Fuse levels accusation of illegal Rossi fundraising

By Bryan Bissell, PolitickerWA.com Reporter

Seattle-based Fuse, a progressive interest group who was active in publicizing last week's Public Disclosure Commission case against the Building Industry Association of Washington, is once again pushing a potentially unlawful move involving the BIAW.

Fuse has obtained material from attorney Knoll Lowney, who was involved with the PDC case, showing that Rossi had contact with senior members of the Master Builder's Association, a subsidiary of the BIAW, at the time that they were planning how to fund their ChangePAC.

Minutes from a chair officers meeting on May 21, 2007 show that three senior members of the MBA, Doug Barnes, John Day and Jim Potter, had received personal telephone calls from Rossi, and at least one member told Rossi of the BIAW's plan to transfer money from pension funds into the BIAW's ChangePAC coffers. The same action, done without disclosing contributors, was found to be illegal by the PDC and is currently facing charges from the attorney general's office.

At that point in time the BIAW had already decided on supporting Rossi for governor in 2008, though he had yet to declare his candidacy.

"Buildergate is a major scandal for Dino Rossi - he was undeniably directly involved in an illegal fundraising campaign orchestrated by an ultraconservative trade association of powerful developers," said Aaron Ostrom, Executive Director of Fuse. "And this may just be the tip of the iceberg."

Fuse is now calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to fully investigate Rossi's role relative to the third party spending, and has created an online petition to send to Attorney General Rob McKenna stating just that. It is illegal for a candidate to coordinate with third parties during an election.

The Rossi campaign called the allegations "frivolous" and reiterated that the candidate was cleared by the PDC for similar complaint earlier this cycle.

Their statement is below:

"This is simply more flailing from a desperate campaign and its allies. Last week it was the silly lawsuit over the use of ‘GOP,' and this week it is this frivolous allegation - all in an attempt to distract voters from issues like the $3.2 billion deficit the incumbent has created. I can't wait to see what they will accuse us of next week.

"While it is nice of Knoll Lowney to offer to his own summation of the evidence, all the meeting minutes show is that Dino Rossi spoke to members of the Master Builders Association in May, 2007 before he was a candidate.

"The PDC staff after a three month investigation found no evidence that Dino Rossi had decided to run for governor before October 11, 2007. Prior to that date, Dino made clear to the Master Builders, and anyone else who asked, that he had not decided whether or not to run for office. He was free to say whatever he wanted, to whomever he wanted, and he certainly did not ask anyone to do anything illegal or unethical."

Fuse, responding to the Rossi campaign, insisted that these are serious charges and that Rossi refused to address the question of whether or not he made fundraising phone calls on behalf of the BIAW.

Bryan Bissell is a PolitickerWA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

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