"Promoters of a giant coal export terminal, proposed for north of Bellingham, have given $40,000 to the Washington Republican Party, bucks that a Western Washington University professor suspects are being funneled into campaigns of sympathetic but officially 'non-partisan' Whatcom County Council candidates."
"'It appears that Pacific International Terminals and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad have earmarked campaign funds given to the state Republican Party such that these funds exclusively benefit candidates in Whatcom County,' Todd Donovan, a WWU political scientist and elections expert, said in a filing with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
No way, responded state Republican Party spokesman Keith Schipper: 'The state party does not accept earmarked funds. Period.'"
Joel Connelly reports for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer October 2, 2013.
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