Ads provoke sharp responses as 8th District race heats up

By Warren Cornwall
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

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After several months of courteous campaigning, the gloves are coming off in the 8th Congressional District.

Republican Diane Tebelius this week mailed two ads to suburban voters targeting a Republican opponent, King County Sheriff Dave Reichert. The ad suggested Reichert is too cozy with Democrats and that his mismanagement has cost county taxpayers millions.

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Alex Alben's campaign cried foul about opponent Dave Ross' new mailing that touts Ross' commitment to a clean, attack-free campaign.

The ads come as the Sept. 14 primary approaches. Four Republicans are competing, including Reichert, Tebelius, state Sen. Luke Esser and Bellevue City Councilman Conrad Lee. Alben, Ross and Heidi Behrens-Benedict are in a three-way Democratic contest in the district, which covers much of East and South King County and East Pierce County.

Two ads

Tebelius' first ad reads, "Who can we trust to represent us in Congress?" It features a comparison of Tebelius and Reichert, stating that Reichert has been associated with Democratic politicians, including King County Executive Ron Sims, a gubernatorial candidate.

The other ad focuses on $7 million the county paid in 2003 to settle a lawsuit by sheriff's department employees over delays in overtime payments.

"We can't trust him with our federal tax dollars," it reads.

The ads are the first by a candidate in the crowded race to directly challenge an opponent. They take aim at the man considered the early front-runner because of the widespread name recognition he enjoys from his work as sheriff.

They also come as voters enter a new primary system many expect will help candidates more strongly associated with their party. Voters this time will be allowed to vote only for candidates from a single party.
 
"Diane Tebelius was helping Republicans run and recruiting people to run against Ron Sims for county executive. Dave Reichert was helping Ron Sims get elected," said Tebelius campaign manager Dan Brady. "We think if Republican loyalty matters to you, Diane is clearly the better candidate."

The Reichert campaign denounced the ads as a disappointing attack by a fellow Republican.

"It's just unfortunate that she would want to go and do something like this," said Reichert campaign spokesman Bruce Boram. "It just galvanizes Dave and reminds him why he's running. Because he'll never play that way."

Brady defended the new ads, saying they were meant to educate voters about Reichert's record.

"There's not been an adequate discussion of his limited record in this race," he said.

Neither Tebelius nor Reichert could be reached for comment.

Reichert had connections to Democrats during his seven-year tenure as sheriff, a nonpartisan position.

Sims appointed him to the post in 1997. Karen Marchioro, former head of the state Democratic Party, was a campaign consultant on Reichert's first sheriff's campaign later that year. Reichert endorsed Sims' re-election campaign in 2001. An August 2002 Seattle Times article said Reichert named Sims one of his political heroes, along with King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, a Republican.

The Tebelius ad contrasts that record with her own history as a GOP activist. She has served as a Republican National Committee member since 2000 and worked on a number of campaigns, including co-chairing the 2000 Bush campaign's operation in the 8th District. She named late President Reagan and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole as her political heroes.

In an interview earlier this month Reichert offered a different perspective on his heroes, saying his political role models were Presidents Kennedy and Reagan.

Marchioro dismissed Tebelius' mention of her work for Reichert.

"It's ridiculous. He was a nonpartisan person running for a nonpartisan office. He had a campaign that had both Democrats and Republicans in it," she said.

The other ad refers to a legal settlement regarding overtime costs that sparked a dispute pitting Reichert against Sims and some County Council members over who was to blame.

Reichert's department argued part of the problem stemmed from a failed countywide overhaul of the payroll and financial computer system.

Sims and County Councilman Larry Phillips both took Reichert to task, saying the problems lay with the sheriff's department and that overtime problems had plagued the office for years.

Reichert recently said his department had some role in the problems because overtime paperwork wasn't turned in on time or processed quickly enough. But he stood by his contention that the countywide computer difficulties contributed to the mistakes.

Sheriff's Office spokesman John Urquhart denounced the Tebelius ad as rife with errors. The ad says deputies had to sue to get overtime pay when they were actually suing because it was late, not because they didn't get it, he said. A 2000 audit of the department raising concerns about overtime said nothing about delayed payments, though the ad claims the audit is related to the lawsuit, Urquhart said.

"This is a misleading piece; they are misleading the voters," said Urquhart, who spoke from the campaign's office.

Democrats' dispute

In the Democratic race, the Ross campaign distributed an ad urging people to watch out for candidates or others twisting facts or slinging mud about him.

For example, it says Ross supports abortion rights but also thinks parents should know if an underage daughter is getting an abortion.

"When my opponents, or groups supporting them, tell you I'm anti-choice — they're just twisting my words," the ad says.

Both Alben and Behrens-Benedict oppose such parental-consent requirements, and the Alben campaign has worked to highlight his difference with Ross. Karen Cooper, head of the Washington arm of the National Abortion Rights Action League, has sent out e-mails questioning Ross' abortion-rights credentials.

Alben campaign manager Ben Vaught said the Ross mailing suggests the Alben campaign has been trying to smear Ross.

"He's obviously implying that we're doing something we're not. It's a disingenuous piece," he said.

Ross campaign manager Marco Lowe shot back that the complaints from the Alben campaign are themselves a distortion.

"This is an ad asking people to run a clean campaign," he said. "They're even twisting that request in taking issue with it."

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com