PORT ANGELES — Challenger Cathy Marshall and three-term incumbent Rick Porter have raised similar amounts in their heated race for Porter’s nonpartisan Clallam County District Court 1 judge position, according to the most recent filings with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Porter, 55, a Port Angeles resident, has raised $12,419 to Marshall’s $11,263, with Porter almost entirely using his own money.
Marshall, 60, a Sequim resident, has loaned her campaign $8,003 and received $500 from the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe and $1,000 from Clallam County Democrats, which endorsed her.
County party Secretary John Marrs said Thursday he “can’t answer categorically” why the organization would endorse someone in a nonpartisan race.
“She asked for an endorsement,” Marrs said.
“Her presentation was sound, and we like her profile, the way she presented herself in terms of what she thought she could bring to the office.”
Marshall, an assistant state attorney general in the agency’s Port Angeles, office, said Thursday she asked both political parties to endorse her.
The Republican Party of Clallam County endorsed Porter but did not donate to his campaign.
“We decided Porter was doing a better job,” county party Chairman Dick Pilling said Thursday.
Judicial candidates cannot personally ask for campaign donations, Marshall and Porter said Thursday in separate interviews.
But they can ask for votes by doorbelling, planting campaign signs and buying newspaper advertising, which they both did.
The election boundaries covered by District Court 1 stretch from Diamond Point west to the west end of Lake Crescent and include Joyce.
Marshall had 350 to 400 campaign signs she put “mainly wherever anyone allowed us to put up a sign,” she said.
Porter had about 100 campaign signs advocating his candidacy.
“I opted this time not to use a whole lot of smaller signs,” Porter said.
He did not take campaign donations from political parties or lawyers, though his campaign treasurer is Port Angeles lawyer Dave Neupert, also a District Court 1 judge pro tem.
“If you are accepting large contributions from interest groups or lawyers, it just brings into question your judicial independence,” Porter said.
Marshall accepted a $249.99 contribution from lawyer Tim Davis, who works in her office.
If Marshall is elected, “he would never appear before me,” she said.
She also received $100 from Port Angeles attorney Harry Gasnick of nonprofit Clallam Public Defender.
“It’s not a conflict of interest,” Marshall said.
“If someone donates to my campaign, it doesn’t mean they get any special favors.”
Marshall sent one mailer Oct. 15, the day general election ballots were mailed to voters, that cost her campaign $7,079.
It was targeted to people who voted in the past two general elections.
Most of Porter’s expenditures have been in newspaper and radio advertising, he said.
Porter had intended to spend less than $5,000, which would have limited his reporting requirements.
But shortly after the Aug. 4 primary, in which neither participated, he asked the state Public Disclosure Commission if he could exceed that limit so he could increase his campaign advertising.
“Initially, we had not intended to do that, just because at the beginning, we had no idea how aggressive a campaign this was going to be, is all,” Porter said.
“We just decided it was worth it.”
Marshall agreed that the campaign has become intense.
“I’d say it’s been somewhat aggressive,” she said.
A quarter-page ad critical of Porter by Richard Wade of Clallam County in Tuesday’s Peninsula Daily News titled “TWELVE YEARS IS ENOUGH” was answered Wednesday by a quarter-page ad from Porter’s re-election committee that was signed by Port Angeles lawyer Stan Myers.
The ad, which Porter said he reviewed, ended with the following statement:
“The Marshall campaign has repeatedly made similar false claims in a desperate attempt to smear Judge Porter’s reputation.”
Marshall said Thursday she had not read the ad.
“From what I’ve heard it says, it’s a lie,” she said in an email.
A list of Marshall’s and Porter’s campaign contributions and expenditures is at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Campaigndollars.
Below are contributors from the North Olympic Peninsula who have donated $100 or more to Marshall’s campaign as of Monday’s filings:
■ $1,000: Clallam County Democrats, Port Angeles
■ $500: Nina Richards, Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, Port Angeles
■ $150: Eugene Turner, Port Angeles
■ $100: Harry Gasnick, Susan Bazan, By Design Group Inc., Guy Header, Bev Header, Sequim
Below are contributors from the North Olympic Peninsula who have donated $100 or more to Porter’s campaign:
■ $100: Alice McKeever, Robert McGonigel, Sequim
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
