Democrats worried by emerging liberal force

By David Postman
Seattle Times chief political reporter

	Ken Alhadeff
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Some of the country's top Democratic political operatives were in Seattle this week courting some rich party donors for a new campaign to help whichever Democrat faces George W. Bush next year.

They left with donations and pledges for more for the Joint Victory Campaign, a partnership of two newly formed organizations that say they will raise more than $100 million for voter outreach and a media campaign.

At least some of the money will be spent here. America Coming Together — which along with the Media Fund makes up the Joint Victory Campaign — says Washington is one of its 17 battleground states and that it will soon open a Seattle office.

The political committees are among those formed since Congress passed campaign-finance reform last year that barred political parties from accepting "soft money" donations. The groups can still accept those donations and do many of the chores that were the purview of the party.

Contributors say they see the groups as the most effective way to deliver a focused message in the campaign against President Bush's re-election.

But there is an emerging discontent among Democratic Party officials and representatives of interest groups that traditionally back the party. They worry about the loss of money, attention and effort that is shifting to the new groups, from high-profile operations backed by well-known people to little-known groups with ill-defined missions.

"There is an absolute proliferation of these groups, and one doesn't know what the other is doing," said Washington state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt.

The new groups were a side discussion at a meeting Wednesday night in Olympia of party officials and representatives of unions and trial attorneys — a loosely organized group of Democratic interest groups that calls itself "The Friends."

"They were grousing about it and saying, 'What the hell is this?' " Berendt said. "There was a genuine feeling that this was a disaster."

Response to campaign law

A number of new left-leaning, political groups popped up Whack-a-Mole-like as Congress thought it was putting the hammer to soft money. Congress passed the McCain-Feingold law last year prohibiting soft money donations to parties. Unlike the parties, the political committees can still receive soft money donations, which can be used for voter outreach, get-out-the vote campaigns and issue ads that can criticize a candidate's record but cannot advocate a vote for a candidate.

Some of the groups are organized as so-called "527s" under the IRS code that allows for groups to raise unlimited donations of unregulated soft money.

America Coming Together is a political action committee regulated by the Federal Election Commission. It accepts both unlimited soft money donations and "hard money" donations limited to $5,000, which can go directly to candidates. It is working with the Media Fund, and when money is raised for the partnership it goes to what is called the Joint Victory Campaign, according to Lorraine Voles, a D.C. consultant working for the group.

America Coming Together was announced in August. It is run by the leaders of five organizations that back and finance Democratic candidates. Those leaders include Ellen Malcolm, president of Emily's List, a women's fund-raising group, Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, and union officials.

The Media Fund is headed by Harold Ickes, a former top adviser to the Clintons.

America Coming Together will concentrate on voter outreach, identifying likely Democratic voters and working to get them to vote in November, Voles said.

The Media Fund will focus on an advertising campaign.

Donors meeting in Seattle

On Monday, Ickes and Malcolm were in Seattle for private meetings with donors, said Ken Alhadeff, a Seattle real-estate investor and major Democratic donor. Organizers or attendees would not say who showed up for the local meetings.

Alhadeff said he would donate office space for the new America Coming Together field office in Seattle. He also donated money and said he will give more, though he hasn't yet decided how much.

"I personally believe this is the most effective thing I could do politically at this time on a national level," he said.

America Coming Together was seeded with $10 million from billionaire international financier George Soros.

"Unfortunately, to get it off the ground we have to start with really wealthy people," said Alhadeff. "It is not just about rich, powerful Americans. But the beginning of America Coming Together is trying to get a strong economic base."

Peter Goldman, a Seattle attorney and environmental activist, said he pledged a "substantial sum."

Alhadeff and Goldman said America Coming Together will present a cogent, focused message to help defeat Bush no matter who the Democratic nominee is. They say it's a very different approach from what they've been used to as members of the highest echelons of the Democratic Party and financiers of Seattle's progressive politics.

"We're not looking to go through the party, which has all kinds of agendas and deals to cut," Goldman said.

He said environmental groups that he supports financially and other interest groups are upset that so much money is going to America Coming Together because it doesn't necessarily get spent on their priority issues. It also is likely to be spent elsewhere because the group has given its higher priority to other states.

As a fervent environmentalist, Goldman understands the concern.

"It isn't easy to part with big money and not advance your favorite issue," he said.

Bruce Gryniewski, executive director of Washington Conservation Voters, said he hopes local efforts won't suffer.

"I respect Peter's decision and the decision of others to get rid of Bush," he said. "I know that's a top priority and that's one strategy. But another strategy is to continue to build the capacity for environmental politics in our state, and I hope and I believe Peter and others will be with us and share that vision."

Larry Shannon, government-affairs director for the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, said his organization — a mainstay in Democratic politics — has received many solicitations from groups looking for money.

"Until we can get a better sense of who these people are and what they are up to, I don't think we will be making any decision or commitments ... ," he said. "I would share the concern that this could dilute efforts in ways that are not as effective and efficient as they may have been in the past."

Alhadeff said it's a very different experience than the usual scene surrounding big-dollar donors.

"They don't even have autographed pens to give me," he said. "There are no trinkets. There isn't even an event. It's very refreshing."

To those who complain that the traditional party machinery is being neglected, Alhadeff said something different is needed because "we haven't done a very good job. We keep saying we're the party of the people but we don't win the vote of the people."

Fewer regulations

Campaign-finance watchdogs have expressed concern about groups surfacing this year because they operate under fewer regulations than the political parties. While a Republican-backed group was recently announced, the Democrats have led the way with the new organizations.

Despite concerns such as Berendt's that the efforts could hurt the party, there also is suspicion that the groups are working in close coordination with the Democratic Party.

"There's barely a hair's width of difference between these groups and the political parties," said Steven Weiss, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics.

He said that the groups could violate the spirit if not the letter of the McCain-Feingold restrictions.

"It's former political-party operators (who) are running them," Weiss said. "These new groups really are an effort by the political parties to come as close as they legally can to raising and spending soft money."

Republicans have criticized the efforts as fronts for the Democratic party and blatant attempts to subvert McCain-Feingold.

"I guess the question becomes, 'Is what they're doing in the spirit at least of campaign finance reform?' " said Jim Dyke, spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

Berendt said the proliferation of the groups may be fueled by political consultants and other operatives who feared the loss of soft money could hurt their bottom line.

"I believe that there is tremendous anxiety running through the veins of every political leader in Washington, D.C., on how to save their political careers in the aftermath of McCain-Feingold," Berendt said. "There's been this infrastructure built on a set of criteria and rules, and this is all a lot of these people could come up with to continue to operate."

David Postman: 360-943-9882 or dpostman@seattletimes.com

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