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Gas Tax Foes Use Financial Report As Political Tool

Posted on: Friday, 15 July 2005, 18:01 CDT

Jul. 15--Bristling under a judge's ruling they say will stifle free speech, opponents of the recent hike in the state's gas tax this week filed a state campaign report that was as much a political statement as a financial accounting.

The report, filed by the group nonewgastax.com, listed as contributors every media outlet that ran a letter to the editor, editorial, commentary or news story referencing its initiative to repeal the 9.5 percent gas tax increase lawmakers passed this year.

That includes The News Tribune and more than two dozen other newspapers and radio and television stations around the state.

Under state campaign finance law, news stories, commentaries and editorials aren't considered campaign contributions. But nonewgastax.com says that could change under a Thurston County Superior Court decision this month, which the group says could threaten the media's ability to comment on politics.

Judge Chris Wickham ordered nonew gastax.com to report as campaign contributions on-air exhortations supporting the initiative, I-912, by talk radio show hosts on KVI-570 AM.

The ruling, in a lawsuit brought by Seattle, Auburn and Kent and San Juan County, could set a dangerous precedent, said nonewgastax.com spokesman Brett Bader, whose group is considering an appeal.

"It's completely irresponsible, because it could have a chilling effect on what various types of media can talk about," said Bader. He filed the monthly campaign finance report with the state's Public Disclosure Commission.

"I'm doing this to a degree because I believe it is in compliance with the judges' ruling," he said, asserting Wickham wasn't clear about what types of media coverage counts as contributions. "Every time someone wrote about our campaign -- either positively or negatively -- it helped our campaign, and that's what was being alleged about KVI."

On-air support for I-912 in June, when nonewgastax.com collected the bulk of the 420,000 signatures that are expected to earn the initiative a spot on the November ballot, was reported as a $40,000 contribution from KVI's parent company, Fisher Communications.

The report singled out on-air support from two KVI hosts, John Carlson and Kirby Wilbur, as being worth $750 and $160, respectively, in June.

Meanwhile, The News Tribune's news stories and editorials were worth $750, according to the report, while The Seattle Times' coverage was worth $1,500.

"Papers with larger circulations that covered us were given a higher value than papers with smaller circulation," Bader explained. "TV stations in Seattle -- their contributions were given a higher value than those in Yakima."

The Public Disclosure Commission hasn't decided what to do about the report or the ruling, which took the form of a temporary injunction.

Though the commission doesn't read the injunction as requiring the reporting of news coverage as contributions, assistant director Doug Ellis said it will likely let the nonewgastax.com report stand as long as no one complains about being inaccurately listed as a contributor.

Meanwhile, he said the commission will wait for a final decision from the courts before deciding whether to respond. "It's not a small issue," Ellis said of the potential precedent.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The News Tribune

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