At last the election is upon us.  Based on the latest polls, it certainly appears that Sen. Brack Obama is on his way to an historic election victory.  No matter how you vote or where you stand on the issues, electing an African-Amercian to the highest office in the nation is quite an achievement.  It could turn out differently but based on the size of the crowds that are turning out for Sen. Obama's appearances, he seems poised to win the presidency.

Here at home, it looks to be a repeat of the 2004 gubernatorial race with Dino Rossi and Chris Gregoire neck and neck.  My guess is that it will be at least a week and probably more before we know who wins. 

I am sure you are all tired of the political ads on TV, radio and direct mail.  Remember that campaigns are just very sophisticated advertising and the content of ads should be taken with many grains of salt.  Look at each candidates actual record and actual statements on the issues and tune out the noise.

Other than the candidates' campaigns, who else is funding all the hype for and against the gubernatorial, statewide and legislative races?  The best place to go for this information is the state's Public Disclosure Commission, www.pdc.wa.gov.  Here you can look up who gives what to whom, from business, issue and union PACs to the legislative caucuses to how the candidates themselves are spending the contributions that organizations like ours give to them.  The one flaw is that you cannot tell exactly how much particular corporations or individuals give unless you check each campaign.  However if you look up the largest contributions to any given campaign, you will get a good idea who the biggest corporate givers are. 

So who are the largest political spenders based on today's PDC records?  ChangePAC, one of the building industry's largest PACs is the top spender at $7.2 million.  They are followed by Evergreen Progress at $6.1 million.  The top five contributors to Evergreen Progress are the Democratic Governors Association, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), The Washington Education Association (teachers), the National Education Association (the teachers national PAC) and the Washington Federation of State Employees.  Both ChangePAC and Evergreen Progress are spending most of their money against either Gregoire or Rossi.  The most egregious ads have come from these two groups.  What is interesting is that Evergreen Progress is getting a very large amount of its funding from out of state entities, while ChangePAC is funded exclusively by in-state builders.  The builders take a lot of heat from the media and the unions but at least the builders are getting their money from Washington state businesses.

Who rounds out the top ten by expenditures?  These are adjusted for transfers among related PACs.  Realtors PAC at $1.5 mil, WEA at $1.2 mil, SEIU at $1 mil, Committee for Balanced Stewardship (timber industry) at $592K, Working Families Coalition (union) at $496K, Citizens for Washington (mostly SEIU funded) at $425K, People for Jobs (business funded for House Republican candidates) at $386K, another SEIU PAC at $367K and the Washington State Dental PAC at $338K.

There are 41 additional PACs that have spent over $100,000 in this election, a mix of business, union and specific sector groups, like the chiropractors, bankers, nursing homes, hospitals, trial lawyers, environmentalists, state troopers, police officers and others.  Don't let anyone tell you that "big business" domniates political spending in our state, unless you count unions and trial lawyers as "big business".

So, where does the tech industry stand in all this?  By spending the WTIA PAC (still called the WA Software Association PAC) is 113th and by contributions to the PAC we are 133rd.  Considering the economic value the tech industry provides to the state and the wealth that the tech industry generates, this is actually pretty weak.  We should have a much heftier PAC than many if not most unions and business groups.  If we did, our voice in Olympia would be heard more clearly.  As it is, groups like the SEIU and the WEA can bully legislators (and they do) into voting for their pet legislation, when often it is to the detriment of the state budget or any good public policy.  If legislators don't go along these groups can run initiatives, as SEIU is doing with I-1029 and fund "hit pieces" against them.

Now, we have no intention to be bullies but we do ask for improvements to K-12 and higher education, along with a good business climate for the tech industry.  Generally we have been successful in Olympia but is has been despite our political activity, not because of it.   Many lawmakers do understand that we provide good jobs, generate a lot of valuable economic activity for the state and get involved in our local schools and other worthy causes.

Let's work on building up the tech industry's PAC now.  Here is a link to our website where you can download a contribution form.  You can contribute any amount but $100 gets you on the PAC committee so you can be part of the decision making process of who gets our money.  http://www.washingtontechnology.org/pages/advocacy/advocacy_wsa_pac.asp

According to the PDC, about $41 million has been spent on campaigns by all the various PACs for the last 2 years.  To put that in perspective, $2.5 BILLION was spent by U.S. consumers in 2007 on sporting goods--and that was just online.

Thanks and don't forget to vote!