Local business leaders enrich Rossi's campaign

WASHINGTON — Some of the biggest corporate titans locally and nationally are backing Republican Dino Rossi's run for the U.S. Senate, according to Rossi's latest quarterly campaign-fundraising report.

The list of Rossi's donors include the Nordstrom family, wireless pioneers Craig and Bruce McCaw and their wives, former Weyerhaeuser executive George Weyerhaeuser, developer Martin Selig, Paccar Chairman Mark Pigott and his father, Charles, and Bartell Drugs CEO George Bartell.

Rossi also has attracted financial support from marquee executives from out of state. Among them are Charles Schwab, founder of the San Francisco discount brokerage that carries his name, and August A. Busch III, retired chairman of the St. Louis beer behemoth Anheuser Busch.

Rossi has staked his candidacy in part on a pro-business, anti-tax, anti-regulation platform. He outpaced his Democratic rival Sen. Patty Murray in fundraising during the third quarter, $4.4 million to $3.3 million.

Rossi entered the Senate race unusually late, at the end of May. He filed his most recent two months of fundraising details Friday; the 2,000-page report became available at the Senate Secretary's office Monday. Murray has filed hers as well, but the paper report is not yet publicly available.

Rossi reported he had $3.5 million in cash left at the end of September. Murray reported $1.2 million on hand.

Both Rossi and Murray tout that the majority of their campaign donations come from individuals. But contributions from people who send in $200 or even $20 typically are overshadowed by sums that flow in from big donors who give the maximum.

Individuals can give a candidate $2,400 for a primary and another $2,400 for a general-election campaign. Political-action committees are permitted to give $5,000 per election.

Rossi's spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

As is the case with most candidates, many contributors to Rossi's campaign listed their occupations as retiree, homemaker or self-employed. But among the rest, several industries stood out, including real estate, financial services and investment banking, and auto dealerships.

Owners and executives at more than a half-dozen major auto dealerships have given up to $4,800 each to Rossi's campaign this year. They include owners and executives of Barrier Motors of Bellevue, Titus-Will Automotive Group of Olympia, Chuck Olson Chevrolet in Shoreline, and Courtesy Auto Group, a Ford dealership in Poulsbo.

Auto dealers successfully lobbied to be exempt from oversight by the consumer-protection bureau created under the financial-industry overhaul passed by Congress. Rossi favors repealing the entire legislation.

In addition, at least four executives and directors at Moneytree, a privately owned Seattle-area payday-loan company, gave the maximum contributions to Rossi's elections.

Rossi has collected $365,000 — 9 percent of his contributions — during the third quarter from political-action committees (PACs) and other organizations. Among them are PACS for oil giants Koch Industries and Halliburton, the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund and the R.J. Reynolds PAC.

Kyung Song: 202-662-7455 or ksong@seattletimes.com. Seattle Times news researcher Gene Balk contributed to this report.