Connelly: Another big oil company drops $100,000 into state Senate race

Jinyoung Lee Englund, Republican candidate for the State Senate in pivotal 45th District race. The district enbraces Kirkland, Woodinville and part of Redmond. . Jinyoung Lee Englund, Republican candidate for the State Senate in pivotal 45th District race. The district enbraces Kirkland, Woodinville and part of Redmond. . Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Connelly: Another big oil company drops $100,000 into state Senate race 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A second big oil company has cut a $100,000 check to support Republicans' bid to keep control of the Washington State Senate, in a special election on the Eastside which is becoming the most costly legislative race in Washington history.

Chevron has joined Phillips 66 in making a six-figure donation to a Republican front group backing GOP candidate Jinyoung Englund in the 45th District (Redmond, Kirkland, Sammamish, Woodinville).

Curiously, the recipients of big money are spelling-challenged.

The donation to Enterprise Washington's Jobs PAC was recorded as coming from "Cheveron." Last month, the Phillips 66 donation was reported going to "Citizens for Progress Enterpise Washington." The "r" was left out of Enterprise.

A protege of U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and veteran Republican operative at a young age, Englund has raised $723,799 and spent $469,000, according to Public Disclosure Commission records.

But a bevy of Republican front groups has already -- before summer is half over -- poured in more than $1 million.

Much of the money has gone to attack ads, personal and nasty, directed at Democratic candidate Manka Dhingra, a King County senior deputy prosecutor who has lived in the district for two decades. (Englund has just recently moved in.) . One pro-Englund ad has used a picture of Dhingra's husband in a turban.

Dhingra has raised $695,350 and spent more than $461,000.

The biggest Republican fronts are outfits called Citizens for Progress Enterprise, Enterprise Washington's Jobs PAC and an outfit called Working Families, not to be confused with progressive groups of the same name. Together, they have taken in more than $1.4 million.

They are vehicles for funneling money from Republican-aligned groups, e.g. the Washington Association of Realtors, Washington Hospitality Association, Puget Sound Energy, the Washington Farm Bureau and Georgia Pacific (owned by the Koch brothers), into the race.

The oil company donations, and money pouring in from Republican-aligned business groups, amount to far more than what labor unions, trial lawyers, environmentalists and educators have put behind Dhingra.

The two political parties are already slugging it out, with Democrats charging that Englund is anti-choice and pro-Trump, while Republicans say Democrats are bent on enacting some form of state income tax.

In a reddit.com "ask me anything" session, Dhingra said Friday: "Our state has one of the most regressive tax systems in the country and we do need tax reform. I think a good place to start is choosing the tax break for the top 2-3 percent when it comes to capital gains, and making sure we exclude retirement accounts."

The Republicans say a capital gains tax would be the camel's nose under the tent for an income tax.

The GOP has seized on an interview Gov. Jay Inslee gave to the News Tribune of Tacoma, in which the governor talked about rolling back a property tax swap enacted by the Legislature to pay for education.

The tax swap would hit hard at property taxes in Seattle, Bellevue and Mercer Island. Instead, Inslee favors a carbon tax and/or a capital gains tax.

"If Manka Dhingra wins, taxes go up: And there will be a drive for a new tax -- income tax, income tax on capital gains, regressive carbon taxes are the options that have been pushed," Alex Hays, longtime leader of Mainstream Republicans of Washington, wrote Friday on his Facebook page.

An indication of the slugfest to come: In 2014, Republican state Sen. Andy Hill raised $880,000 for his campaign, while Democratic challenger Matt Isenhower raised about half that sum. Front groups were active, but on nowhere near the scale already seen this year. (The death of Hill from cancer last fall triggered the special election.)

The first test of strength will come at 8:30 Tuesday evening, with the first "dump" of primary election returns.

The big mid-summer blitz by Republican fronts is a sure sign of deep worry about Englund's showing in the primary.

The stakes are high; high enough to draw national attention (and big oil company donations).

If Democrats flip the 45th District, they take control of the state Senate and the Legislature. The Senate, House and governor's office would be in Democratic hands. The Republicans -- and one renegade Democrat -- currently have a 25-24 Senate majority.