reached out to her donors regarding Washington Conservation Voters’ support for LaBrant “to make sure they don’t come in and steal this election.”
“If turnout is higher among those that disagree with you, then you lose,” she said.
LaBrant and Ross were the top-two vote earners in a field of seven and advanced from the August primary election. Ballots have been sent to voters for the Nov. 3 general election.
