Rob McKenna

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Acting on the judgment of the Public Disclosure Committee, who last week said that two builder's groups had violated campaign finance law in their political advocacy, the attorney general's office has filed lawsuits against the Master Builders Association of King & Snohomish Counties and the Building Industry Association of Washington's Member Services Corporation.

The PDC had determined that the MBA-KC and the BIAW had illegally solicited and spent funds for political means by not disclosing the source of the money. That determination was then sent to Attorney General Rob McKenna's office, who has acted on it.

McKenna will seek civil penalties and reimbursement of the investigation and trial costs against the two groups, who are both subsidiaries of the BIAW. The groups each have a month to respond, and the judges in charge of the case will report their findings on December 19, 2008, over a month after the election.

Acting on the judgment of the Public Disclosure Committee, who last week said that two builder's groups had violated campaign finance law in their political advocacy, the attorney general's office has filed lawsuits against the Master Builders Association of King & Snohomish Counties and the Building Industry Association of Washington's Member Services Corporation.

The PDC had determined that the MBA-KC and the BIAW had illegally solicited and spent funds for political means by not disclosing the source of the money. That determination was then sent to Attorney General Rob McKenna's office, who has acted on it.

McKenna will seek civil penalties and reimbursement of the investigation and trial costs against the two groups, who are both subsidiaries of the BIAW. The groups each have a month to respond, and the judges in charge of the case will report their findings on December 19, 2008, over a month after the election.

John LadenburgComing off of a disappointing primary that saw the Republican incumbent Rob McKenna leading by eleven points across the state and even winning the Pierce County where he was re-elected as executive in 2004 with 60 percent of the vote, Democratic attorney general candidate John Ladenburg came out of the gates today running hard.

Ladenburg's campaign sent out a press release today that did not acknowledge the primary results, and instead focused purely on the issues, which Ladenburg has tried, so far unsuccessfully, to make the centerpiece of this race.

This morning his campaign sent out a top ten list of questions that seek to mark McKenna as unsuccessful on his marquee issues, identity theft and consumer protection. Ladenburg also questions McKenna's comparatively short resume and and wonders why McKenna has not been more of an activist on behalf of citizens while in office.

Attorney General Rob McKenna has issued a statement expressing his thoughts on the early returns from today's "top two" primary that show him with a 12 point lead over Democrat John Ladenburg.

Read the full statement below.

The state's two major party chairmen both painted a rosy picture of their respective factions' outlooks heading into the general election once all of the primary votes are counted.

Democrat Dwight Pelz felt particularly strong about the state's two most hotly contested reaces and Republican Luke Esser had high hopes for the slate of Republican statewide hopefuls.

Newspapers get to endorse candidates, and we're at least as smart as them, so here are our endorsements for statewide candidates in the Washington primary election.

The Washington state gubernatorial race got some more national attention Wednesday when FOX News Special Report reported on the conflict of interest allegations being made by some state Republicans over Gov. Chris Gregoire's negotiations with the Service Employees International Union while they help sponsor television ads that attack Dino Rossi, and large donations from some state tribes to the state Democratic Party. Both negotiations, as the report mentions, were deemed legal by Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna.

Rossi himself was interviewed on the program, where he raised the idea of corruption by the state's majority party.

"When you have one party," Rossi told FOX, "whether it is Republican or Democrat, that is in power so long you end up with the appearance of institutional corruption, and that is what this looks like."

A new poll shows Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire with a large lead over Republican challenger Dino Rossi. The survey, which took place July 27-31 with a relatively small sample of 405 registered voters, had Gregoire up by a count of 52 percent to 36 percent with 12 percent undecided. Gregoire defeated Rossi in 2004 in the closest election in state history, and forecasters have been labeling their rematch one of the tightest gubernatorial races in the nation.

Because of the delayed reporting date for July, in accordance with the seismic changes in the Public Disclosure Commission's website this summer, June's and July's entries in PolitickerWA.com's money races at a glance series have been combined into one post.

The first number listed is contributions, the second number is expenditures and the third number is the difference between the two. Precluding any unusual circumstances, that third number in bold is equal to cash on hand. The candidate with the most cash on hand is listed at the top of each section. Asterisk denotes incumbent.

With the exception of the gubernatorial and attorney general races, in-kind contributions were ignored and significant campaign loans and personal candidate contributions have been noted in parentheses where applicable.

See April's figures here, and May's figures here and the latest number after the jump.