Lloyd Hara for King County Assessor

We were worried it would come to this. Our opponent Bob Rosenberger, ex-appraiser turned real estate speculator, has just donated a massive amount of his own money to his campaign, nearly $60,000. This makes nearly $100,000 he’s injected into his campaign total. After failing to find many contributors to fund his run, he’s decided to buy the election.

Rosenberger’s most recent infusion of $58,000 amounts to more than was spent on King County Assessor campaigns by all candidates combined in the past two elections. He is now one of the most heavily self-financed candidates in the 2009 King County election, and possibly holds the record for money spent running for this position.

While nearly 95% of Rosenberger’s campaign funding is self-derived, about 95% of ours comes from donations, both big and small. We rely on the support of the community– Rosenberger depends on the money he’s made as a real estate speculator.

According to Assessor’s Office employees we’ve spoken with, Rosenberger’s putting very heavy pressure on his former colleagues to endorse his candidacy and give him money. Despite this pressure, nearly no departmental employees have endorsed Rosenberger or donated to his campaign. These are people that worked with him for decades– it says something that they don’t support his candidacy.

Rosenberger presents himself as a real estate investor, listing ownership in at least 8 real estate parcels in his financial disclosure report, predominantly in King County, where he also was responsible for appraising the value of real estate. He clearly has made a lot of dough working the real estate system around here, if he can throw this much money around.

I am an experienced public administrator, called the “most accessible in the entire county”, and I want to bring some stability and innovation to the office at this unstable time. I would appreciate your support.

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