Cantwell debt still substantial

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's campaign debt remains substantial, according to the latest financial-disclosure reports — although most of it is owed to the senator herself.

Reports released yesterday revealed the Democratic senator from Washington state made little progress late last year in erasing what's owed for her 2000 Senate victory over former Republican Sen. Slade Gorton.

Cantwell's campaign committee told the Federal Election Commission that it still carried $3.8 million in debt at the end of December.

That included $543,000 owed to vendors and banks and nearly $3.3 million owed to the senator personally.

That number is far above the $1.2 million Cantwell's spokesman, Jed Lewison, said she owed earlier this week when former President Clinton came to Seattle for a fund-raiser. He couldn't explain why his number didn't match the commission's, but said the new one is correct. The $1.2 million may have related to the amount of money Cantwell raised in the first half of last year.

Lewison said Cantwell's goal is to concentrate on chipping away at the commercial debt, then pay herself back.

"She is committed to continuing retiring the debt and, to the extent possible, to retire all of the debt," Lewison said.

Cantwell raised $1.2 million in the first half of last year, but just $383,000 in the second half.

A variety of factors slowed down her debt-crunching efforts. The summer was a slow fund-raising time, and after Sept. 11, "there were not even thoughts of doing a significant amount of fund-raising," Lewison said.

Congress was also busy in November and December. And, Lewison said, many checks arrived this month and have yet to be reported.

The bulk were from the Clinton fund-raising lunch Monday. Lewison said the event brought in $325,000, more than double what had been predicted. The money from that event was not included in the latest commission filings.

Hefty campaign IOUs weren't something Cantwell ever imagined having to deal with when she launched her bid to unseat Gorton. She planned to spend her high-tech fortune rather than take unregulated "soft money" or contributions from political fund-raising committees, or PACs. During the campaign, she made campaign-finance reform her signature issue.

But when the stock market tanked, so did the value of her holdings with her former employer, Seattle-based RealNetworks.

A year ago, the campaign owed $4.2 million to banks and other creditors. The debt was restructured in March to allow Cantwell to shoulder it personally, and a fund-raising drive began.

The campaign has cost her at least $13 million.

The Washington state Republican Party has been critical of Cantwell's money woes. Chairman Chris Vance repeatedly has said Cantwell told voters she didn't need to spend time raising money and could instead concentrate on their issues.

"Maria Cantwell told us that she would be a different kind of politician," he said. "Because she was rich, she wouldn't have to spend her time raising money. ... The hypocrisy continues."

Seattle Times staff reporter Susan Gilmore contributed to this report