Washington State Republican Party

Dino Rossi and state Republicans are pouncing on today's report stating that Washington's unemployment rate has risen to 6.0 percent, up from 5.6 percent in July and 4.5 percent in February, and just slightly below the national unemployment rate of 6.1 percent.

Washington State Republican Party Chair Luke Esser used the news to call Gov. Chris Gregoire "out of touch" for having said that Washington is the "envy of the nation."

Rossi's camp, meanwhile, calls Gregoire's claim that her administration has created more than 200,000 jobs a half truth because the state's unemployment rate is now higher than it was when she took office.

The Washington State Republican Party has agreed to pay a fine of $15,000 for violations in 2004 and 2006 to the Public Disclosure Commission today, the Seattle Times' David Postman is reporting.

According to the story, the Republican Party spent nearly $300,000 on state candidates without notifying them of the money. That meant that the candidates themselves, like Dino Rossi whose 2004 campaign saw $92,000 in last minute spending from the party, did not show up on their PDC reports.

More PolitickerWA.com coverage: Parties attack: Dems mock Rossi on secrecy, Repubs hit Gregoire on children

Frequently the things politicians want to say wind up staying trapped behind their tongues in order to appear above the fray. That is where interest groups and state parties come into play.

Some of the hardest-hitting attacks so far in the governor's race have come from the state Democratic and Republican Parties, who have maintained their anti-Dino Rossi and anti-Chris Gregoire messages throughout the spring and summer. So it continues.

Solicitor General Maureen Hart wrote a letter Friday on behalf of Secretary of State Sam Reed to lawyers from the state Democratic and Republican Parties sticking up for the legality of the state's "top two" primary. Earlier in the week Democrat David McDonald and Republican John White wrote to Reed suggesting that a 9th Circuit Court injunction banning the primary was still in place despite the Supreme Court's decision that it was facially legal.

"Wholly aside from the practical impossibility of your suggestion, there is no legal basis for it," Hart said of the lawyers' claim that the state should cease with the top two primary. "The injunction was based entirely upon the District Court's conclusion that I-872 would facially violate the constitutional rights of the plaintiff political parties - a judgment that has been reversed. An injunction must be obeyed until it is ‘reversed by orderly and proper proceedings.'"

The most recent Elway Poll, done June 18-22, followed up on its gubernatorial preference question by asking would-be voters what they thought "GOP" meant. Three fourths of the 405 registered voters knew that Grand Old Party stood for the Republican Party, but the other twenty-five percent of them got it wrong.

Fifteen percent of the respondents did not know what the acronym stood for while seven percent believed it represented the Democratic Party, and three percent thought something else entirely. Even more significant is that the sample of people who answered incorrectly fell relatively evenly across the political spectrum.

Although Governor Chris Gregoire led the May fundraising battle between her and opponent Dino Rossi, $785,000 to $701,000 and the overall matchup $6.8 million to $5.15 million, the Rossi campaign is claiming that it has raised more money, both in May and throughout the campaign, from in-state individuals and businesses.

The Seattle Times' David Postman first reported this morning that Gregoire received $200,000 of her $785,000 in May from the state Democratic Party. Postman also notes that Gregoire has received $511,000 of the $2 million she has raised since officially beginning her campaign two months ago has come from the state party.

SPOKANE -

At many of the Republican presidential debates, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) proclaimed that he was the real Republican in the race, and the most authentic conservative. Today at the Washingotn State Republican Convention, his supporters felt the same way and hoped to impact the Party platform on those principles.

One of the leaders of the Spokane County Ron Paul delegation, the state's largest, is Jeff Whiteside. Whiteside is a nearly full time volunteer for the campaign and led the organization of the massive Ron Paul congregation across the street from the convention. He explained some of the tactics and purposes of their efforts at the convention to PolitickerWA.com.

Ron Paul supporters gather across from the convention: Politicker Photo

SPOKANE -

The morning session, which focused on establishing the party platform and selecting national delegates, is over and done. The convention goers have had their lunch and are currently heading back into the hall to finish their business. During the break, PolitickerWA.com caught up with two of the GOP's congressional candidates to see what they thought of the day's work.

Larry Ishmael (R-Kirkland), who is seeking to unseat Rep. Jay Inslee in the 1st District, and Steve Beren (R-Seattle) who is taking on Rep. Jim McDermott in the 7th, both appreciated the disagreements in the party, and felt good about the party unification that was coming out in spite of it.

SPOKANE -

Jim Camden at the Spokesman-Review has a detailed recap of the nuts and bolts of Friday's convention action. He reports that the final delegate count to the Republican National Convention is 33 for presumptive nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain, 4 for Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and 3 for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

McCain won Washington's presidential caucus, where half of the state's delegates were awarded, on February 9 with 25 percent of the vote compared to 23 for Huckabee, 22 for Paul and 16 for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. 14 percent were uncommitted. He also won the primary with 50 percent of the vote.