Daines gives GOP $837,000

Spokane Valley millionaire Bernard Daines has branched out of local politics, giving a whopping $837,000 to the Republican Party at the state and national levels.

Daines, a high-tech entrepreneur and founder of World Wide Packets, has also contributed heavily to local candidates, including Spokane Mayor John Talbott and County Commission challenger Karl Wilkinson.

"I'm very interested in seeing my principles of smaller government and individual freedom promoted as heavily as possible," Daines said. "I think the more society gets complicated, the more people have to get involved and make themselves heard."

Daines, 56, grew up in Spokane and returned in 1995 to found Packet Engines after 25 years in the San Francisco area.

Daines said he was surprised at the fuss raised by his contributions.

"I had no idea I was breaking records or being noteworthy," he said. "I had assumed there were all types of high-rollers in the Seattle area giving more."

Daines wrote a check for $200,000 to the state party on Sept. 19 and three more totaling $337,000 on Oct. 16 - one day before the state deadline for donations of more than $5,000 to a political party.

On Aug. 22, Daines gave $300,000 to the National Republican Party.

In local races, Daines donated $10,000 directly to Talbott's re- election campaign and $10,000 to Citizens for Fair and Open Government, a political action committee targeting Talbott's opponent, John Powers.

CFOG's ads have been criticized for being negative, and Daines said he would prefer to be positive. But he also said the city needs a shakeup.

"I'm just looking for a change," he said. "Spokane has a bad reputation for being a very closed town."

He and his wife, Marsha, have also given $12,000 to Wilkinson.

Last year, Daines was a significant donor to the Straight Talk PAC, which helped elect Steve Corker and Steve Eugster to the City Council, as well as to the candidates themselves.

Over the past year, he also gave $30,000 to Tim Eyman's Permanent Offense, a political action committee created to finance Initiative 722, which would limit property-tax increases and roll back 1999 tax increases.

Daines and his wife also contributed $500 to gubernatorial candidate John Carlson; $4,000 to Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash.; and $1,150 to Sam Reed, a Republican candidate for secretary of state.

Daines said he didn't know most of them well enough to spend more.

"I'm just not that clued in to who to associate with. I have no agenda of being a political person. I just feel like one of the obligations of having money is spending it in good places," Daines said.

He said his campaign contributions were motivated by the state Growth Management Act, designed to control urban sprawl; and an effort in a handful of states to bar utilities other than phone companies from providing broadband services. Both could directly affect his companies.

The Daineses have also become two of Spokane's leading philanthropists, with gifts of $1 million each to Gonzaga University and to School District 81.

The state Republican Party has given $487,500 to Carlson since Daines' first gift Sept. 19 - $125,000 on Sept. 22, $50,000 on Sept. 28, $12,000 on Oct. 18 and $300,500 on Oct. 23.

Gov. Gary Locke's campaign raised questions Wednesday about the timetable, with spokesman Ed Penhale saying the party total is the largest single donation Locke's campaign had heard of.

"It is curious," said Paul Berendt, chairman of the state Democratic Party, whose biggest contributors usually donate about $50,000.

It is illegal for a donor to earmark money for a specific candidate in a donation to one of the state parties, which aren't subject to the same limits as individual candidates.

"That's ridiculous," state GOP Chairman Don Benton said of the implication.

"Daines told me, `I'm very interested in Republican control of the Legislature and the Republican philosophy and hope that we can have a Republican philosophy in the governor's mansion,'" said Benton, a state senator from Clark County.

"But he said, `You know about that and that's your job, so take this money and do good things with it,' which is basically the only direction he gave me."

Benton said Daines' money went to a few legislative races, Carlson's campaign and issue-advocacy radio and television ads.

The state GOP received $13 million in contributions this campaign season, according to records filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission. Other big donors include Weyerhaeuser Co., which gave $245,000, and Services Group of America, owned by GOP stalwart Tom Stewart, which contributed $389,000.

The state Democratic Party has received nearly $7 million, according to the PDC.

Locke appointed Daines to the board of the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute, but Daines said, "He's never had time to talk to me other than a few hallway conversations."

Daines sold Grand Junction Networks to Cisco Systems in 1995 for $350 million. In 1998, he sold Packet Engines to Paris-based Alcatel for $325 million. The companies specialize in ethernet hardware - computer networking technology that essentially works as the plumbing of the Web.

Last year, he founded World Wide Packets, which is developing broadband services for homes and businesses to move data at very high speeds, and Webiness, which provides digital help to Internet companies.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

DETAILS

Contributions

Among the contributions made this year by Spokane Valley entrepreneur Bernard Daines and his wife:

Three contributions to the Washington State Republican Party totaling $537,000.

$300,000 to the Republican National Committee.

$10,000 to Spokane Mayor John Talbott.

$10,000 to Citizens for Fair and Open Government, a political action committee formed in support of Talbott.

$12,000 to Spokane County Commissioner candidate Karl Wilkinson.

$30,000 to Permanent Offense, a PAC formed by Initiative 695 and 722 backer Tim Eyman.

$4,000 to U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt.

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