Sen. Murray allies take aim at Nethercutt's claim

By Jim Brunner
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Retired Rear Adms. John Lockwood and J. David Spade and Cmdr. Kenneth Armstrong sent a letter to Nethercutt defending Murray's record on port security and Coast Guard issues. They said that contrary to the claim in the radio ad, Murray fought to increase the Coast Guard budget when she was chairwoman of an appropriations panel.

"Patty Murray is a nationally recognized leader on providing for the defense of our country — to suggest otherwise, as you do, simply does not square with the facts," the letter said.

Nethercutt said he would not pull the ads and insisted Murray did try to cut the Coast Guard's budget.

But an examination of the budget in dispute shows Nethercutt's claim to be misleading at best.

The radio ads say Murray "led the effort to cut the president's Coast Guard budget after 9/11." As evidence, Nethercutt cites a budget proposed by Murray in 2002 as chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee.

Nethercutt claimed that bill gave the Coast Guard $121 million less than President Bush had requested.

However, Nethercutt's assertion left out $300 million in defense money that Murray's committee recommended go toward the Coast Guard.

Murray's appropriations bill clearly called for a total Coast Guard budget that was $179 million more than the president's request and $11 million more than the U.S. House version of the same bill.

Murray also authored three other appropriations bills as head of the committee that also sought to boost Coast Guard funding.

Nethercutt's campaign has tried to claim Murray can't take credit for the defense portion of the Coast Guard budget. But a review of past budgets shows defense money has routinely been incorporated, and Murray's request was no different.
 
In fact, Nethercutt's campaign counted defense money in its calculations of the president's Coast Guard budget proposal, while failing to count it toward the Senate version.

The three retired Coast Guard officers pointed out that Murray has fought to get funding for many specific Coast Guard operations, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. For example, Murray has championed money for anti-terrorist SWAT teams that now patrol Puget Sound.

"I just feel strongly that the senator has done a heck of a job supporting the Coast Guard and port security," Lockwood said in an interview yesterday. Now a maritime consultant, Lockwood retired from the Coast Guard after 37 years in 1997.

Nethercutt's radio ads, which attack Murray on one of her pet issues — port security — have been the subject of back-and-forth sniping between the campaigns all week.

In addition to the dubious Coast Guard claim, the Nethercutt ads generally paint Murray as "wrong" on port security.

The ads say Nethercutt would focus on catching terrorists overseas before they have a chance to reach U.S. ports. They also say Murray has voted against increased funding for the Navy at least 25 times.

Murray's campaign has not publicly disputed those votes, but a campaign aide yesterday noted that most of the votes Nethercutt cited were huge appropriations bills of which the Navy was only a part.

Nethercutt said he'd continue to press Murray on defense issues.

Taken as a whole, Nethercutt said Murray's Senate tenure "shows a pattern of voting against defense" that has harmed U.S. security.

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com