PAC pumps money into judicial race

By Jeremy Pawloski | The Olympian • Published August 08, 2008

A political action committee for the Olympia Master Builders has spent $45,680 to support Thurston County Superior Court Judge Gary Tabor's re-election campaign against Prosecuting Attorney Ed Holm.

The money spent by Olympia-based People's Choice for Leadership, a PAC for Olympia Master Builders, has gone toward a large postcard listing Tabor's qualifications that was mailed to county voters, as well as ads on Intercity Transit buses. Progress for Our Community, another PAC for Olympia Master Builders, is the sole contributor to People's Choice for Leadership.

Tabor said he was unaware the PAC had spent the money supporting him until after the fact.

"I didn't solicit any of this," he said. "... I wasn't consulted, and I didn't know what it would be."

Will Stakelin, government-affairs director for the Olympia Master Builders, said that's by design.

Under the state Public Disclosure Commission's rules on judicial race expenditures, independent spending on candidates must be made without informing or consulting a candidate.

"We've done everything 100 percent by the book," Stakelin said.

Holm said in an interview Thursday that he is "shocked" by the sum being spent by the Olympia Master Builders' PAC on Tabor.

"That's a lot of money," Holm said of the $45,680.

Holm said he knows of no other examples of the Olympia Master Builders' PAC getting involved in local judicial races.

"It's so unusual and so strange," he said. "It just looks strange, but I don't know what it means."

Tabor said that if he wins, he will have an ethical obligation to disclose that Olympia Master Builders contributed to his campaign if he is assigned to handle any cases involving the group.

Also, any attorney — for either a plaintiff or a defendant — in a case involving Olympia Master Builders assigned to Tabor would have an automatic right to have the judge recused from hearing the case, Tabor said. The case then would be assigned to another judge.

Stakelin said Olympia Master Builders isn't looking for judicial favoritism. He said Tabor simply is the best man for the job.

"The reality is it doesn't work that way," Stakelin said. "We just want a good judge on the bench, bottom line."