The Seattle political consulting firm Moxie Media was hit with one of the biggest fines in state history for a 2010 campaign scheme that helped oust a Democratic state senator. Some hoped the bad publicity would harm business this election season, but that's not what happened. Moxie Media had a big year.
If you were looking for another small reminder of why political campaigning is sometimes known as the dark arts, consider the case of Moxie Media.
Last December, the Seattle political consulting firm agreed to pay the state $290,000 in fines and legal costs — one of the largest settlements of its kind in Washington — for a campaign scheme that helped oust a Democratic state senator from Everett.
Moxie shuffled money among shell committees during the 2010 primary to promote a little-known Republican and conceal the source of misleading robocalls and mailers against then-state Sen. Jean Berkey. She had been targeted by unions, trial lawyers and other groups who backed a more liberal Democratic rival.
Moxie's tactics were widely condemned, and some critics suggested the firm should be shunned to show that such dirty campaign tactics would not be tolerated.
And how'd that work out?
Moxie's business doubled. The firm landed some of the most coveted Democratic political contracts of 2012, grossing nearly $2 million for state-level consulting and direct-mail work, according to state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) filings. That's twice Moxie's 2010 haul, PDC records show.
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