Ferguson's campaign cash, including "Zack the Track"
Plus a look at what Inslee's directive on abortion does (and doesn't) change, and some ballot initiative money
One item jumped out at us from Attorney General Bob Ferguson's most recent campaign spending filing with the Public Disclosure Commission: $5,000 to Zach Wurtz for “April research.”
Wurtz is a longtime “tracker” for Democratic politicians, someone who follows Republican opponents in hopes of capturing a damaging piece of audio or video. In many places, it's a young man’s game, but Wurtz has been at it for the better part of two decades.
He inspired this piece from the 2012 campaign for governor by Eli Sanders, then of The Stranger, and this Vice News ridealong from 2018. That notoriety would get Wurtz bounced from GOP events if he tried to track in person nowadays, so he relies on a network of volunteers, who have delivered a variety of tasty tidbits for Ferguson’s campaign to feed to our sisters and brothers in news. Expect more of his work to wind up in campaign ads in the months to come.
Another fun fact, Wurtz has a former and current life as the sports mascot. He was Butch T. Cougar when he was a student at Washington State University and puts on the mask for one of Seattle’s pro sports teams these days.
Back to the campaign cash.
Ferguson hauled in another $491,000 for his bid for governor last month and maintained his commanding lead in the campaign cash race. The Democrat has more than $5 million in hand as the August primary approaches, per his latest filing with the Public Disclosure Commission.
Republican Dave Reichert brought in nearly $400K in May and looks well-positioned to get through the primary for a November matchup with Ferguson. But he’s well behind in the war chest department, with just $1.3M as of the end of May. As we noted in Monday’s edition, Semi Bird, who’s coming at Reichert from the right, is bringing in enough to remain a nuisance to Reichert, but likely not enough to overcome the former congressman’s superior name recognition.
State Sen. Mark Mullet brought in $67K for the month but spent $56K. As we noted a few weeks back, Mullet has more than $300K in the bank, but nearly all of it can’t be spent ahead of the primary because so many of his donors wrote double-maximum checks, one for the primary and one for the general election.
PQ
Inslee affirms right to emergency abortion services in Washington hospitals
Gov. Jay Inslee directed the state Department of Health to clarify an existing rule on the obligations of hospitals to provide emergency medical treatment for patients by specifically defining abortion as part of the standard of care.
Why you should care about this: The U.S. Supreme Court will soon issue its decision in Idaho v. the United States which challenges the longstanding federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Law. EMTALA requires hospitals to medically stabilize patients who appear in the emergency room. Idaho limits abortion care to emergency, life-threatening situations, but the Biden administration argues that EMTALA requires hospitals to provide medically necessary pregnancy termination to restore the health of a pregnant person, not just to prevent their death.
If the Supreme Court issues a decision that weakens EMTALA, it could give discretion to state lawmakers around when and if abortion care is permitted in hospitals.
Currently, Washington’s statute is nonspecific about what emergency medical services hospitals are required to make available to patients. Inslee’s directive tells the DOH to reaffirm in the state law that, in situations where abortion is required as part of emergency treatment, it must be provided to patients.
Inslee says abortion is under threat in Washington, but is it?
Minority Republicans in the Legislature file bills aimed at restricting the right to end a pregnancy, but they die swiftly. The voters have spoken on the issue twice now in 1970 and 1991. Any erosion of abortion rights at the state level would require a massive and extremely implausible political shift involving the Democrats surrendering both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s office.
Since the Dobbs decision in 2022 overturned the federal right to abortion services, Republican-held states have chipped away at doctors’ ability to terminate a pregnancy in emergencies. If the Supreme Court weakens EMTALA, access to emergency abortion services would diminish in anti-choice states. When clinical decisions are delayed because of legal concerns, the health, lives, and future fertility of mothers are jeopardized, University of Washington obstetrician Dr. Sarah Prager said in the press conference.
Regardless of whether Inslee’s directive truly accomplishes anything policy-wise, it’s likely good politics. Democrats have campaigned strongly and successfully on a platform of protecting reproductive choice, particularly since Dobbs.
Inslee’s directive comes in the context of recent mergers that have put more hospitals under the umbrella of large Catholic health care systems.
For example, the Catholic Virginia Mason Franciscan Hospital System1, which manages five hospitals and three health centers in Washington, does not provide voluntary pregnancy termination at their facilities but will refer patients elsewhere for those services.
However, in situations where termination of a pregnancy is medically necessary, doctors are required to act in the interest of the patient, according to the hospital policy. Assuming hospital practices are aligned with stated policies, the new directive should not change how physicians handle medically necessary abortions at these hospitals.
SK
Conservative initiative PAC collects cash from war on gas opponents
Let’s Go Washington, the committee backing three conservative ballot measures this year, pulled in more than $1.2 million in May.
But most of the money is actually for a different ballot measure, Initiative 2066, which is the pushback against the war on gas that we wrote about last week. Let’s Go Washington got $500K directly from the Building Industry Association of Washington and $550K from Main Street Matters to Washington, a PAC set up by the BIAW this year.
There’s also $250K from Kemper Holdings, which is Bellevue developer and longtime Republican megadonor Kemper Freeman, $100K from Spokane Developer Larry Stone, and $100K from Kelley DevCom LLC, which appears to be part of an Ohio-based real estate business.
On the other side of that fight, Defend Washington, a PAC opposing all three initiatives, reported a $100,000 pledge from the Campion Advocacy Fund, which is Zumiez founder Tom Campion and his wife, Sonya. They’re among the handful of millionaires and billionaires who fuel much of Democratic politics in Washington.
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Somebody else’s irksome error
In Monday’s edition, we amplified an error in The Seattle Times on Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s record on oversight of Northwest School of Innovative Learning, which traumatized children with special needs, according to an investigation by The Times. The Attorney General’s Office, in coordination with the appropriate oversight agency, prevented new enrollments at Northwest SOIL but did not initiate legal action, according to reporting from The Times.
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Sara’s chi on the move
Sara’s neighbor from California came to visit with her big dog Huey, who was all too happy to chase the portly Fauci around the backyard. Want to see your pet in this space? Drop us a photo and some caption material.
Conflict of Interest Disclaimer: Virginia Mason Franciscan is a sponsor of our annual Re-Wire Policy Conference, which is one of the ways we pay the bills around here.